where do you get your bottles?

[Simo]

g'day.
I've got two brews sitting in their bottles and I just put down a Coopers Pale ale (with brew enhancer 2, 300g honey, 100g light dry crystal malt, 19L) and am trying to source my next batch of bottles.
I've got a small, somewhat steady supply comming in from friends and such but this isn't really going to cut it and I'd like to avoid buying a box from the HBS for as long as possible (I don't have anything against the HBS, its just I'm being cheap this week and next due to my big weekend just been!)
Do any melbourne folk know of any recycling plants that give away/sell bottles (crown seal)? I've only tried a handfull and am yet to have any luck.

Any help would be really appreciated. I'm in Hampton (SE suburbs) but I don't mind a bit of a drive if the price is right.
Thanks
Simon.

[NTRabbit]

I have a friend of the family who gives me a couple of cases every now and then, i get them from friends when we do something and someone brings a random sixpack, i get them from relatives, i went to a recycling place and picked up 60 grolsch bottles and 30 crown lager bottles on the sly at 50c and 20c each respectively, i occasionally buy a 6 pack myself and my dad still buys a case of something cheap every 6 months or so.

So, just a few sources.

[gregb]

I find a weekly walk around the local Train/Bus interchange and the carparks near the pubs will usually net me 6 to 12 stubbies, and that is only picking up the Crown Lager, Tooheys and Carlton Draught stubbies. Plus a few Tooheys long necks.

If I were using the CUB 800ml bottles and VB stubbies I think the weekly reccy would end up oversupplying me with bottles.

Cheers,
Greg.

[Tyberious Funk]

g'day.
I've got two brews sitting in their bottles and I just put down a Coopers Pale ale (with brew enhancer 2, 300g honey, 100g light dry crystal malt, 19L) and am trying to source my next batch of bottles.
I've got a small, somewhat steady supply comming in from friends and such but this isn't really going to cut it and I'd like to avoid buying a box from the HBS for as long as possible (I don't have anything against the HBS, its just I'm being cheap this week and next due to my big weekend just been!)
Do any melbourne folk know of any recycling plants that give away/sell bottles (crown seal)? I've only tried a handfull and am yet to have any luck.

Any help would be really appreciated. I'm in Hampton (SE suburbs) but I don't mind a bit of a drive if the price is right.
Thanks
Simon.

I'm in a similar boat... if you find any recyclers (or anywhere else for that matter) that doesn't mind offloading some of their bottles, let me know!

[undercover1]

Simo,
Keep an eye on eBay.
Buy yourself the odd few bottles of Coopers, and force yourself to drink them- it's an investment in your HB future.
Come to beautiful St Kilda on a Sunday morning & ferret through the bins behind the bars. Also the alkies out the back of Safeway often leave a few empties behind.
Hit up your local cricket/bowls club.
Our best score was the recycling bins of East Melbourne- man but the people up there drink. But sadly like most places the council has phased out the black boxes in favour of wheelie bins.

[yardglass]

Simo,

Also try putting a note on the Notice Board of your local Supermarket.

I got all the tallies i need from retired Brewers who quite often have a few dozen sitting in the shed. Free.

yardglass

[Simo]

Simo,
Buy yourself the odd few bottles of Coopers, and force yourself to drink

force myself...I love the stuff! It's too bad they are twist tops tho.

I'll take all the suggestions on board and let you know if I find any recycling plants that are helpfull.

Cheers.

[Tyberious Funk]

Simo,
Buy yourself the odd few bottles of Coopers, and force yourself to drink

force myself...I love the stuff! It's too bad they are twist tops tho.

They cap ok, though... I noticed that they take a bit more effort than crown seals, but they still cap tightly.

[Simo]

ah damn. I've thrown out tonnes of the suckers since I started brewing. Oh well, live and learn.

