Coopers PET Bottles

[Halfacrem]

I've never been very happy with these bottles. The beer never seems to taste as good as when I keg and I find the carbonation is very hit and miss, with only a small percentage coming out nicely carbonated (I always batch prime). When I've used flip top glass bottles, carbonation and taste has been great.

My latest beer was part bottled, part kegged, after batch priming (106grams of dextrose for 22 litres). The beer from the Pressure barrel tastes great even after 2 weeks and is well carbonated. I tried a cheeky PET bottle last night and it was lacking in carbonation and tasted much much younger.

I checked the screw tops every night for the first week, giving them an extra tweak, so I'm certain they haven't leaked.

I've got quite a few glass flip tops and I'm inclined to pack up the PET bottles, however they are quite practical for transporting etc.

I'd be interested to hear other's opinions and experiences of these bottles.

 

[FatDad]

I use Coopers PET bottles and never had a problem yet (probably jinxing myself here by saying that). I really like them.

I am now leaning towards amber glass 500ml bottles now because I think they will last longer as the PET bottles can get pinched, pierced or warped after washing and storing away if you aren't careful.

But on the whole, they are a good, cost effective bottling solution and so far they have been carbing fine. I batch prime in them too when I can without any issues.

 

[wheazy_joe]

I have an absolute **** load of coppers PET bottles, but like the OP I'm not entirely happy with them. They are great for judging how the brew is carbing up, but I too find they are inconsistent. I also have a lot of glass bottles and see myself phasing the plastic out if I can.

 

[Halfacrem]

I have an absolute **** load of coppers PET bottles, but like the OP I'm not entirely happy with them. They are great for judging how the brew is carbing up, but I too find they are inconsistent. I also have a lot of glass bottles and see myself phasing the plastic out if I can.

Inconsistent is the word! Mine have never really firmed up very much during conditioning and neither have they ever really 'spritzed' upon opening, whereas I've had some very satisfying fizzes from glass flip top bottles.

I've been prepared to put down previously flat-ish bottles to inexperience, but I'm beginning to think perhaps my bottles just aren't very good.

 

[MyQul]

I changed about 200 coopers PET for glass at the start of the year as if I tried to condition my beer for a long time it would end up stale. I think maybe the oxy barring nature erodes after a while

 

[Redron]

Been using them for 18 months now and more brews than I care to mention :-o

I have no issues with them, they are cheap and easy and safe to clean and store.
I did a little experiment with some brews a while back and put six bottles of two different brews aside (John Bull IPA and Traditional English ale) for three months to see if a long maturation period would make a difference.
The result from both brews was a very highly carbonated beer with a big 'whoosh' on opening. They tasted fine but just way too gassy for me, significantly more than the same brews drunk at six weeks....

Perhaps I will do a little experiment with my next brew and distribute between Pet bottles, a keg ,and glass bottles and see what difference there is.

 

[Racinsnake]

Iv had no problems with PET at all either, except a minor hic up when I tried to dry them in a hurry with a hair dryer (wife's) I thought I was being very careful but 6 or so now look like they belong to John Merrick :shock:

 

[Halfacrem]

Thanks for your thoughts so far folks. I'm wondering if I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, or I somehow have a couple of boxes of second rate bottles. As I've bottled quite a few brews and had decent carbonation from the same brew in different vessels, I'm suspecting it might be the latter!.

I'll persevere for another couple of weeks with this brew and hope that it will improve. If not, I think I'll go over to glass bottles.

 

[mickthetrick]

do you batch prime or put sugar in bottles individually?
batch priming would be better i would think as you should have the same amount of sugar in each bottle and even carbonation.

 

[ManseMasher]

I use Coopers oxbar bottles, I batch prime, and have never (yet!) had any issues with them. Superb carbonation every time, and I like the way that sediment catches in the nobbly bits at the bottom of them. All in all absolutely no complaints. (I have got 4 corneys now though, so won't be bottling anywhere near as much!)

 

[Halfacrem]

do you batch prime or put sugar in bottles individually?
batch priming would be better i would think as you should have the same amount of sugar in each bottle and even carbonation.

All batch primed. I'm glad others have had good experiences with them.

 

[mickthetrick]

All batch primed. I'm glad others have had good experiences with them.

strange one isn't it.
personally i always prefered my beer from the keg compared to bottled. i very seldom use bottles, only if ive a big beer that i want to store for a period and then i use glass.
i gave my coopers bottles away.

 

[Xeno]

Not keen on them bottles at all. In my quest to keep things simple I thought I would use those exclusively, in my haste I bought another 2 cases in anticipation for my next brew.
Never again...
Bottles falling over and messing with screw caps got old fast..very fast.
Not to mention my bottling stick that came with the coopers kit dribbles regardless...


Now got 3 basic barrels +6 boxes of swing top bottles from the Range as backup.
Cornies are shouting but i gotta resist.


Now gotta try to palm of 2 boxes of pets..

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Not keen on them bottles at all. In my quest to keep things simple I thought I would use those exclusively, in my haste I bought another 2 cases in anticipation for my next brew.
Never again...
Bottles falling over and messing with screw caps got old fast..very fast.
Not to mention my bottling stick that came with the coopers kit dribbles regardless...


Now got 3 basic barrels +6 boxes of swing top bottles from the Range as backup.
Cornies are shouting but i gotta resist.


Now gotta try to palm of 2 boxes of pets..

I'm sure on my first brew that bottling stick was fine. Every brew since though it's dribbled.
Thankfully I thought after my first brew that I wasn't keen on the plastic bottles. I found someone selling a heap of Grolsch bottles and got those. I now use the plastic for the dregs at the bottom. I then can check on how carbonation is going by squeezing them. Plus I know it's the dregs in the plastic.

 

[Racinsnake]

Did someone mention THE mighty mariners????? :grin:

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Did someone mention THE mighty mariners????? :grin:

You're going to regret that Mate.

I support Bristol Rovers too.

 

[Halfacrem]

Right , that's it. Just opened a 4 week old PET bottle of Landlord extract clone. Totally f'in flat! Luckily, I only bottled a few. The Keg is nicely carbonated (perhaps slightly over carbonated), so not a batch prime issue. Glass from now on until I fall into the Corny trap!!

Anyone want to buy 48 Coopers PET Bottles?

What do you mean, no?