Bottles

[mrchaos101]

What are the best kind of bottles to recycle.... Can Budlight bottles work in the capers?

 

[1977Brewer]

Twist off bottles aren't ideal. Look for pop tops. Sam Adams, New Belgium, and Sierra Nevada still use pop tops, just to name some bigger Brewers. There's a ton more.

 

[Rolsom]

A key thing to look for if you are using a hand capper, is the top of the bottle. The Sam Adams type tops are good, but Harp and Bass gave me problems with the hand capper, but work fine with the bench top.

 

[RM-MN]

I try hard to use only pop off bottles but somehow I got one screw off top bottle in my collection. It's been capped about 4 or 5 times over the years and it always seals. I wouldn't recommend using the screw off bottles but they can work with a hand capper.

 

[unionrdr]

Let me see if I can remember all the pop top bottles that have worked repeatedly over the years;
Sam Adams
Michelob
Deschutes
Great Lakes
Wernesgruner
Franziskaner
Paulaner
Magic Hat
Victory
Kona
Thirsty Dog
Dogfish Head
I know many other craft bottles I have also work quite well...

 

[mrgrimm101]

I wouldn't use a screw-top bottle. As far as commercial bottles that are reusable, I guess it depends on what breweries distribute in your area, but for me here in Michigan I would say the following breweries have bottles that are super easy to remove the labels from:

Bells
Founders
Sierra Nevada
Lagunitas
Dogfish Head
Sam Adams
Arcadia
Magic Hat
Great Lakes
Victory
Woodchuck Cider
3Floyds (doesn't distribute to MI, but I have a hookup)

I've always had luck with both the standard longneck 12oz as well as the shorter/fatter 12oz bottles (think Sierra Nevada). The only issue is that the shorter/fatter bottles can sometimes make the wing capper stick a little. I've never had one not seal properly, but I'm always cautious.

 

[justenoughforme]

my local store gets sierra nevada 12$ for 12 . . . so my entire collection is sierra nevada with a few founders.


i'd recommend you get a bottle style and keep it all one, so they stack easier and all fit in any box etc.

 

[slym2none]

Thread hijack - any NC brewers ever re-use Red Oak bottles? My brewing-buddy (who needs to get his @$$ in the game soon, brewing up some beer of his own) has 2+ cases worth of Red Oak bottles and I guess we need to test out our wing-capper on one, but since that hasn't happened yet, I figured I'd ask here.

 

[brewer_in_the_cap]

If you're close to a small brewery and they use pop tops you may be able to get some from them. I scored 6 cases from a brewery, they didn't have a bottle washer and were just recycling them when customers returned them! It saved me a ton of money, just be sure to check and wash them all!

 

[bobeer]

Lagunitas bottles work well and their labels come off easily. Their beer isn't too expensive either, at least in these parts.

 

[cyberbrew]

For what it's worth back when I was bottling my favorites were Flying Dog.

 

[mrchaos101]

Thanks for the reply.

I Guess I can start saving Fat Tire. You all keep saying anyting NON twist off.... co Corna's ok? I thought it had somthing to do wiht the size of the neck at the top. Small vz big.

 

[fartinmartin]

Let's define the problem area, the bottles have a ring at the top, that's for the cap, then there is a flange, it's the length of the flange that gives me grief. The old bottle styles have the flange that is about 5/8" from the top of the neck, others are as little as 3/8" (16mm & 10mm approx)(by eye), it's the short flanges that upset my capper. I had collected a load of Tyskie bottles, they work , but they don't leave me with any confidence that I have been successful, so I binned them all . You can't afford a bad capping after all that effort. The Tyskie however is a smashin drink.

 

[mrgrimm101]

As long as it's a 12 oz brown glass bottle, it should work. Some don't work because they don't taper enough and the capper can't grab it as easily. Some breweries use different paper and/or glue than others so their labels are damn near impossible to remove..others are really easy Brown glass is best to stop light penetration which will skunk the beer.

New Belgium is easy to remove labels, so Fat Tire would be good.

I don't use twist-off bottles because they won't work with my wing capper and you have to tighten them by hand, which I do not trust.

 

[unionrdr]

Brown or amber bottles are preferred over clear. Brown or the amber German bottles I have help protect the beer from UV light skunking.