Cleaned and sanitized 2liter bottles as growlers

[FarFromBilly]

Has anyone ever used cleaned and sanitized 2 liter bottles as cheap growlers to share brew with people who aren't the best at returning bottles? I was told different things by different people. Some say yes you can do it, others say no don't because of oxygen permeating the plastic..

 

[zachattack]

They work fine, O2 isn't going to permeate a pressurized bottle. A lot of brewers exclusively use PET bottles. Of course you have to keep them in the dark or the beer can get skunked. I recommend using bottles from plain seltzer, that way you don't have to worry about residual soda tastes/smells.

 

[cooldood]

I have used cheapo 1l and never had an issue. I do keep mine in complete darkness too.

 

[FarFromBilly]

To sum it up, if they are kept in my dark basement with their glass bottled brethren, and consumed shortly after conditioning, all should be well.

 

[Mike37]

I used to use PET bottles almost exclusively when I was short on glass bottles. I still use them for all sorts of different reasons. Washing yeast, storing sanitizer, etc.

 

[zachattack]

To sum it up, if they are kept in my dark basement with their glass bottled brethren, and consumed shortly after conditioning, all should be well.

 

[Yooper]

I use 2L bottles all the time as disposable growlers, even for myself when I don't want to carry glass (like out on the boat).

The cool thing about those 2L bottles is that you can use a carbonator cap on them, and give them a nice big blast of co2 to make sure they are nicely carbed even days later. Of course, your friends probably won't give that carbonator cap back (and they are expensive!) so that's something best kept for yourself.

 

[therackman]

So can a guy use a 2L soda bottle to replace a growler? One of my biggest issues with growlers is the beer going flat because I only drink a pint at a time. What if I buy a growler, pour myself a pint, then pour the remains into a 2L bottle and use the carbonator cap to pressurize. Will this keep the beer from going flat despite quite a bit of headspace from the already drunk pint?

 

[Yooper]

So can a guy use a 2L soda bottle to replace a growler? One of my biggest issues with growlers is the beer going flat because I only drink a pint at a time. What if I buy a growler, pour myself a pint, then pour the remains into a 2L bottle and use the carbonator cap to pressurize. Will this keep the beer from going flat despite quite a bit of headspace from the already drunk pint?

Yes. But it might oxidize the beer a bit. If you're going to drink it in a day or so, it won't be so noticeable, but pouring a beer does oxidize it relatively quickly.