Empty Beer Bottles

When I used to bottle, I made my own empty bottles........out of full bottles. It was super fun.

 

There is a craft brewery in my area where you can brew your own beer. I made my own batch one time and I got 72 (22 oz) bottles so I just used those when I made batches. They are just standard bottles though... nothing special.

 

I think that most of us who bottle our beers also purchase beer for consumption, and then use the empties for bottling homebrew after stripping the labels. When I first started in this hobby I bought a case of first-use bottles at the homebrew supply store, but I have not bought any since then in 15 years. If you are searching for a source beside purchase of empties or purchase of full bottles and them drinking them empty, then hit up your friends for their empties, make friends with a bartender at a local bar, etc.

 

I have some bottles from 1994? 95? 96? when I started to brew. just didn't throw away or recycle for a while, and voila. they've been with me through half dozen moves. the wife is well aware btw.

start with good, heavy, beefy brown pry off bottles and they will last or a long time.

my advice, don't get too invested in the coolness of the bottle. after you homebrew a few beers, the bottle is nothing more than that. personally, if the bottle can be knocked around for 20 years, then it is cool.
Cheers.

 

Have you done this with any success? I always hear this kind of thing but whenever I have asked bartenders they always can't give them up because they have some recycle collection something or whatever other bs reason.

I've bought a few boxes of empties. I drink mostly homebrew and give a lot away as gifts. They never return them. It can get expensive if you are buying beer for the bottles but that's pretty much what I always end up doing. At least they come with beer.

 

Yeah, I passed along that recommendation because I've also heard about doing it, but I have not tried that route because of the 10 cent deposit here in Michigan. I only brew about 3-4 times per year so I buy a lot of beer in between those sessions. Most of my bottles are returned to the store for the deposit refund (although 10 cents a bottle is cheaper than buying new empties, so I have used some of them), so most of my empties come from friends returning my bottles, friends giving me their empties, or empties from beer that I purchase out of state.

If we keep this thread going long enough I have a feeling that you'll get an offer for some free empties from someone who lives close to you in Cali.

 

Volunteer as a judge or steward at a homebrew competition. Take home all of the empty bottles that were judged.

 

some of us don't even bother striping the labels. I label the outside of the box and use a sharpie to make a mark on the outside to make sure I know what's inside. If the label eventually comes off, great, if not, no big deal.

 

Bingo! You can even take home full bottles of those that didn't advance to BOS (most of the entries don't advance. And most are pretty damn good!)

You could also ask your friends to bring their empties when they come to your house for free homebrew.

 

i asked friends, and strangers on craigslist, and was offered by a kindly person here, and emptied full ones. i bought some ceramic tops when i want classy.

 

Here in Oregon we recycle, and MOST bottles have a 5 cent deposit. Bars, beer stores, and most ANYONE will gladly sell you their empties, be they 22 oz. "bombers", or 12oz. "regular" beer bottles, or anything in between, for just a nickel. Check with the local bars and beer stores in your area, and ask if they'll save/sell you their empties.
I can't tell you how may "bombers" and "flip top" bottles my friends at the Bierstein in Eugene have saved and sold to me, just for the asking, AND, it beats paying $11-12 bucks for a case of 12 "bombers". Think about it, you can pay 60 cents for a 12-pk of empties, or $11-12 bucks, and the money you save can be better spent on grains, malt extract, or even a pint or two as you reflect on how "smart" you are on buying up recyclable bottles. Cheers!

 

I'll throw a few names for commercial beer that's cheap, tasty, and the labels strip off with a little warm water and Oxyclean:

Sam Adams
Hoegaarden
New Belgium

Find ones that have a pappery glue on them. The ones that seem to have hot glue attached to the label aren't worth your time at all. Generally if the label doesn't want to fall off in boiling water on its own, I don't mess around too much with them.

 

One other item to mention -- don't save bottles with screw threads for the cap. These aren't used much anymore by commercial breweries, so you won't see them very often, but they cannot be reused by homebrewers with a crown cap.

 

Well, at least not by commercial breweries that produce anything close to decent beer!

 

Sierra Nevada, too. I've got probably 100 of them at this point and they're all I use.

 

I like to use odell's bottles. They have hops embossed on the bottle, and the labels fall off in hot water.

 

Before the Bier Stein made their move to the new location, like @brewdawg9 , I used to go in there a few times a week and get their empty flip tops. I also got their empty 375ml green champagne bottles from sours that people bought and drank on site. They don't return those for deposits so they would stash them for me. I accumulated about a case or so and use a 6 pack per bottling of my sours, wax dip the tops, put on a label, they look great. Bought some others off them before for $.05/bottle.

 

Lagunitas labels practically commit suicide when they get near warm oxyclean.

 

Volunteer for a beer fest. I always try to help at a certain distributors table. They distribute a lot of imports in addition to domestic craft beer. So there are a lot of sizes to choose from, and a good chance at scoring flip top bottles. I have accumulated a couple of cases of flip tops, as well as all of the 12 and 22 oz. bottles I will ever need.