Grolsch Swing Top Bottles...

[Newbie123]

Hey,

I was in publix the grocery store i normally go to, and I saw Grolsch Swing Top Bottles in 16oz. size. I'm not sure if any of you who bottle your beer were aware of this. It may be worth it to just grab the 4 pack for some re-usable bottles. They look very well made!

Here's what they look like:

http://www.grolschlager.com/images/grolsch/swingtopimages3.gif

Didn't know if any of you were looking for such bottles, but figured I'd post to see if it could help anybody out there....

Later,
Dick

[laneto]

I have a friend who went out and bought a bunch and we sat around all day drinking until we couldn't see straight to get the empties and he uses them for bottling and they work great.

[Beerconnoisseur]

...this link to Williams Brewing (http://www.williamsbrewing.com/AB1605000/showprod.cfm?&DID=7&User_ID=286271&st=9103&st2=-80661149&st3=80386539&CATID=6&ObjectGroup_ID=11), where they have 500 ml, 1 L, and 2L swing top bottles available. If only you and a few friends will be consuming your results, they may be well worth the effort that you will save in cleaning/caring for each bottle.

Just don't look at me if you have a hangover afterwards! ;)

[DarCoop]

Originally posted by Beerconnoisseur
...this link to Williams Brewing (http://www.williamsbrewing.com/AB1605000/showprod.cfm?&DID=7&User_ID=286271&st=9103&st2=-80661149&st3=80386539&CATID=6&ObjectGroup_ID=11), where they have 500 ml, 1 L, and 2L swing top bottles available. If only you and a few friends will be consuming your results, they may be well worth the effort that you will save in cleaning/caring for each bottle.

Just don't look at me if you have a hangover afterwards! ;)

I really like those 2L swing-top bottles. Would be great to take with you when you go visit. Sure would cut down on number of bottles to fill and cap also.

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by DarCoop
I really like those 2L swing-top bottles. Would be great to take with you when you go visit. Sure would cut down on number of bottles to fill and cap also.

yeah those are nice.

I have a dozen - 1 liter bottles and they are really cool for the reasons you list. The thing about the 2 - liter bottles is that you would probably only want to fill 2-3 of them per batch of beer (assuming you are bottle conditioning.) so 6 is probably plenty.

[toneyc]

I've seen lately 22oz swingtop bottles of Fischer Amber Ale for about $2.65 or so. Not bad for a brown 22oz swingtop! And it is (slightly) better than Grolsch.

:)
Toney.

[Krougar]

Without having much of any experience in brewing yet, but with friends that have and all the info on the net:

Grolsh bottles are pretty readily available. Part of the push to get me brewing was given by a friend of mine who only drinks out of the flip-tops at the bar so that he can rinse them and take them home with him. He's given me about 50 bottles so that I would get off my butt, no longer having any excuses not to get some equipment and start making my own. There are, of course, other bottles which are handier and probably better to use if you can get ahold of them. But if you can make friends with a good bartender where such bottles are sold, Grolsch is seemingly a little more prevalent (I say this cause I live in a tiny city in TN and Grolsh is sold almost everywhere I go, suprisingly).

The only downsides to these are that they are green, not amber, and will eventually have to have the sealing grommets replaced after regular use and the resulting wear and tear. It's also a little more complicated to sanitize these, but we're home brewing...what's a little more sanitization work when it means not having to ever fuddle with a capper and caps.

My wife and I are planning on continuing to use these green flip tops for our own personal use, thus eliminating any travel with them and risk of light exposure. The beer we give to our friends we plan on bottling in normal brown returnables since we got the capper with our kit and enough caps in our first ingredient kits to last a while. I think it's a pretty good plan and very inexpensive...especially if you or anyone you know likes to drink Grolsh :)

[wild]

I've been using Grolsch and Fischer bottles for personal use since my first brew and haven't had a single problem. I also have picked up 13 of the 1.5 liter Grolsch bottles that I use for brew and my starter yeasts. The only time I ever use the brown capped bottles is for sending to family/friends or for competitions.:D

[toneyc]

I gotta second the "know thy bartender" sentiment. A friend of mine brought me a couple of cases of flip top bottles a while back. He just mentioned to the bartender at the bar he was at that he had a friend that homebrewed and the bartender just handed him all these bottles! Often times, bartenders in small bars don't mind saving useful or different bottles for you in return for a few homebrews.

:)
Toney.

[Krougar]

Awesome. I recently joined on at a cajun themed restaraunt in my area as a secondary chef. I call it secondary cause I get paid about crap compared to what I was getting paid in the corporate scene. The good news is that I already know all 4 of the bartenders after 4 weeks of work. Plus this place sells relatively high quality beers for the area. I get a bonus of being able to get a discount on beer (YES! they actually give me a discount on the beer I buy when I eat there...if they charge me at all) and the loyalty of the friends I've made to keep me supplied quite heavily with bottles of differing types. There's no glass recyclable bin for the place, so they are more than willing to let me do it with my own version of saving the environment.

Make friends with barkeeps!!

beer brewing equipment: $150
average cost per batch: $25

66 flip-top grolsch bottles
8 amber flip-top quality bottles
112 returnable/crown top cappable brown 12oz bottles
All given out of friendship:

priceless

(minus beer owed of first few batches to anxious friends...expected)