Bottles for Home Brew!

donaghs

Hi, I've a question about getting beer bottles.

I've a plastic bin of home brew fermenting, nearly ready now. In anticipation I've been storing the bottles from the beer I regularly drink each week, and any others I can get my hands on. But I'm still short and need over 20 more fairly soon.

I've asked in pubs, and even off-licences to see if they had any spare bottles. No luck. I'm considering the easy option of just buying a few bottles, but does anyone know if this is possible? And where they could be purchased, preferrably in Dublin city centre.

I don't want to drink 3 times as much beer as normal just to get some bottles. And the only other option I can think of is hanging around a glass recycling centre on a Saturday!

oblivious

or buy them

Grape and grain dubbin sells them at 98 cent each

http://www.grapengraindublin.com/

A keg/barrel is another option

http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_22

BeerNut

donaghs wrote: »

I've asked in pubs, and even off-licences to see if they had any spare bottles.

Have you tried the Bull & Castle? They usually have a stock of empties kept aside just for home brewers.

Alternatively, you can use PET bottles, though the beer will have a shorter shelf life.

rubadub

oblivious wrote: »

Grape and grain dubbin sells them at 98 cent each

:eek: cheaper to buy beer and pour it down the drain!
There bottles might be slightly better quality or bigger but I would not pay that. Longnecks are often 75cent or less these days

I don't want to drink 3 times as much beer as normal just to get some bottles.

Have a BBQ and keep them all!
It should be VERY easy to get them these days. 15 years ago bottles costed a lot more and feck all people I know got them, nowadays everybody I know has loads of 330ml bottles out the back.

I used to have snap on reusable plastic lids for bottles, they were great and had a little bubble that popped up if they were overpressured, if too overpressured they would pop off, rather than explode (like my first brew!)

donaghs

Thanks Oblivious. I was leaning towards buying them to save on pain and effort. Just got off the phone to Grape and Grain. Yer one who answered didn't seem too keen to sell me 20 bottles. And wasn't impressed that I already had bottle-capper and caps, as she wanted to sell me one as well. She said they only do deliveries of €40 of goods or more, with a €5 delivery charge, and only typically deliver around the southsid suburbs, and won't go near the city centre.

I reckon I can scrounge the bottles eventually. Got some Harvieston Bitter and Twisted at home, so thats two more bottles tonight!

donaghs

Thanks guys, I'll try the Bull and Castle. I think I can definitely find enough bottles eventually.

kenmc

If you can, try get some OHaras celebration stout, they are fliptop 750ml bottles, ideal for brewing, esp for sharing with friends. Remember the bigger the bottles, the less you'll need to use, so less washing, sanitizing, filling and capping.

arse..biscuits

kenmc wrote: »

If you can, try get some OHaras celebration stout, they are fliptop 750ml bottles, ideal for brewing, esp for sharing with friends. Remember the bigger the bottles, the less you'll need to use, so less washing, sanitizing, filling and capping.

Would large Bulmers bottles be ok?

oblivious

rubadub wrote: »

:eek: cheaper to buy beer and pour it down the drain!
There bottles might be slightly better quality or bigger but I would not pay that. Longnecks are often 75cent or less these days

True, but make sure they are brow. Also a number of brewery's are moving to thinner glass bottle and the may not be designated to take the pressure of natural carbonation especially is you slightly over price of the beer has not fully fermented out.

kenmc

arse..biscuits wrote: »

Would large Bulmers bottles be ok?

yes perfect. also weissbeer bottles tend to be good, as are pint bottles of guinness/smithwicks.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

yes perfect.

Don't the large ones (as opposed to the pint ones) have some sort of screw top? Screw top on glass probably isn't a great idea.

guildofevil

donaghs; are you anywhere near Phibsborough? I haven't been to the bottle bank since before Christmas, so I have a shed full of brown glass bottles. Want to pop over and rummage?

kenmc

BeerNut wrote: »

Don't the large ones (as opposed to the pint ones) have some sort of screw top? Screw top on glass probably isn't a great idea.

Wouldn't know, never drink it. Presumed he meant pint, which is what I only ever saw in the pub being decapitated as normal.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

Presumed he meant pint, which is what I only ever saw in the pub being decapitated as normal.

There's a bigger glass bottle sold in the off trade. Looks like home brewer's gold, until you notice there's a screw-cap arrangement under the foil.

sunnyjim

I bought 500ml amber swing-top bottles from brew-it-yourself.co.uk. Inclusing delivery, it cost e60 for 36 bottles.

