13 December 2011

Former home brewers unite!

| fullofbeans
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I’ve finally moved to Canberra and every one of my hard to come by long neck bottles smashed when the moving guys carried them off the truck. 6 out of about 30-40 survived. I think I threw out the last 6 out of frustration.

If anyone has any ideas on the best place to source a good number of matching bottles in Canberra let me know. Alternatively if you’re a former brewer I can collect them from a place of your choosing.

Many thanks people.

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EvanJames said :

Echo sentiment about Brewers Club. Some very impressive beers get brought to meetings (used to be at the German Club, not sure if they still are).

Still at the Harmonie (German) Club in Narrabundah. Next meeting is Thursday 2nd February, normally starting around 7:45pm.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Aging beers generally involves durations much longer than 18 months. Some (generally high gravity) beers can keep for decades.

Yeah but I think proper aged beers get aged in glass! I like the brown plastic bottles as they’re cheap, and you don’t have to worry about them exploding.

I think mine might be getting up to the 2 year mark… better check them. (I use kits and the results really improve if you give them a LONG ageing).

Thoroughly Smashed3:39 pm 14 Dec 11

liability said :

The Coopers PET bottles, according to their advertising, have a “nylon barrier that helps to prevent both the ingress of oxygen and the loss of CO2 for up to 18 months”. I have never had a problem using them for storing beer for a year or so. I suspect that the normal clear PET bottles, such a soft drink bottles, might be a different story.

Aging beers generally involves durations much longer than 18 months. Some (generally high gravity) beers can keep for decades.

The Coopers PET bottles, according to their advertising, have a “nylon barrier that helps to prevent both the ingress of oxygen and the loss of CO2 for up to 18 months”. I have never had a problem using them for storing beer for a year or so. I suspect that the normal clear PET bottles, such a soft drink bottles, might be a different story.

Northwest9 said :

also, PET bottles are handy, but not much chop for aging beers, as they are slightly permiable, meaning you will end up with flat, oxygenated beer after about 12 months

Oh crap. I guess I’d better check those ones I made a while back!

Echo sentiment about Brewers Club. Some very impressive beers get brought to meetings (used to be at the German Club, not sure if they still are).

As your a brewer new to town i thought I should point you towards the Canberra Brewers Club

[url]www.canberrabrewers.org[/url]

120 members, kit, partial and allgrain brewers

also, PET bottles are handy, but not much chop for aging beers, as they are slightly permiable, meaning you will end up with flat, oxygenated beer after about 12 months

niftydog said :

Talk to this guy!?

Thank god, I was thinking I was going mad recalling that post and that no one had made reference to it…

I have been home brewing for a while and use a mix of Coopers longnecks and those brown PET bottles that Coopers and some others sell for home brews.

I have never had a problem with the PET bottles, which come in a box of 15 for about $15. I have kept beer in them for a year or more with no signs of any leakage. One plus is that the plastic bottles are so much easier to handle, they are lighter and you don’t have to handle them with care like the glass ones.

Jivrashia said :

Classified said :

I find the trick is to clean them as you use them, as this makes it much easier to clean/sterilise them when bottling.

+1

Unfortunately I was lazy at one point and accumulated 100 bottles with gunk at the bottom of each, which had a culture going. Imagine me spending a whole evening bitching and moaning while I cleaned all one hundred of them.

Jim Jones said :

Dishwasher takes all the pain away from cleaning bottles.

Whatever works. Your dishwasher must be pretty good, but do you ever taste swamp drinking your beer?

Nope. Never had a problem. I think that most people spend waaaay too much time with the bottle washing paranoia. I give it a rinse when I’ve finished drinking (mostly … sometimes I … forget) and then shove them in the dishwasher with the rest of the crap.

Classified said :

I find the trick is to clean them as you use them, as this makes it much easier to clean/sterilise them when bottling.

+1

Unfortunately I was lazy at one point and accumulated 100 bottles with gunk at the bottom of each, which had a culture going. Imagine me spending a whole evening bitching and moaning while I cleaned all one hundred of them.

Jim Jones said :

Dishwasher takes all the pain away from cleaning bottles.

Whatever works. Your dishwasher must be pretty good, but do you ever taste swamp drinking your beer?

Classified said :

Jim Jones said :

Dishwasher takes all the pain away from cleaning bottles.

