where do you get your bottles?

[Oliver]

Try this thread, too http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=177

Oliver

[tcc]

there's a fella selling nice 750 crown seal bottles up here in brissy for $5 a dozen - the ones xxxx used to be in 7 or so years ago

he still has like 10 dozen - the ads in the weekend shopper

[Clintsc9]

Here's an eBay one for Brissy people:-

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/60-X-750ml-Crown ... dZViewItem

Ends 04-Nov-05 19:12:11 AEDST

[king_canute]

g'day fellas.

great site.First post.

Hopefully someone can help with a couple of suggestions.

Looking to build a empty bottle collection for HB.I blundered into buying a slab of boags draft thinking they were roll tops this arvo.Doh.

I have a super automatica,will I still be able to get away with using them despite having a twist top neck?

More importantly can someone suggest a few reasonablypriced beers that come in 375ml stubbie size that have rolltops.Preferably brown.

cheers.

[silkworm]

Hi King,
I Use quite a few Heineken bottles - although they are green. They are good to drink from and quite often on special.
Also twist tops are fine to use with the capper but might not last as long. I've only ever cracked on bottle and that was during sanitising not bottling.
Happy brewing

[gregb]

KC,

In 375ml roll tops your choices are limited to Hahn Prem, Crown Lager, VB Original Ale or Bundaberg Ginger Beer. In terms of the having to empty the bottles, taste alone is on the Bundy Ginger Beer. The VB OA is a good bottle, but I wouldn't use the shit that comes inside them to poison the neighbors cat. The Hahn is an ok drop, but the bottle is green. Clown lager has its fans and critics, personally I'd rather someone else drank it and gave me the empty.

The Matilda Bay range come in 345ml roll top bottles, the Rooftop Red and Pilzner are very easy to drink. The MSB James Squires range also come in 345ml roll tops. I'll report later on the limited edition strong ale. At drinking stage you don't really notice the missing 30ml.

Twist tops are fine with a bench capper, I find the Tooheys and Carlton Draught stubbies cap almost as easily as the rolltops. A reccy through most recycling bins will net you a supply.

Darwin stubbies are also roll top, but a little bigger than the requested 375ml.

Cheers,
Greg

[anti-fsck]

Clown lager has its fans and critics, personally I'd rather someone else drank it and gave me the empty.

Bugger me, but have you ever tried to get the bloody labels off those Crownie stubbies? I gave up and binned the ones I had. Almost as bad as the Stirling labels.

[grabman]

I soak the crownie stubbies for 2-3 days in bleach solution to remove labels. Start it out hot and then let it cool. Seems to work, but otherwise they are the worst to get labels off

[Simo]

I soak all my new bottles (new being donated) in warm watr and bleach for up to 24 hours. Crownie labels tend to slide off and leave a little residue for scrubbing. I gave up on Tuborg bottles completely. My old man drinks a lot of it so i thought it would be a good supply of bottles. After hours of soaking in hot water (which was kept warm) the labels didnt budge. Even after trying to pick them off I got very little done!
I was at the Mountain Goat brewery on friday night and was very jealous of their massive crates of empty brown crownseals.

[king_canute]

Ok thanks for the mail guys.Most helpful.

I find it amazing how few roll top stubbies there are available these days.Love the look of those James Squires amber ale bottles but couldn't force myself to shell out the 58$ for a slab.

Bought a slab of VB OA today and didn't think it tasted that bad.

[undercover1]

I don't want to sound like I'm belittling your efforts to make your brews as good as they can be, KC, but in my opinion the whole rolltop vs. twistie debate is pointless.
A decent bench capper (like the mighty Super Automatica) will cap either type of bottle with no difference in the seal. A bit of practice with a hand capper & mallet will do the same. Case in point- on the weekend I was drinking a JS Amber that I bottled in a twist top, using a hand capper, last August, and it was fine.
The older rolltops look a bit better, and if I had a big stash of them I'd use them for that reason alone, but twisties will do the job just as well.

[Tyberious Funk]

I don't want to sound like I'm belittling your efforts to make your brews as good as they can be, KC, but in my opinion the whole rolltop vs. twistie debate is pointless.
A decent bench capper (like the mighty Super Automatica) will cap either type of bottle with no difference in the seal. A bit of practice with a hand capper & mallet will do the same. Case in point- on the weekend I was drinking a JS Amber that I bottled in a twist top, using a hand capper, last August, and it was fine.
The older rolltops look a bit better, and if I had a big stash of them I'd use them for that reason alone, but twisties will do the job just as well.

