Glass V's Plastic bottles

Khannie

So I had a few scoops last night from my first batch of cloudy apple juice cider. It was fabulous stuff, but I had one middling bottle and it came from a plastic bottle. The bottle was clean and sterile and had no lingering smells from what had been in there before.

I'm left wondering: Does it make a difference if you bottle in glass or plastic? Or was it just chance?

Donny5

Khannie wrote: »

So I had a few scoops last night from my first batch of cloudy apple juice cider. It was fabulous stuff, but I had one middling bottle and it came from a plastic bottle. The bottle was clean and sterile and had no lingering smells from what had been in there before.

I'm left wondering: Does it make a difference if you bottle in glass or plastic? Or was it just chance?

I've never had a problem with flavours or spoiling in plastic, but they are a pain in the arse to wash, which is why I prefer glass.

DeadSkin

I use both plastic and glass, can say I have had no issues. Find the screw cap plastic bottles easier when bottling.
Find some of the glass bottles are a bit trickier to cap.

Rinse/clean your bottles as soon as you finish with them.

sharingan

Bottles are fine when they are plastic. They are not exactly long term material though. So you can forget your extended aging.

They are also good for bottle-conditioned and carbonated beverages - its easy to know when they are finishing nicely. And they cap well.

You can also get good PET bottles out there that block O2 from getting in. They are quite cheap and very practical.

hardCopy

I haven't gone the route of capping glass bottles but do have a small collection of swingtops and plastic Ox-Bar bottles for any excess. I'd say the swingtops are the best option, I ripped my hand to bits tightening plastic caps with wet hands (wear marigolds if you use them).

The swingtops also give a satisfying and dramatic pop when you open them.

Khannie

I actually got a heap of nice glass bottles from my local over the weekend. Delighted with them.

Sky King

I recently got an ass load of green glass screw-tops off a mate of mine who works in a lab

savage.

BeerNut

Sky King wrote: »

who works in a lab

Are you sure they're food safe? Do you know what's been in them?

Sky King

Not only are they food safe, they are brand new, never used and come pre sanitised in a crate. I have 500ml and 1L bottles.

I thought the 1L ones would be great but they are a pain when you just want a small bit of beer! Handy if you know you're going to drink a daycent bit though

wet-paint

Ahem, sparesies?

Khannie

Nice! I finished washing, de-labeling and sanitising mine last night. Bottled my last batch. Two weeks from now I should have somewhere in the region of 50L of cider ready for slow but lazy, summer-ey consumption.

Do you know how much those screw top bottles cost perchance?

DeadSkin

Khannie wrote: »

Nice! I finished washing, de-labeling and sanitising mine last night. Bottled my last batch. Two weeks from now I should have somewhere in the region of 50L of cider ready for slow but lazy, summer-ey consumption.

Do you know how much those screw top bottles cost perchance?

Homebrewest has the Coopers screw top plastic bottles x 24 for 11.95
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/coopers-ox-bar-24-500ml-pet-bottles-better-than-glass-bottles-837-p.asp

DeadSkin

I just recently did my last brew with a mix of glass & plastic bottles.

What I have found, is the beer in the plastic bottles is considerably flatter than the glass bottled beer.
Little or no head & feck all fizz compared to the glass bottled beers. Looks like half that brew is pants

I have a feeling this maybe down to not tightening the screw caps enough. As hardCopy suggested I may have to get the marigolds out next time.

Shiny

hardCopy wrote: »

The swingtops also give a satisfying and dramatic pop when you open them.

That is one of the main reasons I am selling all my plastic bottles and moving to swingtops.

Glass bottles also look a lot more professional when you are giving them to someone. I have had no issues with flavour or carbonation and some of my plastic bottles have had beer in them for almost a year.