Bottles: the ones to use (research!)

[polymoog]

I have used the little 275ml J2O bottles with no ill effects whatsoever.
I use them mainly for fruit turbo cider and place 1/2 teaspoon of sugar per bottle to make the cider fizzy enough and never had any break.
i have got some barley wine in some too, the bottles are stored in the dark (they are clear) and i bottled this barley wine last September (am trying to resist drinking yet but can't help "testing" the odd bottle )

[Stonechat]

Weight of Timothy Taylor Landlord and Waitrose cider bottles = 411g.

[crunchysaviour]

Thank you for the info; I'll add the new weights to the list soon. I'd be interested in finding out where Sam Smith's beers might be obtained outside of their pubs; the bottles sound almost perfect.

[Garth]

the 'Head of Steam' that opened in Durham sells Sam Smith bottles so maybe their other outlets do, so do specialist Beer Shops, such as Beer Ritz etc.

and indeed they are a chunky bottle, a bit like Fullers. I wouldn't want either of them put over my head in anger.

[tubthumper]

wife got me tadys porter and she got from house of fraiser so maybee waitrose or someone like that might also have them
I will look in my stash of bottles see if Ican find it ( I take the lables off as i wait forthe foam on all my beers to suside)

[crunchysaviour]

List updated. Sam Smith's has edged Fuller's out as the heaviest bottle, and is more desirable due to its near-pintness.

I have now included fields for volume, colour and weight/volume. This "glass generosity" is a very vague approximation of how thick the glass is compared with other bottles. Most bottles are different shapes so this isn't accurate, but it gives you an idea of how tough a bottle might be.

[a-slayer]

What homebrewers need is someone to start making the brown quart bottles with the internal screw threaded lid again.
Quick to bottle due to the good size and no problems with the lids.
Those old cider bottles are the best for bottlers, wish we could still get them.

[StrangeBrew]

I know it's lager but the Kingfisher bottles are brown, weigh in at 410g and are the same shape as Tim Taylor bottles.

I have various other bottles including 1 pint boots bottles in the shed and will weigh them next time I'm out there.

edit: I also have an old brown quart bottle including screw in stopper in you want the weight?

[tubthumper]

I think i got the winner Artisan Brsseur 65cl brown fliptop including lid 479g
organic lager £3 a bottle from asda
nice an heavy will be getting more even though Idont like lager

[WishboneBrewery]

Looking at this ever-growing list, why the heck don't brewers and bottlers get together and standardise... then after standardising they could start recycling/reusing. http://about.adnams.co.uk/post/news/200 ... aught.aspx I'm not a total green-freak but I think re-use of bottles is a damn good idea "Grüne Punkt" etc!

Brewery - Beer - Colour - Bottle Conditioned - Bottle Weight - Volume - Glass Generosity - Notes

