craft beer bottles questions

[Manny_E]

I have collected more the 30 bottles (1 Pint 6 oz or 22 oz) of craft beer. New Belgium style, Lagunitas and other similar Imperial/Double IPA bottles.

Questions:

- are these safe to reuse?

- is there limits on the number of reuse ?

- anything I should look for to ensure they are safe for reuse?

- what other brands (brewing house) or any craft beer bottles is safe to use?

BTW - standard pry-off bottles

 

[unionrdr]

As long as they're pop top bottles, they'll work fine for years as long as you take care of them! Just make sure there are no small cracks, no chips in the lip of the bottle. I use 12oz bottles myself. The German bottles work real well too, & the labels come off quick.

 

[ObsidianJester]

To answer your questions, Yes they are safe to reuse.

There is no supposed limit to the amount of times they can be reused, but capping itself places a lot of stress on the bottles. I know new belgium 12 ounce bottles are a thinner glass and tend to break a lot more easily.

Just inspect the bottles before each use for signs of stress fractures is all you can do.

If the bottle is a standard pry off bottle it likely can be reused no matter who it is from, though there are some brands that use bottles that have a smaller "ridge or lip" under where the bottle cap is secured, and depending on the type of capper used some of those small ridges don't give enough purchase for every bottle capper to seal well. That's about the only thing to be aware of.

 

[unionrdr]

That's where I found the slightly different shape of the lip on German bottles to seal a tad easier/better. With the bench capper anyway.

 

[Manny_E]

awesome!

I will keep drinking and collecting..

unionrdr & ObsidianJester, thank you for the feedback...

 

[flars]

You might have a problem with certain bottles using a wing capper, breakage and sealing. A quality bench capper can securely cap any bottle.

 

[unionrdr]

I found the Red Baron wing capper to have problems with; Sierra Nevada stubbies, Sapporo, Smithwick's & other short neck bottles. The super agata bench capper solved that problem.

 

[flars]

the Super Agata is the one I use also. I do see on some sites an inferior bench capper is being labeled as the super agata.

 

[unionrdr]

The easiest way to tell that I've experienced thus far is looking at the area to the left of the lever base. If it has a sort of trapezoid-shaped black button, it's not the super agata.