[undercover1]

Twist tops are fine- I don't know where this myth started but they are basically all I use, and the only problems I have ever had with capping them are down to me putting the cap on crooked. I use a mighty Super Automatica, which makes all the difference.
On a related note, Simo, I will warn you now that if you up your intake of beer to get your empties, stand by for snide remarks galore about your HB plans just being an excuse to get on the beer now.
My ex-wife was a master at this- I was well on my way to amassing 120 longnecks (ie 4 batches worth) over a couple of months, from drinking some and scavenging others, and she would not let it go. She shut up for a minute when I had the brews in the bottle, then whinged I wouldn't make her red wine.

[General]

All my stubbies came from the pub, I just ask the guy behind the bar if he has any empty VB stubbies, I usually get about a slab worth each time, and they don't even mind putting them in shopping bags for me.

The pub is the Seagulls one under the overpass in Newport, Melbourne Rd.

[Daron]

I empty them down my throat, refill them with my own. But how many do most brewers have on hand?
I esitmate I'ev got about 200+ bottles. Am about to move and desperately trying to fill them to make the move enjoyable on the arrival end!

[Jay]

I started off with all coppers brand plastic bottles (about 60) coz they can be picked up cheap from the supermarket (or you can use soft drink bottles) and just made a conscious effort to buy cartons of longnecks every so often rather than buy a carton of stubbies. Now most of my batches are bottled 1:4 plastic:glass. I've found that the material of bottle (be it glass of plastic) made no difference to the flavour of my stouts and darker ales when compared directly.

Undercover,
my wife makes exactly the same noises about my collecting and storing of old bottles. Problem is she's prone to throwing them out if I leave them lying around for long enough...I note that you mentioned ex-wife.

I use a bench top capper and the screwcaps go fine. Only time I've lost bottles is due to drunken lapses of leaving homebrew in the freezer, the missus had issues with this also.

Cheers,
Jay.

[scblack]

Why do wives have SUCH an issue with our homebrewing?

Its like everytime I am drinking one, buying a kit, cleaning bottles, or whatever, i MUST justify why I am doing this.

Pretty annoying it gets.

[Tyberious Funk]

Why do wives have SUCH an issue with our homebrewing?

I'm frequently reminded just how lucky I am.... Mrs Funk is very tolerant of homebrewing. She even helps me on bottling day. Sadly, she doesn't drink any of the stuff, which is a shame because I'd love for her get some of the enjoyment out of the hobby that I do.

[yardglass]

Why do wives have SUCH an issue with our homebrewing?

I'm frequently reminded just how lucky I am.... Mrs Funk is very tolerant of homebrewing. She even helps me on bottling day. Sadly, she doesn't drink any of the stuff, which is a shame because I'd love for her get some of the enjoyment out of the hobby that I do.

Mrs Glass is very much the same, even keeps an eye on airlocks for me.

[undercover1]

The current undercover partner is much more agreeable, subject to an understanding that 40l batches of all juice cider with her name on them will keep rolling off the production line. And that the brewery floor will be mopped every so often.

[gregb]

...every so often...

Yep, once a year whether it needs it or not.

[Oliver]

This thread might help

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57

Cheers,

Oliver

[silkworm]

Yes I'm also a blessed man as Mrs Worm not only tolerates my more fanatical moments of HB she also loves the game of Rugger especially the Bledisloe Cup.

I must have about 130 longnecks, 50 stubbies, 2 X 1.5 litre Grolsh bottles (man I wish I had more of these ), 10 Grolsh, 30 PET, 10 X 500ml european. This ecclectic mix has come from drinking, with a few from parties, and 3 boxes from a neighbour in a council clean-up.

I'd suggest if you need bottles organise a long neck party with a few mates call it a beer bottling event! Get them around at the right time when the brew is ready for bottling and then give them a few for the road to take home....say a trade of bring 6 drink and take home 2 full with the HB they bottled. You'd be up 4/person and in no time rack'em'up.

It might end up being a regular event. Dad used to have wine bottling parties in the 80s which were a laugh and filled the cellar for a couple of months.