It depends on the quality of the bottle, but in my experience the kind they sell at homebrew stores eventually break from the stress of capping/uncapping. But you never know when that's going to be. It's one of the reasons I switched to kegging.
The swing top bottles sold by homebrew stores are pretty sturdy. They are pressure tested at 100psi. Since you aren't crimping a cap, the capping related fractures aren't an issue. The only downside is you have to pay for them.
Brew_Betty makes a good point; and I always found them easier to use (no capping!). Of course I also got 2 or 3 cases of old German swing tops for free when I started out from another home brewer who'd switched to kegging so there was no cost. If I had to go back to bottling I'd probably buy the swing caps (or just collect them).
And when you release the swing top, it goes thunk instead of psst. A thunk is more satisfying than a psst.
I have always been repurposing commercial bottles since I started brewing. I probably have some that I've use 10+ times over the years. I don't think I've actually broken any, though I have thrown a few away that didn't get cleaned well enough on emptying. I figure I have enough spares that if I have one that's all moldy inside, I won't bother cleaning and sanitizing enough to use.
I have had one break on me in 10 years of homebrewing (with most of the last 3 years or so in kegs). Over the years, in times of need, I've introduced new bottles to the cause, and in times of plenty, I've pared down, but never conscientiously pulled out old bottles. I still bottle meads, brett beers, and sours, and I imagine that some of my bottles currently holding beer could have been recapped as many as 10-20x. In the same time period, 2-3 commercial bottles have broken. I may be lucky, I may be doing something right, or this danger may be overestimated.
Reading between the lines of your post, I suspect that you may have some concern about glass fatigue. I got curious one day whether this is possible, and unlike metal fatigue where repetitive bending thru use of a metal product can break at stress points, glass apparently does not suffer from this type of thing happening. I was unable to find any cases about glass bottle breakage when searching the Internet, although I did find one incident where this was suspected, but it was later determined that a flaw in the glass was the cause of a breakage. However, the handling care that a recycled bottle is used is a factor about which to have some concern. Reusing today's bottles is somewhat more dangerous because current-day bottles are not made as strongly as the old returnable type of bottles which had to absorb some abuse when being cleaned for reuse by the breweries 'back in the day.' Clanking today's bottles may produce a hard-to-see hairline crack that can break during the carbonating process, or even during the chilling process if the chilling were to occur too quickly such as in a freezer or a pail of salted-ice water.
I did have a 1 liter, 100psi tested swing top bottle fracture at the bottom once. The bottle wasn't under pressure and contained hot water for several hours and then it fractured. I suspect the bottle experienced a mechanical shock from me setting it down too hard on a granite counter top in a drunken state, likely more than once. All bottles are inspected for defects prior to bottling.
I've actually got a fairly large pool of bottles from which to choose. I have purchased and received a presents several cases of new 12 oz. crown cap bottles. I also reuse my 'commercial' empties, unless they use water insoluble glue on the labels. Those I just recycle. I have had a few old ones break during the bottle capping phase. I've had exactly one bottle bomb in 4.5 years, but it was my fault for forgetting to mix the priming sugar in the bucket. I don't know how long they last because I have so many, but the very few old ones that have failed did so during the capping phase and were not a problem.
After 4 years I have had very few bottle failures. Got luck years ago and was give several garbage bags of fisher bottles which are very thick. When I needed more, I went to a bottle drop off store, asked,the owner to save out 100 grolsh bottles and got them for .25 each. Cleaned them up, put on new gaskets and was back in business.
They test them at the bottle factory before they sell them. It's not something I did after buying them.
Love the swing tops! I only have a few that I brought back from my grandfather in-law's in Germany, but they're so much better than capping. They're hard to come by here in America though for some reason.. I'll have to check my LHBS
there is no rule. I have not bottled in a while but I still have some from the mid 90s that were re-used dozens of times. keep in mind a few things the glass does fatigue. the more often they get banged up the sooner they will fail. so it is not always just one acute accident that matters but also chronic mis-treatment. be gentle always. twist off bottles are usually much lighter. the rim is thinner than pry off bottles. use a scale and you will soon find a wide variety. most large brewers try to get away with the lightest bottle possible to save on shipping. heavy bottles are better. consider kegs now rather than later. nobody ever regrets getting some kegs. Cheers.
are they twist offs? guaranteed failure. too thin. but of course they are not intended to be re-used by home brewers, so you might say that they are made just well enough. the typical weak points in my experience have been along the curve of the neck and the ever popular blow out. the bottom snaps right along the right angle. this type of failure is usually discovered upon the fruit fly investigation. as in "why are there suddenly so many fruit flies in my basement? oh!"
Me and my big mouth. Just had the lip of a bottle of brett saison chip. Beer safe, bottle goes into the recycling bin.
I've had several different kinds of bottles, from flip tops (My personal fav.) to store bottles that I've removed the labels on, to the brewers bottles I got from a brewery store. The glass is much thinner on the store bought bottles. But I've re-used the store bottles 3 or 4 times without a problem. I'll just recycle them after that because I have enough bottles I won't chance it. Of course I keg mostly now, but still bottle age. A couple of tips for you: 1. Use a good bottle opener. I've only ever had bottles break while opening. You'll get a tiny chip out of the top of the bottle. Open carefully and be sure not to let the metal edge touch the glass. 2. Careful with how you wash the bottles. With the store bought ones I bought one of those really good stainless steel bottle rinse things you attach to your sink. No metal on my bottle scrubber either. 3. Don't crimp the tops too hard. It doesn't take much pressure for the seal to be good.
