Plastic v glass

[dazza68]

Now the wherrys kegged and put aside, im awaiting my next brew to arrive,a coopers IPA, this time im grabbing the bull by the horns and going to try bottling, my question is, are glass bottles better than plastic? i've ordered a extra fv with tap, bottle stick etc, and 24 1l plastic bottles, i know i hate drinking beer out of a plastic 'glass' at gigs etc, will these give that same feeling (if you no what i mean!)

[staplefordbill]

Yes, glass is better. Plastic bottles for beer are made of PET which lets air in. This will oxidise your beer if you keep it for longer than a few weeks. The only advantage of plastic bottles is that you can give them a squeeze to see whether the beer is carbonated or not yet. As a compromise I used to keep one plastic bottle per brew, and use glass for the rest. Now I just use glass.

So use glass bottles by all means, but make sure they're brown as beer in clear or green bottles can become "lightstruck" and go bad. If you ask at your local they'll gladly put aside brown bottles for you, as they have to pay for them to be collected.

[dazza68]

Thanks for the advice, brown glass bottles it is then maybe i'll use a couple of the plastics as 'testers'! think i'd better invest in another keg and do half keg half bottle, oooh my missus is giving me jip about my spending (i use her e-mail and every order i make, answer to questions on here etc gets sent to her phone ) i tell her once i've got the equipment that will be it,wont need it again !!

[Gary_P]

I can share my experiences. I've never had problems with using plastic and keeping the beer for a few months in some cases. I change the caps every 2 brews. I do prefer glass but of course these are smaller so you have to do more bottling (and capping). My local brewery Shepherd Neame use clear bottles for their beer and I use these without problems (kept in the garage). Agree on plastic being good for being able to confirm CO2 levels (squeezing).
Cheers
Gary

[ajclarkson]

Until my last couple of brews I was using plastic pretty much exclusively, and had no problems with beer kept cold and in the dark for 2-3 months, However on discovering a few forgotten bottles of Old Home Wrecker that were around 6 months old there was a distinct off taste that I am putting down to oxidisation as I had a couple of pint glass bottles left as well and they are still fine.

Moving to mini-kegs now though and wish I had done a PET tester bottle actually as I have no way of knowing how carbonation is coming along in the kegs!

[cellone]

I'm a big fan of glass swing top bottles. Easy to clean, easy to cap and as long as you don't need to replace the glass bit they work out cheaper in the long run.

[far9410]

I'm a big fan of glass swing top bottles. Easy to clean, easy to cap and as long as you don't need to replace the glass bit they work out cheaper in the long run.

Hi, I'm collecting swing tops now, how often do you need to change the washers? Cheers

[cellone]

Hi, I think they are made of silicon these days and I haven't had to replace one yet, had some of them over a year and a half.

[Kev888]

PET pottles are very good - they have been designed to let far less oxygen through than plain plastics, and are used to preserve all sorts of drinks in the retail industry. They're also lighter to transport and shatterproof for handling. The brown ones are reasonably good at reducing light strike too. I've been testing some coopers ones and they seem up to the job, the clear ones you get free after people have emptied-out/used mineral water are also very useful at times, if you keep them in the dark. Though not all plastic bottles are designed to take pressure so take care.

However, its still difficult to beat glass for out and out performance over time and (although I know its psychological) for me at least, opening a glass bottle 'seems' much more satisfying. Thats put an end to my use of them apart for in emergencies - I was really seeing PET bottles as an easier way to take beer to friends parties etc, but somehow unless people have already tried my beer the plastic can put people off before they try it.

Cheers
kev

[john_drummer]

I generally use a mix of glass bottles and Coopers PET bottles. Haven't had any off tastes yet <frantically searches for some wood to touch....>

glass is psychologically nicer, but as said above, with the PET bottles, you can tell when it's carbonated. Coopers bottles still make a nice pfft noise when you open them though

[poo hed]

been reading up on this, it's to do with the live yeast (as in coca cola etc is not affected), the yeast managing to absorb oxygen from outside the bottle, which may result in loss of carbonation / potential off flavours IF kept for many months.

so when making barley wine / things that need many months of conditioning etc pet may not be practical ...apparently (never made it )

coopers treat their bottles with an "oxygen barrier" or something but also recommend you don't store things after a certain amount of time (x months).

my beer never lasts too long and for me, pet is my preference, but if i had money coming out of my ears, i would probably invest in some 750ml brown glass swing top bottles (to use along side pet), too laborious sanitising anything smaller imho

[Spud395]

Another consideration and a vote for glass, yeast tends to stick to the bottom of the glass bottle better.
The 'legs' of the PET bottles seems to not let it set as well.

Found 16 1L brown bottles at the bottle bank this morning

[john_drummer]

unless you have a big glass or jug, you may find big bottles to be a false economy. Try squeezing a litre into a pint pot, it won't go. some has to stay in the bottle and unless you've got steady hands, you'll disturb the yeast when you put the bottle down.

[poo hed]

unless you have a big glass or jug, you may find big bottles to be a false economy. Try squeezing a litre into a pint pot, it won't go. some has to stay in the bottle and unless you've got steady hands, you'll disturb the yeast when you put the bottle down.

i wouldn't really call that a "false economy" , i have a jug to decant into, but don't tend to use it, first pint clear, second pond water, swill bottle around and gulp down sediment, no bother.

big bottles ftw

[cellone]

The oxy-bar bottles are good for a couple of brews but the layers of plastic seperate after a while and the caps trap liquid under the gasket so I'm never sure they've been cleaned.