glass bottles, PET bottles or pressure barrel?

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sc0ttie

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I have a pressure barrel (wilko) which leaked co2 when i tried it in a previous brew and rendered most of my beer flat :(
I have PET bottles but some are beginning to show signs of age now and have to be thrown away.
I could get glass beer bottles, from my own consumption and from family and friends, then but myself a crown capper.
I suppose if I use my pressure barrel again I will need to purchase the lid with the co2 valve to stop it being flat again.
My question is, which would be the best method? I like that bottles will carbonate well but hate all the cleaning involved. I worry if I buy a co2 valve for the pressure barrel that I will have more issues and lose my beer again.
Any opinions?
 
I use glass bottles. I don't understand technology at all, and pressure barrels would do my head in I suspect, having read threads about them. I'm probably wrong.

I make small batches so bottling is not too much of a PITA. And I've got quicker. I wash bottles as I use them and store them in plastic containers with lids. On bottling day I use a bottle steriliser jet thing that cost £8 with starsan in it and sterilise in no time. I siphon the beer to the bottling bucket with sugar dissolved in boiling water and sometimes a hop tea, then I actually use a jug to fill the bottles. Not best practice but I've had no problems. It's quick and I spill nothing. Keep meaning to invest in a tap for the bottling bucket, and a bottling wand.

Capping doesn't take long now I'm used to it. Last week I put 6.5 litres of porter into 14 bottles in about half an hour total. Made priming solution (5 mins max), siphon (5-10 mins), sterilise (5 mins), fill (10 mins), cap (10 mins), clean buckets (5 mins). I guess 40 bottles would take an hour or maybe a bit more.

Bottles can be transported and go in the fridge. And no gas to pay for. I sometimes think it would be nice to pull a pint from a barrel though....
 
Others will have their own views, Sc0ttie, but I personally always bottle my beers in glass with a crown capper (sometimes use Grolsch swing-tops when I can.)

I do this because: I like to age my beers and compare how they taste from month to month. I also prefer the old fashioned feel of pouring beer from a glass as opposed to plastic (though I have a trusty few sprite bottles that I use as a test to see how carbonated the beer is.)

Never used pressure barrels and I doubt I will; to each his own.
 
Am also planning on getting a bench capper this year too and swapping from coopers PET to glass as I am a bit concerned I'm not screwing the tops on tight enough.

Have read good things about bench cappers. Bit of an investment as there 3 times the price of lever cappers but i) I think it will help me to futher speed up bottling day ii) I can ofset the cost a bit as I can have as many free bottles from my LHBS as I like as they run a micro brewery bottle shop as a side interest and always have loads of empties
 
I have used a bench capper, and I want one! When the funds can be justified.

Have just found this Irish online brewing supplier which looks great - 25kg base malt for £18! And other bargains.

http://www.geterbrewed.com/

Not checked delivery costs yet, but the Homebrew company deliver from Ireland at the same cost as UK suppliers.
 
imho using 2 or 3 1.5-3l pet bottles in a batch helps cutting down on the bottle washing and prep needed and provides for the occasion when you have a few folk round for a sample as long as you have a big enough jug to decant into..
 
I have used a bench capper, and I want one! When the funds can be justified.

Have just found this Irish online brewing supplier which looks great - 25kg base malt for £18! And other bargains.

http://www.geterbrewed.com/

Not checked delivery costs yet, but the Homebrew company deliver from Ireland at the same cost as UK suppliers.

Some really good prices, nice find!

Fortunately for me my LHBS has quite large range (plus no P&P costs as I can cycle to Brixton about 20 mins) but of course they don't have everything a good online shops has so this may be a good place for me to get the more exotic specialty malts I often see and am intrigued by
 
I've only done a few kits and I use glass bottles and a crown capper. I prefer glass over the PET bottles only because my very first brew wasn't that good and I blame the plastic bottles,nothing to do with my inexperience - no no no.
Plus I like my beer chilled so if I could find a small keg that would fit in the fridge I would probaby give it a go
 
@Joey and others who use a few pet bottles to test carbonation; how reliable/easy to tell is this method? For instance can an under carbed bottle feel ok, or one that feels good be over carbed?

I've used a few clear glass bottles to check clarity etc but haven't bothered with pet.

Also, by the time it's bottled, is there anything you can do about over or under carbonated beer? Other than learn for next time, but then you wouldn't need pet for that, you'd just see when you opened one of the current batch anyway...
 
It's as reliable as any other method I suppose. The difference is that most PET bottles firm up quite substantially when fully carbed ( I tend to give my bottles a shake a couple of times in the first few weeks to ensure true mixing has taken place.

I tend to apply the rule of thumb as follows: for a 500ml bottle I would use about a teaspoon-full of dextrose, for 330ml about half of that. Though I would much rather have a slightly fizzy beer than a flat beer.

Sadly I am really bad at waiting for beer to be 'ready' (just ask SWMBO!)
 
Ditto! Chances of any of it lasting past two months is slim. Unless I have dry January (as if).

Kegging my current wherry anyway but might chuck a bit into some pets as an experiment.

Shaking is interesting too, haven't thought of that, my philosophy was to keep as still as poss, though I guess immediately after bottling couldn't hurt.

Every day's a school day, eh?
 
I have tried glass bottles,crown cap pet and now use king kegs.I gave up on the glass bottles that my local pub provided as they seemed to put a lot of strain on my hand capper. I have about 60 crown cap PET bottles and use these mainly for my ciders. I have heard a few that feel the PETS are not good for long conditioning as they leak CO2 and absorb oxygen but I have never experienced this. More recently I have started brewing ales and keg using a couple of king kegs which i keep cool in the garage. Again I have heard a few bad reviews for King Kegs but again I have had no problems with Co2 leakage.I particularly like the sparklet taps which deliver a good pint every time and now this is my preferred storage method.
 

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