For Sale: Quart (2 pint) flagons internal screw stopper

[chastuck]

I have moved into mainly kegging and occasional bottling by the pint with crown caps now, so I have a large number of the old type brown glass quart flagons with internal screw stoppers for sale. They are sometimes known as cider quart flagons. All of them are in excellent condition and very clean as until quite recently they were my main method of dispense. Some of these bottles date back to when I started home brewing 40 years ago. All the old stone screw stoppers, which were difficult to sterilise, have been replaced with black hard plastic stoppers over time, and all have had new red rubber washers fitted periodically. I have always taken great care in cleaning and sterilising these prior to filling and after use when empty. The stoppers and washers are no longer sold, so they might be worth buying for this aspect alone if you are using this type of bottle. I have a small quantity of unused washers and I saved a small number of the old stone stoppers as well if someone particularly wants these, depending on the number of bottles purchased.

I have about 70 of these bottles, possibly more as I haven't counted them all and some still have beer in I haven't drunk from recent brews! (I will drink the beer before you get the bottle). I would prefer to sell them in batches of 5 or 10, or larger. I am offering them at a £1 each per bottle. Buyer must collect, or perhaps send their own courier, as being large and made of glass they are difficult to post. I can supply cardboard boxes for loose packing. I have three old red plastic Unigate dairy crates which each hold 16 (32 pints) of these bottles very nicely. Anyone buying a batch of 16 gets the crate thrown in. I travel once a week over the SE home counties and SE London, so I might be able to deliver if you are in no rush. Send me a pm if interested.

 

[scotruss]

Hi there,
I wonder if you can help me. I have quite a few of these large glass stone topped screw top bottles which were my father's. I want to start brewing again but all the rubber seals on the bottles are well perished and I cannot source any more.
I remember my father cutting new seals from natural rubber pipe...the kind used for Bunsen burners and the like and then putting them in boiling water so that they would soften and slip onto the top of the bottle.
Do you know of anywhere I could get this tubing or similar rubber seals for the bottles.
Thank you
scotruss

 

[Graz]

Funny this topic has come up, and apologies to the OP for the slight post hijack.

So remembering my Dad (RIP) had given me some beer bottles years ago that I'd stuck in boxes in my shed somewhere I went looking for them and found several with the internal screw stoppers. Thought it would be great to use the again but as per the previous poster the rubbers on the stoppers were perished. I had a bit of a Google and as suggested it seems like most places have stopped selling them. I did however find an eBay seller but they wanted silly money for them, about £1 each or something daft.

Bit more Googling and it would seem like a length of silicon rubber pipe of the right diameter can be chopped up to make new seals. I'm going to give this a go at some stage. Got to be worth a try :)

 

[terrym]

I would be cautious in using these bottles.
I know the sort you are referring to since I used them myself in the 1970s, so they are 40 years old possible more.
The problem is that they weaken with time plus they were designed for a finite number of return trips, so their pressure rating falls the older they get. That was confirmed to me many years ago by a friend who worked in the glass industry at a senior technical level.
So if you proceed, be careful, bottle bombs can be dangerous.