Which beer bottles work best?

Which beer bottles work best?

I have some twist offs, will those work?

Can I reuse the twist off caps, or should I put new regular caps on the twist off bottles?

This is for Skeeter Pee

I've seen that Modelo is a good clear bottle. I don't drink much of that but have been saving Longneck Corona Bottles for about 2 months. My local supplier doesn't have twist-ons but plenty of the rim lock, not sure how well a rim lock cap would work with the threads on twist off bottles.

Some people claim that they can reliably put twist-offs back on bottles successfully. I have enough trouble doing just one, that I hate the thought of 65 (6 US gallon batch).

Regardless of the above, I do not feel that you will get a tight fit reusing screw-off caps. The caps are inexpensive, and it's not worth taking the chance of your beer spoiling.

Most beer makers prefer non-twist-off bottles. Most of the US twist-off bottles are made of thinner glass, and are much more prone to breakage. The standard Canadian beer bottles are designed for re-use by the breweries, and thus are made of thicker glass. Many Canadian (and some US) beer makers use these. Personally I have collected a good supply of crown cap bottles, so don't need to use screw caps anymore.

The best bottles are dark brown. Clear and green bottles should be stored out of the light. I find the boxes that printer paper come in to be excellent for storing beer bottles.

Grolsch or EZ-Cap beer bottles also work excellently, and have the added benefits of being larger (473 ml) and not needing bottle caps. I use a lot of 650ml crown cap brown bottles. In previous years, we found them easily in Saskatchewan, BC, Washington, and Oregon. Used to buy different microbrew to try in this size bottle. Haven't found a source in Ontario or New York (Buffalo/Rochester area), but haven't been looking too hard.

Steve

Regarding bottle caps...many years ago, beer caps were made of thicker metal that wouldn't conform to the screw cap bottles. The cap companies started producing caps made of thinner metal that did work. Now that is the standard size. So the caps at your LHBS will work well on both crown cap and screw cap bottles.

Steve

Thanks for the tips!

Canada has some good microbrew beers, I picked up some at LCBO that were really good.

Looks like I'll just pickup 2 cases of Grolsch, that comes out 30 cheaper per bottle, than my wine store sells the empty bottles for.

abefroman said:

Looks like I'll just pickup 2 cases of Grolsch, that comes out 30 cheaper per bottle, than my wine store sells the empty bottles for.

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Great idea. Pick up a few spare washers at your LHBS, in case some get lost or damaged.

Steve

Flip tops are awesome.

For my wine I've been using screw cap wine or hard liquor bottles. Don't really care if they are clear or colored since they are stored in a cool dark place inside a box.

I'm gearing up to make some Skeeter Pee and he indicates that crown cap beer bottles are best for those. I bought a few 12 packs of that Modelo mexican beer but around here it's over $8 a 12 pack and the beer is nasty to my tastes, so I've now started buying Heniken and Saint Polly Girl 24 ounce crown cap bottles. I figure anyway that it's pointless to bottle in 12 oz bottles as most people don't stop at one drink, it will be less labor filling/bottling them, and they have a nice light green color to them. I did also buy a 12 or two of Coronas until I noticed the labels are painted on. Soon as I have enough crown cap bottles drunk I'll make some Skeeter Pee. I'm a novice at this so if there is something wrong with the Heinekin/Saint Polly Girl bottles let me know.

critterhunter said:

...Soon as I have enough crown cap bottles drunk I'll make some Skeeter Pee...

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Why wait? Go ahead and start the SP, then just let it sit in the carboy until you're ready to bottle.

I was looking for the same in search for a good beer bottle for my skeeter pee. They had to meet 3 criteria:

1. Clear Glass
2. Crown Cap (Pop Off)
3. Label must be able to be removed

After looking through a few liquor stores, the two best I found were:

1. Modelo
2. Sol

Both are Mexican beers. Corona almost worked but the labels are etched onto the glass and can't be removed.

Sol was a little less expensive than Modelo too.

good luck!

Has Sol changed their bottles? They used to be painted on like Corona. At least here in Canada.

Steve