For some reason its bothering me that I am paying for bottles since it seems like so many other just toss them in the trash or recyle them. Does anyone have suggestions on places to get them from? Could I go door to door asking bars for cap top bottles they have or does some type of law make this wrong? mmmmm I can already see driving back home with a car full of beer bottles being an issue if I get pulled over but I would not be drinking...
You would usually address this problem by collecting your empty beer bottles before you start Homebrewing (in the stages were your reading up on it and building/buying your equipment). Then all thats left to do is unlabel wash and sanitize. However even when Homebrewing its still nice to go and explore other beers therefore you can collect those bottles, also ask your friends and family to keep them for you!!
Yeah- I just save the ones I buy and if I think I'm going to be short, ask my buds to keep their bottles as well.
+1 to this. About a year or so before I started homebrewing I started saving my empties. By the time I started brewing I had plenty of bottles on hand to keep a steady rotation going. Hope you've got some beer loving relatives who will be willing to save some for you. I still buy commercial beer, and therefore am constantly adding to the stockpile. I can think of some other, not so elegant ways to solve your dilemma...like a visit to your local recycling facility?
Yeah... I have been saving my own but still really short. Sadly enough most of my F&F drink beer that is mass marketed. I have always enjoyed craft beer but it was something that I bought just a few times because of cost.... I got a raise at work and started buy more craft beer to enjoy and found I really loved most of them. Then it dawned on me that I was spending waaaaaaaaaaaay to much of craft beer. Then I started to look into HB, so here I am. While I know I will not save money when compared to rice and corn mass beer, when compared to the case of Black Butte 24 I am aging HB will save me a ton and taste better! Not to mention I can make the exact beer I want. Just trying to think of a few ways to cut cost and thought bottles would be the easy / low hanging fruit.
Not sure where you live or whether there is a deposit there so take this with a grain of salt... Most of the places around here that accept returns for deposit will also sell used bottles to you. Some at the same price (5cents) some at a slight markup (10cents). Personally I don't bother. I drink enough beer that I have a pile stacked up and I trust bottles that I rinse immediately far more than ones someone let grow mold or had cigarette butts in them. Convince your F+F to start drinking Sam Adams.
Even if your friends drink mass market beer ask them to buy bottled beers. Just make sure the beer has a pry-off cap, not the screw-on. If you know other homebrewers nearby you may be able to get extras from them. I am a homebrewer but I also buy a lot of beer too, and I save most bottles that I purchase out of state where there is no deposit and even some from instate if I want to save the label. (Michigan has a 10 cent deposit, but that is still cheaper than buying a case of new bottles from a homebrew store.) If you were close by to me I'd give you some extras.
I keep the commercial 12oz and I've bought 2 cases of bombers to add to the collection. I have so many now, I toss some and keep others. Depends on the bottle and the brand. Founders bottles get tossed, my capper won't cap them with the extra lip. I'd suggest just asking friends that drink craft to save their bottles. I'm saving them now to bottle some beer for a wedding. I personally keg, and when I want to share, I fill growlers of various sizes to give out, and ask that they be returned. Most usually return them in a timely fashion, as they want more beer.
Look on BA around where you live for big tastings. A lot of the time, these bottles are disposed of after the tasting so i'm sure someone would let you grab them.
I give beer out to friends on the condition that they keep empties for me. Between about 5 friends and my dad I usually am well supplied with bottles. You just have to make some friends you can beg bottles off of.
