Plastic or glass bottles?

[DanielB]

Please do direct me as I'm sure this topic must have been discussed...but a reasonable search and I couldn't find anything....

So...bottling (cider)... I have amber 500ml glass bottles (and caps etc).

I also have new 500ml amber PET plastic bottles with caps.

My dilemma, which is entirely self created (!) is that as I read and learn all I can about this brewing malarkey, I am experimenting with sweetness/yeast inactivation etc.

Rather than fermentation to dry and sweeten with artificial sweeteners, I was looking to sweeten with sugar/honey/cordial etc...

I understand that campden tablets and potassium sorbate don't necessarily stop fermentation.

I was therefore exploring pasteurising...to definitely inactivate the yeast and so allow the sugar to remain - and either stop fermentation before dry; or to ferment to dry as normal but back sweeten with 'sugar'.

But then got all concerned about glass bottles exploding in the heat/water bath (off the boil water, but contents at 65°c).

So I bought some PET bottles...but only now realise they are - really - single use, and not heat resistant.

Any experience of non PET bottles? Or any other thoughts?

So...just, as ever, interested in your experiences and opinions....

I've got a lot of homebrew coming through...(ciders and fruit wines)...but as yet nothing ready to drink...

 

[xozzx]

I used to pasteurise cider in grolsch flip top bottles. Heated water to 80C then left the bottles in for 10 mins. I occasionally got a hiss as gas escaped through the seals but never had a bomb. I did wear a diving mask, leather jacket and oven mitts while doing it tho!!

 

[Bigcol49]

did wear a diving mask, leather jacket and oven mitts while doing it tho!!

PHOTOS!!!!!

 

[DanielB]

Thanks! That is reassuring, in a round about kinda way!

When I had a practice pasteurising...I did wear goggles as well....