Why do we even bother with brown beer bottles?

[moto748]

Aren't clear bottles just better? More aesthetically pleasing, you can see exactly what's going on, etc. I have a 'sufficient' stock of empty bottles, but am gradually increasing the proportion of clear ones. In fact, the main obstacle is the relative rarity of 'deep collar' clear bottles, as discussed here previously.

I know people talk abut ultra-violet degradation, but is that really a serous issue? I would have thought in most cases the length of time between bottling and drinking rendered that effect negligible. And after all, I'm sure none of us store our beer on a window-sill!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I too like clear bottles but only have about 20 most of mine are brown with a few green.

 

[Sadfield]

It's an easy thing to answer for yourself, just bottle in both then store as normal, except for two bottles. Leave them on a kitchen worktop for a day and then compare the four options to each other. You'll either notice a difference or you won't.

For me, it's no to clear bottles.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Aren't clear bottles just better? More aesthetically pleasing, you can see exactly what's going on, etc. I have a 'sufficient' stock of empty bottles, but am gradually increasing the proportion of clear ones. In fact, the main obstacle is the relative rarity of 'deep collar' clear bottles, as discussed here previously.

I know people talk abut ultra-violet degradation, but is that really a serous issue? I would have thought in most cases the length of time between bottling and drinking rendered that effect negligible. And after all, I'm sure none of us store our beer on a window-sill!

I said the same thing to my husband when we started brewing and he insisted we use brown.

I hate brown ones they're ugly and a pain to fill unless you have good lighting.

They're not exactly gonna be on a shop shelf with bright lights anyway - and it doesn't seem to bother the makers of the clear fermenters.

I did buy a load of clear ones but use them for ciders mostly. But I agree with you and don't buy in to the idea that brown is best. Probably best if you neglect them, but otherwise no!!

 

[moto748]

Those bottles of commercial beer: Spitfire, Newky Brown, Brains SA, etc that sit on the supermarket shelf in clear bottles; doesn't seem to do them any harm.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Those bottles of commercial beer: Spitfire, Newky Brown, Brains SA, etc that sit on the supermarket shelf in clear bottles; doesn't seem to do them any harm.

This is true - I've had loads of skunky lagers in green ones though. Very unpleasant!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

This is true - I've had loads of skunky lagers in green ones though. Very unpleasant!

Might make a difference if they were exposed to daylight (UV) ?

 

[jceg316]

I went to a BJCP meeting once where a guy bought 2 bottles of some Czech style pils in green bottles. He kept one in a cool dark cupboard for 2 weeks and another on his window sill. The One kept in the cupboard tasted better, the window sill one tasked dank, and not necessarily in a good way.

I guess you could argue it would happen to any beer in any bottle, but maybe brown glass would minimise that happening. If you keep your bottles in dark cupboards anyway I guess it doesn't matter. Do what works for you!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I think that the last part of this, from a packing solutions company may have the answer:

Brown glass bottles are still the ideal material to use for bottling beer as it provides the ultimate protection against UV rays. However, there was a time during World War II when brown glass was in great demand. Many companies were not able to get brown glass to manufacturer beer bottles and had to create bottles made of green glass. The green color did not protect as well as the brown but did a better job than clear glass.​

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Beer producers started to use green glass to denote their higher quality beer. This made it easier for consumers to tell which beers were from higher class European breweries and as such, the green bottle become a symbol of status. Today’s beer manufacturers no longer need to use green glass out of necessity but some companies, like Heineken, are staying with the green bottles for branding and marketing purposes.​

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As for the clear glass bottles, thanks to modern technology today’s clear glass can be coated with a UV protectant to ensure beer stays just as fresh.​

 

[Sadfield]

Those bottles of commercial beer: Spitfire, Newky Brown, Brains SA, etc that sit on the supermarket shelf in clear bottles; doesn't seem to do them any harm.

They possibly bitter post fermentation with Tetrahop extract which doesn't suffer from lightstrike.

@The-Engineer-That-Brews I wonder how durable that coating is on bottles sold for single use.

 

[-Bezza-]

I wonder whether there's a certain aesthetic to not being able to see the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle?

I wonder if there's an environmental consideration too, e.g. is either brown or clear glass better to make or recycle (largely irrelevant to homebrew since it'll get a lot of re-use).

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

They possibly bitter post fermentation with Tetrahop extract which doesn't suffer from lightstrike.

"thanks to modern technology today’s clear glass can be coated with a UV protectant to ensure beer stays just as fresh"

 

[john48]

Basically all of the above.

Brown was historically used to protect the beer from exposure to light, it also helped to hide yeast and any other sediment (how much that ever bothered anyone is anyone's guess)

It is mostly traditional these days as UV coated clear glass is available so manufacturers could use it if they saw an advantage to it, some beers (lagers too) like corona etc already come in clear bottles.

However, people get used to the way bottled beer looks and if you suddenly start changing the bottle style or color it might affect the sales so marketers don't tend to rock the boat for the sake of it, unless a competitor is having record sales because of their clear bottles.. then brown is probably here to stay for the future.. it also might cost the manufacturer more to buy in clear glass.

For homebrew anything is probably ok as long as you don't keep it exposed to light if it is clear.. never had an issue bottling into brown bottles either, a bottle wand and a slow hand makes it easy to stop when the beer is at the mouth of the bottle. Did bottle some extra ale once into clear coke bottles when I ran out of my normal bottles mid bottling.. even plastic fizzy drinks bottles work fine provided they are clean, never tested one in sunlight though, might have to give that a go.

 

[Tanglefoot]

I have both brown and clear bit prefer clear as ( as Tess Tickle points out ) easier to fill and for me more pleasing to see the clarity of my beer.
I just make sure any clear bottles are kept in the dark in a box or crate.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I agree

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I too prefer clear bottles, I like to see what's going on and have never had any problems, though my bottles are kept in a dark shed. In fact the only issues i've had is with plastic pet bottles, the beer always comes out darker (oxidised i believe) from a plastic bottle than from a glass bottle.

 

[moto748]

I've given up with PET bottles. The beer just never tastes as good for me.

And I'm heartened that it's not just me!

 

[alfajerry]

I too like to see the beer. Easier to see when beer has cleared. Much easier to pour without sediment when you can see into the bottle. My filled bottles are all either in the fridge, in the boxes they came in, or in a windowless garage, so I have no problems.

 

[Clint]

BROWN!

 

[sifty]

I like brown too. But after reading this thread I've just rescued the Spitfire bottle from the recycling bin...

Will be nice to see what's going on in one bottle at least...