Swing top bottles

Our environment and foods and drink are full of 'chemicals'. Each has a different risk level. Tobacco smoke carries a major known risk so most now avoid it. There are nitrites in processed meat and toxins apparently in barbequed meat, but I'll bet most folks don't give that a second thought when they eat a corned beef sandwich perhaps or a burger off the barbeque, or if they do they just eat less.
As homebrewers we are exposed to all sorts of chemicals in the kit we use, plastic FVs, plastic tubes, sanitising chemicals, campden tablets etc etc, some of which gets into the beer. But the chemical that creates the most danger to us all due to its concentration and known toxicity is the very thing we strive to produce which of course is ethyl alcohol, and thats ignoring all the other organics that are present in smaller concentrations due to the fermentation process.
So if you willingly saviour your 5%ABV beer or 10 %ABV cider it is ludicrous in my view to have any concern about the slight possibility of a few ppb of a rogue PET based chemical being in your drink. There are certainly bigger risks to your health out there and certainly in your glass.

There must also be a question of timescales too. I mean you're not going to get cancer immediately and it must surely be a cumulative effect that takes many many years to reach a dangerous level. And then how many plan to be around for that long anyway.

By similar arguments, shouldn't everyone be using organic grain?

I agree with Chippy that they have a barrier but it does break down with use l also believe that they are ok for short use such as beer mail etc

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I still ferment in a plastic FV which i assume does not have the same barrier the bottles do i guess as we don't store our home brew in them the leaching problem is not such a problem.

terrym said:

So if you willingly saviour your 5%ABV beer or 10 %ABV cider it is ludicrous in my view to have any concern about the slight possibility of a few ppb of a rogue PET based chemical being in your drink. There are certainly bigger risks to your health out there and certainly in your glass.

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The problem is we don't know if the bottles not designed for storing our home brew are leaching a little or a lot of chemicals we all know the dangers of over doing alcohol (well if you believe the ever changing advice given by the government) but this leaching problem is a total unknown, switching to glass is a fairly cheap (often free from pubs) option if members are concerned.

terrym said:

I'll bet most folks don't give that a second thought when they eat a corned beef sandwich perhaps or a burger off the barbeque, or if they do they just eat less.

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I have just this minute finished a plate of corned beef hash SWMBO made early this morning and put in the slow cooker probably not the healthiest meal but i don't eat it often and it was excellent.

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Is there anything worse than attending a music concert and having to drink a pint from a plastic tumbler?

Surely this ends the argument?

Plastic is evil, especially when its a fiver a pint...

skulltat280 said:

It must just be me but I can't see how swing tops can cut so much time off bottling. It takes 2 seconds to put a cap on, I'm guessing the same for swing tops?

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Speed is kind of relative here; it's not like it takes forever to cap a bottle. The advantages I see are swing tops can be closed without moving the bottle once it's filled from the wand, can close them with one hand and there are fewer to fill if using the 16oz Grolsch.

Keep in mind, this is just a fun discussion for me because it's about beer.

I use a partner when I bottle. The bucket goes on the counter and I sit in, basically, an almost legless lawn chair with the bottling wand in my hand. I fill and then lock the bottle mechanism so it's really just that the bottle doesn't move once it's filled. Also, the swing tops I'm aware of are a 1/2 liter so that would be, usually, 36-37 bottles to fill.

stephen1546 said:

Swing tops seems to be the way forward..

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I love them.
I didn't read below but your statement is likely to start a war (kegging, capping and who knows what else). It would, at least, on the US site.

davidfromUS said:

The bucket goes on the counter and I sit in

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Really???? Do you leave your underpants on??

davidfromUS said:

Speed is kind of relative here; it's not like it takes forever to cap a bottle. The advantages I see are swing tops can be closed without moving the bottle once it's filled from the wand, can close them with one hand and there are fewer to fill if using the 16oz Grolsch.

Keep in mind, this is just a fun discussion for me because it's about beer.

I use a partner when I bottle. The bucket goes on the counter and I sit in, basically, an almost legless lawn chair with the bottling wand in my hand. I fill and then lock the bottle mechanism so it's really just that the bottle doesn't move once it's filled. Also, the swing tops I'm aware of are a 1/2 liter so that would be, usually, 36-37 bottles to fill.

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I use pint bottles and only move the capper, I'm not sure how you put caps on lol

Im not saying swing tops wouldn't be handy but putting a cap on is fast so not convinced (in my head) a lot of time could be saved bottling 30 or 40 pints

I was given another 16 grolsch bottles and crate today. Happy days

Re plastic bottles: my tapwater is softest in the country and ales prefer harder water. So I buy 9x50cc cheap flat HARD mineral water to enhance the water, and keep some of the bottles for 'early access'. Keeping them in the dark, I can check on the carbing, debris and colour. After use they're binned.