MR.BEER® COMMUNITY

I made an oops a while ago and didn't clean out a set of 1qt PET bottles. Some had just the dribbles left in it others were either part full or completely full.

They sat for about a 20 months like this.

Should I just junk them and buy a new set or will the serious cleaning that I gave them be sufficient?

I would toss them. Almost 2 years. Too long. Get caps, a capper & use bottles. I just do 1 Pet bottle per batch now as my carb tester.

There isn't anything wrong with the PET bottles, but I got 8 of them just sitting in a box in the basement.

I use glass bottles now. I just like them alot more. Personal preference.

Like BeerLabelMan said, get some caps, a capper, and drink some craft brews, Belgians, German brews, or anything that isn't a screw off top bottle.

Just make sure to let them sit long enough to carbonate. When you build more confidence and knowledge with your brews, you'll know when they are ready to try without needing a plastic bottle to do the squeeze test.

Thanks for the info. I like drinking from a glass so using 12oz bottles doesn't really help me too much.

I'll just pitch this set and buy a new set of bottles.

I'm telling ya man. For as much as those PET's cost, just buy a bottle capper and come caps.

Bottles are easy, just buy some of your favorite beers and keep the glass bottles! Reuse them over and over.

I really like using 22oz glass bomber bottles. It's basically the perfect bottle for me. And I can either pour two nice beers in a glass with huge head or a whole 22oz bottle into my oversized glass mug.

22oz Fischer fliptops, no capper or caps...

I agree with getting a bottle capper and caps. For me, I know that I am not always going to want to drink a full liter, especially once I start brewing some bigger beers. That's the beauty of the glass bottles; you can get them in many different sizes and they all come with free beer in them. The capper isn't really very expensive and it's a one-time cost. The caps themselves are dirt cheap.

aussiebear wrote:


I really like Fischer. The beer is good, the bottles are amber, they're flippies. Too bad I can't get them in Utah.

Still use a few PETs each batch. Would not use those old ones though. Use glass mainly because I like the size and when I need more they generally come with beer in them.

racer12306 wrote:


racer12306,

I don't mean to be nosey, but why can't you use 12 oz. glass bottles and still drink from a glass?

Just curious.

Hey, I agree with other posters. Glass is the way to go. I'm convinced beer tastes much better out of a glass bottle compared to PET bottles. Some pry-off suggestions for you: Sam Adams, most michelob craft beers, Sapporo (cool 16 oz bottles). Most fancy glass bottled waters are in pry-off tops also. Cheers!

I use some glass, some PET... No problems either way.

Sham Addams wrote:


No particular reason I guess.

Guess I need to go buy a case or two of Sam Adams Winter Lager.

Oh, don't twist my arm too much lol

Ye Gawdz I'm Lazy. I just keg mine. Pull the tap and wahzaah!
Other than that, you could soak them bottles in oxyclean, then give them a good follow up clean. You'll eventually move from those to glass bottles anyway, might as well start the collection. Or, just start saving your soda bottles (dark ones ... like root beer bottles [rinse in cold water only] to put your beer in.)

I am far from the first to post this but if you batch prime then this is the cats meow.

www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

You can carb in glass worry free of bombs if you batch prime and use this calculator.

Gets you right on the money with your carbination if you want to carb correctly according to style.

I do what a former BOTM and great man drdink suggested. There are several choices for each class. I use the one with the highest CO2 volumes.

Mutsy wrote:


I don't get it.. it says bottle priming input... but if your batch priming??

I had a similar predicament. I washed them and they were fine. I now bottle 4 1 liter pet bottles and 12 12oz glass with each batch.

Jcmccoy wrote:


Jcmccoy,

I believe they are differentiating between bottling and kegging. Just use you Mr. B 2.13 gallon for volume and proceed.

Keep posting.