[Kevin]

I have read that the bottles used for store-bought beer are not strong enough for homebrew.

What?! Sorry but this is hogwash. Whatever you are reading throw it away and stop taking their advice. Homebrewers have been using commercial bottles since homebrewing began. The easiest way to get bottles is to buy commercial beer and save the bottles. And to make it interesting always try to buy a  beer you've never tried before. You will get bottles AND you may discover a style you like that you had never experienced before.

Another thing that homebrewers have been using since the dawn of homebrewing is priming sugar. Use a priming sugar calculator and never worry about how many tabs to use... or whether those tabs will work consistently or not. https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

[House Of Ales]

I have read that the bottles used for store-bought beer are not strong enough for homebrew.

What?! Sorry but this is hogwash. Whatever you are reading throw it away and stop taking their advice. Homebrewers have been using commercial bottles since homebrewing began. The easiest way to get bottles is to buy commercial beer and save the bottles. And to make it interesting always try to buy a  beer you've never tried before. You will get bottles AND you may discover a style you like that you had never experienced before.

Another thing that homebrewers have been using since the dawn of homebrewing is priming sugar. Use a priming sugar calculator and never worry about how many tabs to use... or whether those tabs will work consistently or not. https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I also have never had a problem with commercial bottles. I have been using them for years. I use table sugar for priming too.

[nvshooter2276]

Have ordered 48 PET bottles of 500cc volume over the past week or so. 24 of them were ordered tonight, just minutes before this post. I will have somewhere near 100 x 500cc bottles by the time this latest order is delivered. I have found that a 500cc bottle will hold 18 ounces of liquid, so I calculate how many ounces of beer is in the 4.5 or 2.75 gallons I'll bottle, giving me a number of full bottles and tells me that I'll need a 12-ounce bottle or two to get the last bit out of the bottling bucket. I was using one-liter, transparent bottles but they require the beer be poured into a two-liter pitcher in order to not agitate the yeast once you've filled your 12-ounce pub glass.

[ynotbrusum]

Back when I bottled, I would use one plastic bottle to partially fill and squeeze out all of the air - when it went back to its original shape and was firm when squeezed, I knew the rest of the batch should also be carbed adequately.  You might use the last couple of your plastic bottles the same way?

[redrocker652002]

Not sure who told you that the store bought beer bottles cannot be reused.  I have been using Bear Republic Racer 5 and Racer 7 bottles damn near since I started 3 years ago.  The labels are simple to get off the bottles, a quick soak in Oxyclean and they litterally fall off in the water, rinse, dry and off to the boxes to await refilling.  I use 1 carb drop per 12 ounce bottle.  I get the carb drops off Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E5ZYB8?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_11&amp=&crid=1PBTMJO4V22I4&amp=&sprefix=carbonation   I am thinking of trying regular table sugar to see how that works as it is cheaper and always in the house, but who knows.  I like the convenience of just dropping in the single drop, filling and capping.  So, to answer your post, I use store bought beer bottles all the time. 

[Semper Sitientem]

 I am thinking of trying regular table sugar to see how that works as it is cheaper and always in the house, but who knows.  I like the convenience of just dropping in the single drop, filling and capping.  So, to answer your post, I use store bought beer bottles all the time.
[/quote]

I use a combination of table sugar and Coopers drops. I found the drops overcarbed my NEIPAs, but worked well with my dark beers. I weighed a sample of drops and came up with an average of 3.4g. A rounded 1/2 teaspoon of sugar averages 3.2g. while a level 1/2 teaspoon averages 2.0g. So, I use a level tsp. in my NEIPAs and when I run out of drops will use a rounded in my darks. YMMV.

[nvshooter2276]

redrocker says: Not sure who told you that the store-bought beer bottles cannot be reused.
I read this in a book in about 1990 regarding getting started in homebrewing. I found that Corona Extra bottles (the transparent ones) had good heft. I had only one or two that burst because I'd over-primed at bottling. I had so many of them that I trashed them when I moved from Virginia to my present location. I wish to helsinki that I'd saved them for when I give away a few bottles to those new to drinking homebrewed beer. I won't be handing my amber PET longnecks to those who have no idea as to why we who pay a buck-plus for a bottle would want that bottle returned.

[House Of Ales]

Not sure who told you that the store bought beer bottles cannot be reused.  I have been using Bear Republic Racer 5 and Racer 7 bottles damn near since I started 3 years ago.  The labels are simple to get off the bottles, a quick soak in Oxyclean and they litterally fall off in the water, rinse, dry and off to the boxes to await refilling.  I use 1 carb drop per 12 ounce bottle.  I get the carb drops off Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E5ZYB8?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_11&amp=&crid=1PBTMJO4V22I4&amp=&sprefix=carbonation   I am thinking of trying regular table sugar to see how that works as it is cheaper and always in the house, but who knows.  I like the convenience of just dropping in the single drop, filling and capping.  So, to answer your post, I use store bought beer bottles all the time.

I use 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar in each 12 ounce bottle. Works great for me.

[nvshooter2276]

From House of Ales: I use 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar in each 12-ounce bottle. Works great for me.


I measured the volume of a 16-ounce PET bottle and found it to be eighteen ounces. A simple calculation shows that I'd use ¾-ounces of table sugar for carbonation. I prefer to bulk-prime so I won't be enjoying one or two flat beers five weeks after bottling. One member here says he uses 0.8-ounces of corn sugar per every gallon to be bottled. I'm going to follow his lead and do the same. If I get 6.5 gallons (as an example) to bottle, I'd use 5.2 ounces of dextrose. A five percent reduction to protect against over-carbonation would be 4.94 ounces of dextrose. I have an electronic scale used to measure-out the powder charges in my reloaded ammunition; measures in grams, ounces and grains. To weigh in grains gets me down to 1/7000 of a pound; down to 1/453.6 of a pound if weighing in grams. That's probably accurate enough...

[House Of Ales]

I never have any flat beers carbonating this way. 1/2 teaspoon table sugar per 12 ounce bottle. Never a bottle bomb either. And I bottle straight out of the primary too.

Merry Christmas to all.

[nvshooter2276]

I looked around for PET bottles thinking it would provide some extra safety factor in case of over-pressure. I had the same results as the OP-- none of the suppliers I checked with had them.

I started looking for and buying PET bottles whenever I could find a seller who had them. I now have 115 bottles of 500cc capacity. My last purchase of 24 had three extras in it. One got squished a little in shipping and has a permanent crease in its side. I won't use that one, thus lowering my inventory to 114 bottles. I have plenty of caps that have a tapered ring inside that gets forced into the mouth of the bottle when the cap is tightened-down. These are found on two-liter bottles of sugar-free, caffeine-free cola from Walmart. I've got hundreds of them in different colors. Put one color on your bottles of Porter and another color on your bottles of Pale Ale. Simple.

All I need now is the time to brew, bottle and cap. Driving for FedEx Ground is the best job I've ever had in thirty years as a truck driver. Easy runs, light loads and fat paychecks. Just no time to do much of anything while away from work.

[Drewch]

You could always just save some from a six pack of rootbeer. Some of them still come in amber PET bottles.

[nvshooter2276]

You could always just save some from a six pack of rootbeer. Some of them still come in amber PET bottles.

I have several from singular purchases of A&W rootbeer at Dollar Tree. I look for them every time I go there. I usually don't find them. But I have the 114 ambers that will hold 18 ounces (534 cc) when filled to about two inches from the mouth. 114 bottles at 18 ounces per is 16.03125 gallons. That's a lot of bottling...