[Bill Wallace]

Ok I lied. In a previous post I said I was going to all grain from the get go.  I did brew a batch with a Mr. Beer kit I picked up at Goodwill for $15.  Beer willl be done in a week.  It's in the bottles now.  But extract brewing has never even slightly interested me.

We had a little beer leftover from the fermenter (we filled the 8 bottles the Mr. Beer comes with) so I put it in a Budweiser twistoff bottle and put the twistoff cap back on.  It seemed to seal up pretty good.  I guess I'll know in a week when I try the beer.  So here's my question: why not use twistoffs?  They seem to work.  Like I said, I'll know for sure when I drink it in a week.

Feel free to pile on.  I'm new to this and this could have been a really dumb question.

[Joe Sr.]

Weaker/thinner glass, not intended for reuse (though what is these days).  They won't hold up to the same pressure that pry-off bottles will/should.  But I've also had some pretty thin pry-off bottles.

I've got a couple twist offs in amongst all my bottles that have been reused many times over the years.  I crimp new caps on them and they work just fine.  I think if you have problems it will be from reusing the old cap.

[Stevie]

Twist offs do not seal as well as a standard pry off bottle. Some older craft breweries (Sierra and Full Sail are two) used the twist offs for ages but switched to pry offs. Sierra switched in 2008 (?) and Full Sail in the last year or two.

[mattybrass]

Pretty sure that wont work. Lots of opportunity for leaking co2 out / oxygen in. twist off and replace the cap on a bud and see if its carbonated after a day.

[mugwort]

Twist-offs are a little more likely to come loose or leak, but that can be avoided with carefully capping and inspection.

If you like the convenience of twist-off bottles or have a bunch, no reason not to use 'em.  I just wouldn't reuse caps. 

[erockrph]

Twist-offs are a little more likely to come loose or leak, but that can be avoided with carefully capping and inspection.

If you like the convenience of twist-off bottles or have a bunch, no reason not to use 'em.  I just wouldn't reuse caps.

If you have a hand-capper be careful. I've had a couple of twisties get into my bottle collection every now & then. I've crushed the threads during capping on more than one occasion.

[mugwort]

Twist-offs are a little more likely to come loose or leak, but that can be avoided with carefully capping and inspection.

If you like the convenience of twist-off bottles or have a bunch, no reason not to use 'em.  I just wouldn't reuse caps.

If you have a hand-capper be careful. I've had a couple of twisties get into my bottle collection every now & then. I've crushed the threads during capping on more than one occasion.

True true.  If you ever want to marvel at your own strength, just use an Emily capper to crack a few.

[Bill Wallace]

Pretty sure that wont work. Lots of opportunity for leaking co2 out / oxygen in. twist off and replace the cap on a bud and see if its carbonated after a day.

That's a good idea. 

[hopfenundmalz]

Sierra Nevada changed to pry off when they got a new crown seal material that required a high clamp load, but resulted in much less O2 ingress.

In the US bottles are just about all one way items. The glass can be recycled, but they are so thin they are not reusable. Most are very thin, weigh a US bottle and compare it to a similar size Euro bottle and you can see a difference. That said I use a lot of US thin bottles at home. For competitions I buy heavier new bottles from the LHBS.

[duboman]

My experience with twist offs was it was hit or miss if they sealed well even with a bench capper and new caps so I scrapped them all a long time ago. As for US bottles, I have around 15 cases that have been reused many time over 4-5 years and maybe a few have cracked but over 95% of them are still in use today, although since I've had my keg set up imp actually getting set to hand off a bunch of cases to a friend that's in need:)

[a10t2]

I've tried to reseal twist-off bottles a handful of times when I've run out on bottling day and it's maybe a 50-50 that you'll get them airtight.

[reverseapachemaster]

With the rate of speed that empty pry-off bottles appear in my sink each weekend I don't see a reason to tempt fate by using twist-off bottles.

[Werks21]

With the rate of speed that empty pry-off bottles appear in my sink each weekend I don't see a reason to tempt fate by using twist-off bottles.

 + 1

[ynotbrusum]

I do use the PET brown pints with the twist off caps...I can rest assured that they won't break in transit and they seal well!  I wish the competitions would start to allow for entries in these, as it would make for a lot less packing issues.

[Stevie]

PET isn't a good barrier for oxygen and co2. Friend had a bbq with 2 year old Pepsi in plastic bottles. Flat and nasty.