As a general rule, I find that capping screw tops takes more physical force. I have a batch of stout that was bottled in coopers bottles (screw tops) and by the time I finished capping the last bottle I was buggered. By comparison, I found snapping the caps on a bunch of stella bottles (crown seals) was a breeze. There are exceptions of course... such as the Crown stubbies which are rolltops but still require some force to get on.

Of course, this is all with a bench capper... so it's all relative so to speak. I couldn't even begin to imagine bottling with a hand capper. But then I was fortunate enough to pick up a bench capper from BigW for $35 (new) when I first started brewing. I never want to have a mallet, rubber or otherwise, anywhere near my beer

[Dogger Dan]

I know about the super automatica but I like my little butterfly

Dogger

[NTRabbit]

I was just round at the local Booze Bros. picking up a birthday gift for my dad when I spotted the empties bin on my way back to the car (its a Drive Thru, that I dont drive through, attached to the Vic Hotel) Couldnt help myself, backed my car up to the bin and grabbed all the intact stubbies. In hindsight, I should have grabbed the champagne bottles as well, enough of them and it would be worth picking up the capping bell for them from Grumpys.

Im now up to 40x 330ml XS Stubbies, 70x 345ml S Stubbies, 326x 375ml Stubbies for a grand total of 406 stubbies. Add to that 60x 483ml Grolsch swingtops, 60x 750ml PET bottles and 12x 1L swingtops.

I hope I dont run out of space, cant afford a keg system yet

[silkworm]

Rabbit,

You don't use those Grolsh bottles do you?
They are really crap !!
Capping is soooooooo much more fun.
I'll take them off your hands for you if you want...
The same offer goes for everyone else as well if you like....

It's just the kind of guy I am...

[NTRabbit]

Na I think I'll hold onto them

[yardglass]

Went to the Tip Shop again this arv, got another doz roll tops in shit hot plastic crates.

$8.

scabbing on
yardy

Hey Silk,

How did you go with that free Fridge ?

[Apprentice Brewmaster]

Coming in a little late here....... But it is my first post

I used buy long necks, and drink them, use them to bottle my home brew. I haven't been brewing long, probably about 5 weeks or six weeks or so,and had about 200 bottles ready and waiting. However, i have the HB bug bad now, and my rate of production has seriously out stripped my rate of consumption. I was buying plenty of "3 pack racks", and encourageing every one to drink long necks.

My plan was to not even bother with the roll tops. Thinking "its gotta be cheaper...."

However Upon doing a little math over the last few days ( and enquiring with my local HB store and mulling it over, i've come to the conclusion: Its not worth drinking bottle upon bottle of twist top longnecks just to get to the bottles, which is what i was doing.

My reasoning:

3 pack rack (750ml) = $10-$11, have to drink beer (this is the good point!), have to clean the labels off, for your $10-$11 you get 3 long necks. Also, potential hazardous to your health if using a hand capper. (does anyone actually use those things any more???).

12 pack of roll top bottles (640ml) = $12 (from my local HB store), minimal washing of bottle to be done, no pealing of labels, nice stong bottle. though, having no contents to consume being really the only bad point

So, there is my spin on things.

Conclusion, drinking longnecks, just to get to the bottles, not really worth it.

Buying longnecks blank, ready to go, not a bad investment.

Getting any longneck be it roll or twist top for free = PRICELESS

So, there's my 1.5c after tax.

Bit of a ramble for a first post, just thought i'd throw some math up for everyone.

Great forum guys, i've really enjoyed browsing, thought it was time i joined A gret source of info, without alot of the BS.

(heh heh cheers!)

Tim C

[undercover1]

Sorry to piss on your parade AB, but a 640ml is not a longneck. You will have a lot of fun tweaking your priming sugar with those- unless you are bulk priming.
Swallow your pride, hit a few recycling bins, or turn your mates into alkies with the promise of free HB down the track- say 6 empties will get them 1 full.

[Apprentice Brewmaster]

Sorry to piss on your parade AB, but a 640ml is not a longneck.

nuff said........ out of curiosity, what the hell shall i call these vessels that hold 640ml......