Samuel Smith's - Various - Brown - - 477 g - 550 ml - 0.87 g/ml - Labels removed easily
Fullers - London Pride - Brown - - 460 g - 500 ml - 0.92 g/ml - Very sturdy bottle indeed. Embossed. Labels removed easily.
Barley Bottom - - Brown - - 419 g - 500 ml - 0.84 g/ml -
Timothy Taylor - Landlord - Brown - - 411 g - 500 ml - 0.82 g/ml -
Waitrose - Cider - Brown - - 411 g - 500 ml - 0.82 g/ml -
Unknown - Reusable - Brown - - 410 g - 500 ml - 0.82 g/ml - Like a slim Magner's bottle
Shepherd Neame - Spitfire - Clear - - 405 g - 500 ml - 0.81 g/ml - Short, wide.
Tring - Side Pocket For A Toad - Brown - - 405 g - 500 ml - 0.81 g/ml - Solid, standard - looking bottle. Foil label peels off, glue will not soak off, needs endless hours of rubbing with white spirit, or a good soaking in the stuff – aaaaargh, why?!
Wilko - Reusable - Brown - - 400 g - 500 ml - 0.80 g/ml -
Grolsch - Flip Top - Green - - 392 g - 500 ml - 0.78 g/ml - Weighed with lid.
Three Castles - Saxon Archer - Brown - Bottle Conditioned - 340 g - 500 ml - 0.68 g/ml - Label does not soak off
Wells - Bombardier - Brown - - 338 g - 500 ml - 0.68 g/ml - No longer a pint
Breakspears - Oxford Gold - Brown - - 336 g - 500 ml - 0.67 g/ml -
Bulmer's - Cider - Brown - - 332 g - 568 ml - 0.58 g/ml - Embossed “568ml 57mm U61 3 9213”
Wychwood - Hobgoblin etc - Brown - - 320 g - 500 ml - 0.64 g/ml - One bottle was 400g.
Magner's - Cider - Brown - - 320 g - 568 ml - 0.56 g/ml - Embossed “568ml 66mm 3 Q1 1613 A”
Kopparberg - Pear Cider - Green - - 319 g - 500 ml - 0.64 g/ml -
Shepherd Neame - Bishops Finger - Clear - - 317 g - 500 ml - 0.63 g/ml -
Badger - Golden Glory - Brown - - 310 g - 500 ml - 0.62 g/ml -
Crouch Vale - Brewers Gold - Brown - - 310 g - 500 ml - 0.62 g/ml -
Nethergate - Essex Border - Brown - - 306 g - 500 ml - 0.61 g/ml -
Jennings - Cumberland - Green - - 304 g - 500 ml - 0.61 g/ml -
Morland - Old Speckled Hen - Clear - - 302 g - 500 ml - 0.60 g/ml -
Marston's - Pedigree - Brown - - 302 g - 500 ml - 0.60 g/ml -
Black Sheep - Black Sheep Ale - Brown - - 295 g - 500 ml - 0.59 g/ml -
Sainsbury's - Biere des Flandres - Green - - 113 g - 250 ml - 0.45 g/ml -

[Garth]

Looking at this ever-growing list, why the heck don't brewers and bottlers get together and standardise... then after standardising they could start recycling/reusing.

It's a very good idea, I'm sure someone on here said that somewhere in Europe, possibly Belgium, uses only 5 or so different shapes of bottles.

Where is Duvel brewed? I'm sure it's Belgium, as I've had other breweries beers in those same bottles.

[WishboneBrewery]

Its a good idea, but it'll never happen!!!

[Dr.Evil]

Using the heavier bottles in preference to the lighter (and presumably less strong) ones makes a great deal of sense. But how much of a problem are the lighter ones? I havent really thought about this before, and have a range of heavy and light bottles. Ive never had anything go pop yet (touch-wood). Have I just got lucky, and should avoid the light ones?

[Stonechat]

Using the heavier bottles in preference to the lighter (and presumably less strong) ones makes a great deal of sense. But how much of a problem are the lighter ones? I havent really thought about this before, and have a range of heavy and light bottles. Ive never had anything go pop yet (touch-wood). Have I just got lucky, and should avoid the light ones?

Don't know if this helps, but one of the reasons that I have so much faith in the Fullers bottles is that they use the same grade/weight of bottle for the whole range of their beers. However their 1845 Ale and Vintage Ale are both bottle conditioned and as this type of beer is more likely to cause explosions if over primed rather than the inert pasteurised ones they should be OK for home brew use, as long as no massively stupid over priming or bottling many points away from final gravity takes place.

I guess the light ones are probably also OK as long as the aforementioned provisos are met. They are engineered and tested to survive transport and handling by the great British public to avoid breakage and lawsuits. Nevertheless to have confidence in the bottles you use try to obtain those that have previously contained beer that is bottle conditioned.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I've been reading a bit about pasteurising bottled beer recently. The majority of beers that are not bottle conditioned appear to go through this process and it seems that, when heated, the internal pressure can go quite high - maybe up to 5 or 10 atmospheres. A significant number of bottles get broken in the commercial process because of this.

I think this probably means that even the apparently thin-walled bottles you buy have effectively already been pressure-tested and have survived. So unless you're going to massively over-prime, you should be OK using them for homebrew. Theoretically anyway!