Plastic Bottles

[beercanuck]

Hey all,

I've heard from an HBS guy that plastic bottles as found in HB packs are prone to splitting after 6-8 uses. Is there any truth to this?

Regards

Beer Canuck

[mickey P]

I've heard that after repeated use the plastic in PET bottles breaks down and release cancer causing toxins into your liquid

regards

Michael

[Dogger Dan]

I think if you are dosing them with hot water (160 + F)it will cause the plastic to become brittle as it is outside of the temp spec for them. I have used a chlorine based (bleach) sterilant and never had a problem.

Not to sure about the cancer part but I find unlikely otherwise human outpouring would have changed it a long time ago. Look where it is used. Regardless, I use glass rather than plastic so I am safe

Dogger

[Oliver]

Check out this reference from Snopes, the Urban Legends Reference Pages: Reusing plastic water bottles can cause them to break down into carcinogenic compounds.

Cheers,

Oliver

[stevem]

Yes, if it was true I should have been dead years ago. Have been drinking water out of recylced softdrink bottles for years.
Steve

[Isaac]

You can't age the beer long in a plastic bottle - they gradually let the CO2 out so they'll go flat after a year or two. So you're stuck with drinking young beer -- which isn't necessarily bad.

That said I've made about five brews using the same set of PET bottles (Cooper's) and they look none the worse for wear.

[mickey P]

Thanks for the info good to see I'm safe,

have to day though noting feels better then a ice cold amber bottle from the bottom of an esky. Still plastic is a lot easier and cheaper

[sago]

have reused my plastic bottles heaps of times-no problems.
Never been able to age a brew longer than 10 weeks anyway.
i always bottle in the plastic ones first because I hate the way they bounce around the garage floor if not stored properly.