Bottling in milk jug style bottles

[Krausen89]

could i bottle mead in milk jug style bottles. was thinking of getting some quart and pink sizes. has anyone ever done this?


similar to these http://www.qorpak.com/jugs/plastic-jugs/natural-hdpe-dairy-jugs/natural-hdpe-dairy-jugs-5777

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Can you? yes, Should you? no.

 

[fatbloke]

Can you? yes, Should you? no.

Concur with that.

While it seems that there is a much reduced issue from plasticiser extraction from materials like P.E.T. and HDPE etc, alcohol is still a solvent, so at most I wouldn't keep any in plastic for more than a month or so, whereas glass is inert to alcohol etc.....

 

[Zaffo]

Your home brew store should have 1/2 gal. carboys.

Or, you could get a growler of beer from a local brewery. My grocery store has even begun selling beer that way. I didn't even need to buy new stoppers. The same size that fit my 1, 3 and 5 gal. carboys fit the growler.

It was cheaper at the grocery store too, with the added bonus of it coming home filled with beer! The downside is that it's not a clear bottle.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Not to mention I can't imagine how much space a lot of 400 milk bottles, no matter the size, would take up. Say the liter-sized bottles, theoretically in boxes of 12, that would be 33 some-odd boxes, or even if there was 20 to a case that'd still be 20 boxes of empty plastic milk bottles, unless you have a storage unit or something to store them in I can't see it being a feasible solution. The other problem with storage in growlers or smaller carboys is when you wanna have some mead, you're staring down a gallon to a half gallon container that you will likely not finish unless you're at a party populated by viking warriors. A 750ml bottle is a lot more manageable. Kudos for thinking outside the box, but I think the idea is roundly disapproved.

 

[fatbloke]

Not to mention I can't imagine how much space a lot of 400 milk bottles, no matter the size, would take up. Say the liter-sized bottles, theoretically in boxes of 12, that would be 33 some-odd boxes, or even if there was 20 to a case that'd still be 20 boxes of empty plastic milk bottles, unless you have a storage unit or something to store them in I can't see it being a feasible solution. The other problem with storage in growlers or smaller carboys is when you wanna have some mead, you're staring down a gallon to a half gallon container that you will likely not finish unless you're at a party populated by viking warriors. A 750ml bottle is a lot more manageable. Kudos for thinking outside the box, but I think the idea is roundly disapproved.

Well to allude to your first point, milk here (in the supermarkets anyway) is in 1, 2, 4 and 6 pint bottles.

Due to the size of the shelved trolleys and how they fit into a fridge trailer, for the slightly over 1 litre size of a 2 pint bottle (1.136 ltr) it was 40 to a layer, so 160 per trolley, so only a little less than 3 trolleys (a 45ft trailer would take 110 trolley's, so most likely, properly stacked, not as much room as you might suspect.

The trolley's would weigh about 1/4 of a tonne each - which is a slightly different matter

 

[Krausen89]

thanks everyone. def answered my question. i was just curious because i started this job bottling sweet cider and i thought it would be neat. but glass is def the way to go!

 

[jonmohno]

Or beer bottles. Mason jars. I just stick to used beer and wine bottles. I Probably would use glass quart juice bottles if I was that desperate. Ive even been using olive oil bottles only because I think the size 16 oz size is better for me than wine bottles-I think 12-16 oz is more ideal for strong fermented beverages personally. Unless your always sharing or just like to drink that much in one setting.