homebrewandbeer.com

G'day all, one of my mates dropped off 30 coke 2litre plastic bottles,
so i'm wondering whether its safe to use the those plastic coke bottles after
they have been rinsed, to put my latestest brew into for bottleing

or should i just stick with coopers PET bottles.?

And do i have to sanatise the coke bottles with coopers santasiser power
or just use plain hotwater?

thanks
ben

You can use them tho some ppl reckon they slowly lose their pressure (over like a year). Also, because they're clear, you have to store them in a dark place to avoid them getting light struck.

I'd use the sanitiser as the hot water would melt the bottles.

I think your best bet would be to sanatise them properly.
I didn't think clear bottles were ideal for beer because of sunlight being able to get through. does funny stuff to the oil from the hops I believe.

I think SpillsMOI said he had 90 of the 1.25 full in a dark place.
Started my collection, got 40 empties ready to go and 10 full so far.
Mine won't last 12mths and for things i want to keep longer i'll just put in something else.

thanks everyone for your replies, i will definately
use the coke bottles but will sanatise in small amount of
the coopers sanatiser stuff, then rinse out the coke bottles in coldwater

I'm thinking of putting in a dark carboard box with an old black curtain over
the top to stop the light getting in2 these 2 litre coke bottles soon
to be full of lovely draught brew.

I'm waiting on another 2 months before i start ales and better for the
season

cheers
ben

Rysa wrote:I think SpillsMOI said he had 90 of the 1.25 full in a dark place.
Started my collection, got 40 empties ready to go and 10 full so far.
Mine won't last 12mths and for things i want to keep longer i'll just put in something else.

Yeah... I use the clear 1.25litres for my house beers - mostly pale ales, bitters and stuff like that. I usually bottle about half a dozen Coopers PETs per batch for towards the end and on those (extremely rare) occasions when I don't want much to drink...

I have two recycle bins. One goes outside each Tuesday night. The other holds my clear PETs when they don't have beer in them. SWMBO provides a dependable supply of freshies.

My oldest surviving brew is a wheat beer that I don't like but am keeping to see when it *appears* to lose its carbonation (I'm using the squeeeeze test). It's been in the bottle since 29Dec2006 and is showing no signs of losing carb.

There are some who reckon that there is no such thing as skunking, but I don't care to run *that* test. There are some who reckon that oxygen will find its way into the bottles in spite of the laws of physics (don't get them started).

Put caps on your bottles, don't leave them until they go flat and store them in a cool, dark place and I think you will find your beer will die of other factors...

Wash your bottles well. If you're using Coke bottles (or some similarly sugary substance), the yeast will clean them up even better. The way that water beads on the inside will change after a batch of beer has been in them.

I left brews in the Coopers PET bottles for just over a year and they became flat.

Iron-Haggis wrote:I left brews in the Coopers PET bottles for just over a year and they became flat.

Does coke go flat in a year?

From memory i think so, stock rotation was a constant thing
when i was 16.
And things work differently with different brews but have drunk from Coopers PET after 14 mths and they've been fine.
Squeeze test for the older PET i spose, if they start to weaken, drink em.

I use both Coopers and Coke bottles. As my wife and FIL worked at Coke for a combined 60 years, I'm pretty intimate with the Coke product.

Standard PET bottles will leech out pressure over time. Generally they are OK for about a year but after that, you're running the risk of it gong flat. I have had Coke that's been alot older than a year and it was fine though. From what I've read, Coopers line their PET bottles so they shouldn't leech out pressure. Most pressure is lost around the screw seal so make sure you screw the caps on nice and tight (I use one of those grippy mats). I haven't actually kept any beer for more than a year in anything so it's a moot point to me. I wrap my Coke bottles in newspaper and keep them in a dark garage (no windows, door only opened to let cars in and out). I've never had a problem with them and as my wife still drinks a fair amount of Coke, it's great to get all the bottles for free.

Emo wrote:I wrap my Coke bottles in newspaper and keep them in a dark garage (no windows, door only opened to let cars in and out).

Surely you mean "door only opened to let beer in and out".

T.