Using old stubbies and long necks

[SirDrinksalot1525230178]

Hi all. I've been sinking a few Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale stubbies (and a few long necks a home brew mate interstate sent me home with a 5 weeks ago). I have heard that it's not recommended to reuse glass stubbies/long necks, is that right or is it cool to use them? Any precautions to consider?

[Farls]

I have a heap of crown seal long necks I use, they're perfect. All coopers long necks are. I have a bunch of old school CUB long necks too, really thick walled glass, and I keep my eye out for nice craft/boutique beer long necks when I'm at the bottlo as they are usually crown seal with thick glass.

 

You can put a crown seal cap on a screw top bottle with a bottle capper, but there's a risk that you'll chip it. I don't use anything with a screw top or that seems to have thin glass, since I pretty much smashed one when trying to cap it.

 

Stubbies are fine too, but again crown seal and thick to be safe. I do like stubby size for drinking but it does make bottling take longer as you're capping twice as many, so I don't have too many stubbies.

[ImaginativeName]

Yeah, twist tips feel all wrong under the capper.

 

Coopers long necks are perfect, just stick with crowns and thick glass like Farls said.

 

Cheers

 

JP

[Otto Von Blotto]

Twist tops are capped that way commercially, both pry off and twist tops use exactly the same crown seals; if you've got a decent capper it's no trouble at all. I did prefer the pry off ones but I used twist tops for a while as well. You can re-use glass bottles, the Coopers tallies are designed to be re-used by homebrewers, others aren't as thick walled but they are still able to be used if all proper precautions are taken. I used to use Sierra Nevada stubbies which I found really good.

[Del]

if using a super auto bench capper you should have no worries if you set the height up right.

 

I smashed a bottle once when trying to use one of those 2 handed cappers.. and def not the old hammer style capper! def a no no in my mind..

 

 

I have a few mates that drink longies.. they supply me.. and i supply them a few extras which might need drinking in return.. ;)

[headmaster]

For 330mls If you can get them, use Asahi bottles. They are GOLD. Dark brown so great for not skunking your hoppy ales, but 300grams of glass in each bottle on the scales empty.

 

I've never found a more solid bottle. I get them to buy these at work for some of the friday drinks and take them home.

 

Cheap crappy 330mls will be around 200 to 220g of glass, good ones 250g and up.

[DonPolo]

Am I a heathen? As a born again home brew noob, the PET bottles seem too good to be true but I'm sticking to them at the moment.

 

Plus I still have a scar on my left hand from when I was 19 and was bottling some old school home brew with a hammer style capper. The bottle broke and near took off a couple of fingers!

 

Don

[Gag Halfrunt]

Used nothing but VB stubbies always, never had a problem.

[The Captain!!]

I also am a fan of the asahi bottles. Nice and thick.

 

I prefer the older type without the asahi name moulded into the bottle though.

[Youngie]

The James Squire bottle used to be great when I bottled. A few months ago I chucked 750 of them out. I should’ve thought about giving them away.

 

Youngie

[SirDrinksalot1525230178]

Thanks for the info everyone.

[karlos_1984]

I've just bottled my first batch in the Cooper's plastic bottles but while it was fermenting I've downs 2 cartons of John Boston IPA and kept the bottles for my next batch. They seem sturdy enough and we're on spesh at uncle Dan's so it made sense. I've got a few stray Cooper's long necks and a couple Peroni bottles as well but not sure on the green glass. I've got 2 x 0.95 litre glass "squealer" bottles with a screw top lid that I used to takeaway tap beer from a local brewery. Would these be suitable for bottling if u got the priming rate right?

[thebeerpig]

For anyone not in possession of a bottle capper and wanting to bottle a few stubbies, I have found that 375ml Burrandy ginger beer stubbies work a treat.

These can be purchased at Aldi for $4.99 a six pack, and most importantly, they fit into the average stubby holder.

When fitted with Coopers pet bottle caps, they can be filled and sealed the same as the pet bottles.

I’ve found them very useful as a hassle free way of adding a couple of tasters to every batch of bottles I brew.

I’ve also, on the odd occasion, decanted bottled home brew into them to take on outings to places where it’s more practical to be drinking from stubbies, than it is pouring from bottles.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I've just bottled my first batch in the Cooper's plastic bottles but while it was fermenting I've downs 2 cartons of John Boston IPA and kept the bottles for my next batch. They seem sturdy enough and we're on spesh at uncle Dan's so it made sense. I've got a few stray Cooper's long necks and a couple Peroni bottles as well but not sure on the green glass. I've got 2 x 0.95 litre glass "squealer" bottles with a screw top lid that I used to takeaway tap beer from a local brewery. Would these be suitable for bottling if u got the priming rate right?

Growlers/squealers aren't intended for carbonating beer, they're simply a short term storage vessel for already carbonated beer, where the pressure is probably less than what builds up during the fermentation of the priming sugar. I wouldn't use them for carbonating just in case.

[karlos_1984]

For capping stubbies & longnecks, which capper do you guys use or recommend? The handheld ones or the bench top lever type? Got a brew going at the moment n need to get a capper before it reaches FG as my plastic bottles are still being used.

[JohnBoy]

Howdy,

I bottle with coopers longnecks and coopers 375ml bottles using a brigalow bottle capper, the same one that can be found in big w.

Ive never had a problem with bottles breaking during capping.

 

I did run into problems once by being a tight arse and buying cheap caps online. i had a couple of brews where only 1/2 the batch carbed up...

my theory was that the plastic seal inside the cap was not very wide compared to the coopers caps and it wouldnt seal properly on the twist top bottles, perhaps the crown sealed bottles pull the plastic seal down harder on the longnecks?!? You could actually hear the gas escaping through the twist sections when carbing up...

i used them all up on the crown seal longnecks that i have, and have only bought the coopers caps since, and have never had that problem again.

[Prang]

I use Swan bottles, I think they are the same as VB and the Australian Guinness king browns.

Thier shorter fater and have a bigger mouth than the Cooper's " like myself" , they pour really well but are a lot thinner.

My mate had one shatter when he was capping so just be careful when you're capping them.

[Henry1525229471]

I can,t get my head around beer in plastic bottles/cups or what ever you call them, I have about 200 long necks and twice as many stubbies .It doesn't seem natural drinking beer out of plastic .

 

I have never had a problem capping them with either twist tops or normal they all come off with a bottle opener