What is the bottle of choice?

[redskinweasel]

I've been saving various ale, lager and cider bottles for the last 4 months as I didn't want to have to buy any.
I now have quite an impressive collection of about 100 bottles, the bulk of which (62) are brown in colour (hop back - summer lightening and crop circle, and some brakspear tripple bottles - all bottle conditioned beers) and the remainder are green or clear from jennings cumberland ale, kingfisher lager and kingston press cider.

I thought I'd ask which bottles are best because I recently bought the GW brew your own british real ale book and it says in there that clear bottles are no good because sunlight causes some kind of chemical reaction? It goes on to say that brown bottles are the best choice, so does this mean I should throw away all my clear and green bottles.......



Any views on this would be appreciated also if anyone can recommend a particular real ale bottle that is good that'd be cool.

I am also considering brewing some cider at some stage to keep the mrs happy so would clear bottles be ok for that?


Cheers

[floydmeddler]

No need to ditch the clear and green bottles. Just make sure they aren't exposed to sunlight. I keep all my bottles (including lots of clear) in a cupboard. The only time they see the light of day is for the few seconds between the cupboard to the fridge then of course the fridge to the glass.

Don't ditch!

[Garth]

Personally I only keep brown bottles, it's just not worth keeping any others, I must have a good 400 kicking around at mine and at otherpeoples houses 'in circulation'. I used to use a huge collection of Newky Brown bottles but ditched the lot as they're clear and got me money back before they stopped making them returnable.

The thicker the glass the better really, try to avoid thin walled glass bottles like Bud etc, and if you're using a two handed capper, avoid bottles from Batemans, Wychwood, Duchy Originals, Brakspear and any others which have an odd neck on them, unless you have a bench capper, then you can cap just about any bottle.

[floydmeddler]

I used to use a huge collection of Newky Brown bottles but ditched the lot

NBA bottles are great! Nice and thick. Don't see the issue if they are kept in the dark.

[Garth]

I just prefer brown bottles, they look like the real deal as well, I still have a few Newky which I'll bottle one of each batch to see how it's clearing, but the rest are brown, there is more commercially available beer in brown glass than anything else.

What happens if you give your mate a bottle of your beer which you're really proud of but it's in clear glass, he takes it home sticks it on the kitchen bench for a few days and then drinks it, 'hey nice beer but it had a strange twang'.......it doesn't matter how much you tell them they still do it.......

it's not just sunlight either, fluorecent strip light emit UV albeit in small doses, but it's enough to turn beer in supermarkets when they've been under them on the top shelf for a week or so.

I'm not hung up about the clear glass/lightstrike thing, I just bottle in brown bottles and forget about it.......

[Ditch]

Don't ditch!

What?! I wasn't doing anything!

[redskinweasel]

Cheers gents,

Some sound advice there albeit conflicting. I think what I'm gonna do is wait until I've bottled the batch before throwing anything away in case i run out. But if I have enough, I'll probably use a couple of clear ones each batch to see how the beer's clearing.

The main reason I'll do this is because where I store them has a strip light and also gets some sunlight in the day.


Cheers

[minimilo]

Hi, I just got back from France and brought back quite a few Fischer bottles. They are brown 650ml bottles complete with a swing top. Anyone going over to the continent should maybe check them out. The Fischer is a nice drop too!

[rick_huggins]

I've got 3 crates of really old brown Grolsh bottles which I replaced the seal on.. Love them like they were my own flesh n blood!

Needless to say, I pour the drink and wash em too LOL (read, get your filthy stinkin hands off my babies)

I only use them for lagers tho

[dinsd-ale]

I've been saving various ale, lager and cider bottles....... the bulk of which (62) are brown in colour (hop back - summer lightening and crop circle, and some brakspear tripple bottles - all bottle conditioned beers)

I couldn't cap the Hop Back or Badger bottles I had useing a hand capper.
I only bottle four pints of each brew and keg the rest and I've used Magners and Bulmers bottles the most so far.

[dunc]

the only ones I've had a real problem using the two handled capper with are the Wychwood ones - I got a few dozen plastic reseal caps for em, since I like Hobgoblin too much to buy something different to 'recycle'. Batemans necks are awkward buggers but do cap ok with a bit of juggling.

[GeordieBrewer]

I really like the Brakspear bottles, the labels just drop off in a sink full of hot water and washing up liquid, and never had any problems capping with the two handled emaily capper. Had major problrms with Wychwood bottles. Thinking about a bench capper, but as I cap in kitchen, don't want to attach it to the bench - any ideas?

I had a bottle break on capping during my last brew - thankfully, I'd rested a cap on each full bottle before sealing, so no risk of glass contamination.

Martin

[Jerry Cornelius]

Had major problrms with Wychwood bottles. Thinking about a bench capper, but as I cap in kitchen, don't want to attach it to the bench - any ideas? Martin

I use a bench capper free-standing. You don't have to attach it to anything, it still works fine.

As to bottles, I really like the Fuller's ones. Very sturdy and heavy.

[floydmeddler]

I think in conclusion, there are any number of great bottles to use!

[garwatts]

I think in conclusion, there are any number of great bottles to use!

My favourites are the full ones