On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:41:51 -0400, A. Nonymoose
<SendJunkMailTo@hotmail.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 14:21:22 GMT, "Bill Bell" <wbell1@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>[color=green]
>>Commercial bottles can indeed be used in homebrewing (nothing illegal about
>>it that I've ever heard), but the kind of bottles that have screw-off caps
>>may not survive the recapping process, because the glass is thinner at the
>>top.[/color]
>
>Bill speaks truth. The bottles that do not have screw-off caps are fine to
>use, though. I have been re-using empty Corona bottles for going on 2
>years now, without a problem.
>
>A word of caution, though, if you do use Corona, or any other beer that
>comes in clear bottles: If you use clear bottles, you must take extra
>care to keep the beer out of sunlight or even bright light, or else the
>beer will become skunked. I like the Coronas because they are easy to see
>where the beer level is while bottling the beer, and they also came in a
>handly little cardboard carrying case, which has a top and completely
>closes, eliminated this sunlight problem.
>
>You can re-use commercial bottles, just stay away from screw-caps.
>(Besides breaking easier, It's harder to get the cap to stay on, as well)[/color]

Last year I group-Googled to find something about using plastic soda
bottles for brew, and found at least one old post with both cleaning
instructions and experienced anecdotal material that led me to
believe it was possible. Why *isn't* beer packaged in plastic bottles?
If they can tint 'em green for 7-Up, they could tint 'em no-light
brown for beer. I've found an old 2-ltr bottle of soda that had been
in the back of a cupboard for at least 3 years, and it was plenty
fizzy when opened, so CO2 leakage doesn't seem likely.