I’m paranoid about the dishwasher not getting right up inside them, so I tend to do a couple of rinses by hand as soon as I empty them. Then, when I’m ready to clean them for bottling do a manual soap followed by several rinses, then sterilise followed by several rinses again. Takes a while, but I’ve never had one go bad.

My bro-in-law had a good idea – he built a ‘tree’ from inground watering system parts, and he puts the bottles upside down over the ‘branches’, and attaches the rig to a tap. Water sprays up inside the bottles. We need to figure out how to add a small stream of detergent, then it will be perfect.

You can buy detergent emulsifyers, not sure if there are any food grade ones though. I have a “kero gun” I use for degreasing things. The air travelling past creates a vaccum causing the degreaser to spray out the end. Same on my pressure washer but the pressurised water does the trick.

Alternatively, you could rig up some sort of in line jugger that you could use a mix of detergent in & once it is gone the fresh water just flushes though.

To the OP, I have heaps but they are not up for grabs sorry. I do have quite a few stubbies if interested. All clean.

Jim Jones said :

Dishwasher takes all the pain away from cleaning bottles.

I’m paranoid about the dishwasher not getting right up inside them, so I tend to do a couple of rinses by hand as soon as I empty them. Then, when I’m ready to clean them for bottling do a manual soap followed by several rinses, then sterilise followed by several rinses again. Takes a while, but I’ve never had one go bad.

My bro-in-law had a good idea – he built a ‘tree’ from inground watering system parts, and he puts the bottles upside down over the ‘branches’, and attaches the rig to a tap. Water sprays up inside the bottles. We need to figure out how to add a small stream of detergent, then it will be perfect.

Classified said :

Jim Jones said :

You should be able to buy new bottles at either Brew Your Own (Shop 2 Primmer Court, Kambah Village – http://www.brewyourown.com.au/) or Butts and Brew (Kaleen Village Georgina Crs, Kaleen – I’d suggest picking up some nice cigars while you’re there).

Or you can pick up a couple of slabs of a decent beer in longnecks (Coopers ain’t too shabby and the bottles are easy to clean) and use it as an excuse to drink.

+1 from me. I used both approaches to build a collection of about 200 longnecks that I use for home brewing.

I find the trick is to clean them as you use them, as this makes it much easier to clean/sterilise them when bottling.

Dishwasher takes all the pain away from cleaning bottles.

Jim Jones said :

You should be able to buy new bottles at either Brew Your Own (Shop 2 Primmer Court, Kambah Village – http://www.brewyourown.com.au/) or Butts and Brew (Kaleen Village Georgina Crs, Kaleen – I’d suggest picking up some nice cigars while you’re there).

Or you can pick up a couple of slabs of a decent beer in longnecks (Coopers ain’t too shabby and the bottles are easy to clean) and use it as an excuse to drink.

+1 from me. I used both approaches to build a collection of about 200 longnecks that I use for home brewing.

I find the trick is to clean them as you use them, as this makes it much easier to clean/sterilise them when bottling.

Jim Jones said :

Or you can pick up a couple of slabs of a decent beer in longnecks (Coopers ain’t too shabby and the bottles are easy to clean) and use it as an excuse to drink.

+1 to using Coopers bottles. The main difference I find between their bottles, and most of the other commercial long necks, is that they use a thicker glass. Means that they’re a lot more durable than a lot of other bottles, and less likely to break when capping / cleaning etc.

Let me have a look when I get home tonight too, I probably have some surplus that I can give you (with the upside of making my wife happy when I clear up a bit of room in the shed 😉

Brew Your Own At Home, in Kambah, may be able to help. No affililation other than a long term happy customer.
The recycling centres at the landfills or the town centres generally have some. At the town centres, the usual caution about broken glass applies.
You could post a WTB on the Aussie Home Brewer forums.
Unfortunately, I gifted my 750ml bottles some time ago, and now only have kegs and a small number of 500ml bottles.

thewindycity10:34 am 13 Dec 11

Try a dumpster behind one of the German, Austrian, Polish etc. clubs. Lots of solid 500ml bottles to be had.

You should be able to buy new bottles at either Brew Your Own (Shop 2 Primmer Court, Kambah Village – http://www.brewyourown.com.au/) or Butts and Brew (Kaleen Village Georgina Crs, Kaleen – I’d suggest picking up some nice cigars while you’re there).

Or you can pick up a couple of slabs of a decent beer in longnecks (Coopers ain’t too shabby and the bottles are easy to clean) and use it as an excuse to drink.

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