Bottles: Glass or PET?

Tyler · Apr 1, 2015

Hi chaps (and chapesses!)

I'm thinking about buying some bottles for my next brew. What are the pros and cons of glass vs. PET?

Are PET bottles sturdy enough? Can you re-use them? Do they clean and sterilise as well as glass?

Thanks in advance.

Brewberoza · Apr 1, 2015

The only issue I had with PET was they were harder to clean. They would crimp if too hot water was used (I think about 60c was the killer). Also, those little dimples at the bottom were a depositry for yeast to get stuck in.
On the plus, the PET bottles can be squeezed and will expand back to position when the beer in side carbonates.

wheazy_joe · Apr 1, 2015

Hi there Tyler.

I did my first brew with plastic PET bottles and found them very easy to use. Cleaning no problem at all.

I then bought some glass bottles for my next brew. these are also great but more time consuming as capping is a bit fiddly.

The plastic bottles are easy to clean and re-use. The lids can also be reused but I tend to use new ones as they are about Â£1 for a pack of 25 so no great cost.

I am now at the point of buying more bottles for a brew I have on the go and I'm thinking of getting more plastic ones. Couple of other good points about the plastic bottles:

- no risk of bottle bombs
- re-use the box they come in for storing them once filled
- the 'grooved' bottom to the bottles is good for collecting the small amount of sediment (quick shake with warm water after drinking the beer gets rid of the sediment).
- squeezing the plastic bottles also lets you know how carbonation is coming along.

Glass looks more professional but is more expensive, heavier and time consuming.

Hope I've made sense!

LarryF · Apr 1, 2015

I use brown pet 500ml bottles, I give them a rinse and a shake half full after pouring to dislodge
any yeast. Â£13.75 for forty with lids:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Empty-Bro...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item5b0630cf39

Also, SWMBO loves 7-up free in 600ml bottles, 38 to a 23l brew and a full tsp of sugar in a 600ml bottle really works for me.

wheazy_joe · Apr 1, 2015

Interesting using 7-up bottles, never thought they would handle the pressure (even tho the 7-up is damn fizzy!).

Crusty · Apr 1, 2015

Yeah, any PET bottle that has had carbonated drink in it will work a treat. I've bought a load of 4 packs of 1 litre tescos soda water, which is on special offer at the moment. The soda water has gone straight down the sink, ready for my upcoming brew! Much cheaper than buying new bottles!

Tyler · Apr 1, 2015

Same here - I once used 2 litre pop bottles for home made ginger beer. Left one in the living room when I went away for the weekend, came home to find it had split the full length of the bottle and spent the next hour scrubbing the sticky gingery mess off the laminate floor :-O

wheazy_joe · Apr 1, 2015

Hmmmmm.. contrasting stories there!

Tyler · Apr 1, 2015

That's why I was wondering what other people's experience was with PET bottles. Once bitten, twice shy and all that!

wheazy_joe · Apr 1, 2015

Understandable! Not had any bother with the coppers plastic bottles so don't fret about using them .

ManseMasher · Apr 1, 2015

I've just bought 48 Coopers Ox-bars, they had better be alright!

LarryF · Apr 1, 2015

Crusty said:
Yeah, any PET bottle that has had carbonated drink in it will work a treat. I've bought a load of 4 packs of 1 litre tescos soda water, which is on special offer at the moment. The soda water has gone straight down the sink, ready for my upcoming brew! Much cheaper than buying new bottles!

Same as Crusty, I've got my Wilko Newkie Brown in them, and they're perfect for my bottling wand.

MyQul · Apr 1, 2015

ManseMasher said:
I've just bought 48 Coopers Ox-bars, they had better be alright!

I'm hoping your experinece is better than mine but I found them not to be very Oxi- barring at all and often had oxidised beer if I kept it for more than about 3 months. Also I found screwing down 40 odd bottle tops as tight as I could a right PITA.

reincarnationfish · Apr 2, 2015

I used Sainsbury's carbonated spring water bottles Â£1.40 for 6x500ml

Cwrw666 · Apr 2, 2015

I'd go with glass every time. For one thing they're free with any beer you buy from the supermarket. Or you can get them free from pubs etc.
I use a mixture of flip top grolsch bottles which I've had for donkeys years, and ex supermarket beer and cider bottles which need capping - personally although capping slows the job up, i find it very satisfying, as is popping the caps off when opening a bottle.

kngsze · Apr 2, 2015

I second Cwrw666 on this - glass is a better long term solution.

I used the coopers pet bottles for quite a while when I started and I had very few issues with them. They held my beer fine and I had no oxidation issues that I can remember - they were fine.

However they just don't last as long. If you are putting a lot of beer on those bottles you will have to replace them - I had walls bulge & split over time. Whereas glass, if looked after, will last almost forever..... and you get a beer with each bottle as Cwrw666 says!

TitanicStruggle · Apr 2, 2015

I've got the PET bottles from the Coopers starter kit which are doing the job just fine on my last beer but building up a collection of 500ml bottles for my current HB. Got about 30 various badger brewery, black sheep etc. bottles ready to go. I think there's something nicer about having them in a glass bottle.

jamesw · Apr 2, 2015

PET bottles are great!
Ive had no isues cleaning them, i jsut put hot soapy water in them when ive finished and they almost always just rinse out.
Glass is fine, if you want to use second hand, but since 24 pet can be bought for about Â£10 if you get the right place, its easy to pick up several boxes on the cheap.
PET also has the added advantage of squeezability, for testing how carbonated your bottled brew is becoming :P

wheazy_joe · Apr 2, 2015

Combination of glass and PET works for me. Got 48 plastic, 24 glass I bought and a bunch of glass I kept from commercial beers. Need more bottles for next brew, so gonna get 24 plastic and 12 glass from local brew shop. Whoever said this hobby would save money???

Brewed_Force · Apr 2, 2015

For my first brew I used brown PET bottles for a milk stout. I was disappointed with the finished level of carbonation and assumed I'd under-primed. Then I bought 500ml glass bottles and crown capped a Coopers Draught, with the same amount of priming sugar. This ended up with a 'proper' level of carbonation, even when chilled.
Then I did a Coopers English Bitter, in glass bottles, with a couple of PET to check it was carbonating. The beer in the glass bottles is very lively when opened (i.e. open over the sink!) but the PET has very little carbonation and poor head retention.
I can only think that the PET bottles are not sealing as effectively as the crown caps.
Also, glass bottles are bigger than an equivalent PET so psychologically you think you are getting a bigger drink!

Bottles: Glass or PET?

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