I ask the esteemed members of the board - how much would you expect to pay for 1 of these bottles? Just interested in how much people would pay for them.

BeerNut

I would never buy empty bottles. Sure, for a bit more than €1.67 you can buy a brown 500ml swingtop filled with Flensburger, which is much better value

guildofevil

The man has a point and if the ICB tasting sessions are anything to go by, it hasn't hurt the sales of Flensburger.

kenmc

Agreed. Empty bottles are a waste of money. When you buy beer in a shop it usually comes with an empty bottle surrounding it, which is a dead handy to stop it falling all over the place as you try to carry it home. You can use these empty bottles then afterwards, or better still, sell them to some mugs on the web

sunnyjim

I couldn't find anything with swingtops in my local off license... Maybe I should have gone further abroad... And ventured into the southside!

BeerNut

sunnyjim wrote: »

And ventured into the southside!

Last Flensburgers I bought were in Sweeney's in Glasnevin and DrinkStore on Manor Street.

oblivious

BeerNut wrote: »

Last Flensburgers I bought were in Sweeney's in Glasnevin and DrinkStore on Manor Street.

As north side as it gets!:P

sunnyjim

Hmmm... I see!

I worked in an alcohol wholesalers for 3 years. One time we had tons of pallets of grolsh going very cheap, e11 for 20 bottles. My one regret...

BeerNut

sunnyjim wrote: »

One time we had tons of pallets of grolsh going very cheap, e11 for 20 bottles. My one regret...

If it's any comfort, green glass is much less suitable for beer than brown.

rubadub

oblivious wrote: »

True, but make sure they are brown. Also a number of brewery's are moving to thinner glass bottle

Yes, warsteiner is the only €1 brown bottles that spring to mind. In case people do not know the brown is to filter out sunlight as I think it is UV rays that can cause the hops to give a skunky smell. Green would be better than clear, but brown is best.

BeerNut wrote: »

I would never buy empty bottles. Sure, for a bit more than €1.67 you can buy a brown 500ml swingtop filled with Flensburger, which is much better value

That is great value, esp for beginners who have not forked out for capping machines & caps. Also everybody loves the gimmick of having a swing top :pac:

Also any swingtops I ever got were fairly thick glass.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

Also any swingtops I ever got were fairly thick glass.

That's probably because of the German tendency to re-fill. The labels always come off like a dream too.

donaghs

guildofevil wrote: »

donaghs; are you anywhere near Phibsborough? I haven't been to the bottle bank since before Christmas, so I have a shed full of brown glass bottles. Want to pop over and rummage?

Thanks for the offer Guildofevil. I'll check my schedule and get back to you with a PM tonight or tomorrow. I know buying bottles with beer in it makes more sense. But I miscalculated how much beer I'd drink before my beer was ready for bottling.

sunnyjim

I actually got the swingtops for 80c each. The company I got them off shipped a duplicate order a week a after the first one, and I've just gotten an email telling me I can keep them because it was their mistake!

72 500ml amber swing tops. Nice little array I've got now.

Any suggestions on how to clean them? Last time I used a massive plastic bin, filled with steriliser. The bottles were then rinsed well and ovened at 150C to dry them. The metal swing top parts were rinsed in warm water.

Any suggestions on what I should do instead?

BeerNut

sunnyjim wrote: »

Last time I used a massive plastic bin, filled with steriliser.

That's what I use, though I don't bother with the oven bit, just rinse before filling. You can make your own no-rinse sanitiser out of bleach and vinegar.

arse..biscuits

BeerNut wrote: »

Don't the large ones (as opposed to the pint ones) have some sort of screw top? Screw top on glass probably isn't a great idea.

Not sure, the one I have at home doesn't have a screw top. Maybe its the pint bottle. I collected a load of Tyskie bottles from a friends house last night, he was delighted that I saveed him a trip to the bottle bank. Going home now to bottle.

sunnyjim

BeerNut wrote: »

That's what I use, though I don't bother with the oven bit, just rinse before filling. You can make your own no-rinse sanitiser out of bleach and vinegar.

That's excellent! I was thinking that I need something like that, a no-rinse option. I might rinse out right away with water just incase, and bottle right away.

Can anyone recommend how to clean the metal parts of the swing top?

arse..biscuits

My Bulmers bottle is 750ml.It worked perfectly. I think I'll try to get my hands on more of them, that would really cut down on the washing rinseing and capping.