Brewing Master

Question:

: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, : where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything? : I’ve seen them for sale (brown bottles) for about the price I pay for : Grolsch! (Around $1.50 each.) You might check with local bars if they : have any about. Unless it’s under $1 per bottle, I’d as soon buy teh beer. : If you don’t like Grolsch, Fischer-Alsace and a couple of others use the : same kind of bottle. I’ve used Grolsch bottles successfully. When someone hasn’t beat me to them, I’ve found Grolsch bottles at a local supermarket for five cents each.  They sell them for the returnable deposit. Other bottles are similarly priced.  I’d buy yours for $ .05 each, if you pay for shipping. Jim

Response:

| | When someone hasn’t beat me to them, I’ve found Grolsch bottles at a local | supermarket for five cents each.  They sell them for the returnable deposit. | Other bottles are similarly priced.  I’d buy yours for $ .05 each, if you | pay for shipping. Over about 6 years I have collected about 70 of them.  Typically I find them for free.   Sometimes I have to pay a dime.  My best source of bottles was a cousin with expensive (not necessarily good) taste in beer.  He had about 20.  One day I noticed 10 along side the road as I was driving home.  Good for me and the environment. Your best bet is to become friends with a few bartenders where the stuff is carried.  A six pack here and there does wonders. — James White

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I’m trying to get some sense of how many people out there bottle their homebrew (as opposed to any other containerization…) We’re particularly interested in two things: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything? 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels? We’re looking at making Grolsch type bottles, and have designed and manufactured a label scraping device with a curved blade, and wanna know how much demand there might be for either… Any and all information (by e-mail, please) would be MOST appreciated! Andrew

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I’m trying to get some sense of how many people out there bottle their homebrew (as opposed to any other containerization…) We’re particularly interested in two things: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything?

I’ve seen them for sale (brown bottles) for about the price I pay for Grolsch! (Around $1.50 each.) You might check with local bars if they have any about. Unless it’s under $1 per bottle, I’d as soon buy teh beer. If you don’t like Grolsch, Fischer-Alsace and a couple of others use the same kind of bottle. I’ve used Grolsch bottles successfully. 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels?

Simply an overnight soak in bleach does  a good job. Some chemicals do an excellent job. We’re looking at making Grolsch type bottles, and have designed and manufactured a label scraping device with a curved blade, and wanna know how much demand there might be for either…

If the bottles were cheap (~2/$1), I think they’d sell. You’d save a bundle on bottle caps and cappers. I doubt the label scraper would meet with much interest. Paul

Response:

My thanks to all who replied! Nobody seems interested in the scraper at all, so I guess I’ll just keep mine for my own use and dump the idea….;-(  Seems the bottle idea was split about 60-against, 40-for (but only if they were pretty inexpensive…) I’ll keep my thinking cap on…. Andrew

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m trying to get some sense of how many people out there bottle their homebrew (as opposed to any other containerization…) We’re particularly interested in two things: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything? 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels? We’re looking at making Grolsch type bottles, and have designed and manufactured a label scraping device with a curved blade, and wanna know how much demand there might be for either… Any and all information (by e-mail, please) would be MOST appreciated! Andrew

I tend to use both Grolsch (16 oz) and Fischer? (22 oz) bottles with the flip tops.  I also have a capper and use it when I run out of the easy flip tops.  I definitely prefer the Grolsch type for ease of use.  The capper is real tedious after about 5 bottles. In the future I’ll probably go to the 5 gallon soda kegs for just about all my batches because that will eliminate all bottling. As far as label scraping, a trash can of chlorinated water tends to eat the labels off most bottles except the foil/paper variety found on most Japanese imports and the real foil found on the top of a Samuel Smith’s bottle.  These I do scape off when I buy them and want to save the bottles.  I guess the real problem is that I have so many bottles I have no place to store them all, thus the soda keg idea and trash the bottles altogether. *                                Brad Juhasz                                * *             Under-Utilized Scientist / Religious Home Brewer              * *                          MDA-SSD /  Club Sweetbay                          * *                         Huntington Beach / Anaheim                        *

Response:

I’m trying to get some sense of how many people out there bottle their homebrew (as opposed to any other containerization…) We’re particularly interested in two things: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything?

I used to use them as much as possible; (I’ve got a 5-l-keg system now) they are easier to handle than the normal bottles (no capping reqd) and has a better volume. I got a small heap of them when I had a moving-in party last year. 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels?

I’ve used 1.5 L plastic coke bottles once, but they were too big to be consumed before all CO2 dissapeared. Hot water in a bucket. That works fine with most labels, and I use milk for glueing (how is that spelled?) my own labels to the bottles = they come off very easily with hot water. Any glue not coming off with the hot water is easily rmd with a standard dishwashing-brush. /w. — {lskling du {r min |gonsten… ..en sten i |gat g|r j{vligt ont!

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1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything?

I have been known to pay $.25 for them at yard sales. I suspect that even at $.50 each you could sell a lot of them at homebrew stores, since everything would be clean and new. 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels?

Never actually tried scraping labels (although I have scrubbed off glue left on after the labels come off).   I guess the main issue would be: 3) How often do you need to get bottles?  Is it worth your time to scrape off/soak off labels any more, or do you have enough bottles already? 4) How many bottles do you keep on hand?  5 cases, 12 cases? John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA–My views are my own

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I’m trying to get some sense of how many people out there bottle their homebrew (as opposed to any other containerization…) We’re particularly interested in two things: 1) Do you use Grolsch-type bottle with the flip-top ceramic stopper? If so, where do you get them? How much do you pay, if anything?

I use these as much as possible.  At first I got them by begging bartenders for their empties, but this doesn’t work anymore (they have lists and stuff).  Friends and relatives save them for me.  And when my brewing supply store can, they stock them, but it’s quite irregular and unpredictable, and they don’t call people when they’re in because *everybody* wants them. 2) If not, what kind of bottle do you use (champagne, bar-bottles, etc)? Do you scrape labels off of the old ones? If so, do you use chemical stripper or just hard work and a razor? How often do you scrape labels?

My alternative is 1L plastic bottles with a screwtop.  I buy these new from my brewer’s supply store. We’re looking at making Grolsch type bottles, and have designed and manufactured a label scraping device with a curved blade, and wanna know how much demand there might be for either… Any and all information (by e-mail, please) would be MOST appreciated! Andrew

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