PET plastic bottles - any experts?!
Discussion
I've acquired a bunch of 500ml plastic bottles (drunken purchase, seemed like a good idea) for bottling some home brew. I'm in the process of making some cider that will be fizzy, but I have no idea how to tell if the bottles are suitable for fizzy or not? The ebay advert says nothing about suitability.
Anyone know of a way (other than trial and error
) of knowing if they could be used for carbonated drinks?
Anyone know of a way (other than trial and error
) of knowing if they could be used for carbonated drinks?
They feel and look just like the ones that the local Happy Shopper used to flog 10p lemonade in (better days, better days!). Just wondering if there was a way to say for sure, but I guess I could bottle and leave them in a big tub, just in case they go off...! Once it's fermened, they only have to be out for 5 days or so before it goes in the fridge to clear anyway.
I don't imagine they will last too long after that, though
I don't imagine they will last too long after that, though
PedroB said:
Yup, they'll withstand quite a lot of pressure.
Thing to bear in mind though is that PET is porous, so unless you drink it in a few weeks your cider will oxidise pretty badly.
This. Whlist at university, one of my fellow housemates brought a bottle (standard 2Ltr Coke bottle) of scrumpy from rural Somerset. After a few weeks the cider had gone a funny colour and the bottle had started to become mishapen (it looked like it was melting!).Thing to bear in mind though is that PET is porous, so unless you drink it in a few weeks your cider will oxidise pretty badly.
Nobody dared tasting it, but it cleaned the sink extremely well
The oxygen transmition rate and water vapour transmition rate will be high in flimsy PET bottles and will affect/reduce the shelflife of the contents. Storing in cool and dark conditions will help this but they are not the optimum packaging solution for liquid products. Drink the stuff ASAP......
I think you will be fine: http://www.cider.org.uk/part4.htm
"Any bottles used for carbonated ciders must be designed to withstand the pressure generated by the gas, or there is a serious risk of them bursting and causing injury (not to mention the mess!).
Some years ago there used to be quart cider bottles with internal screw threads and special threaded stoppers, but these no longer exist. An alternative is to use glass beer bottles which are sealed with a crown cork - these and the capping tools are widely available from home-brewing suppliers.
The industry has now gone over almost entirely to PET (polyethyleneterephthalate) bottles which are lightweight and hold a moderate pressure well. Also, if they do burst, there is no risk of injury from flying glass.
If you are making a small amount of cider for home use, you can recover, rinse and re-use these bottles several times if they have previously contained other carbonated drinks. If you cannot scrounge sufficient secondhand bottles or you are working on a larger scale, you may have to buy new PET bottles from a specialist supplier.
Non-carbonated ciders can of course be bottled in wine bottles with regular corks if required, but the bottles must be stored on their sides to prevent the corks drying out and the air getting in (which will cause spoilage). The plastic (PET) bottles do allow oxygen in through their walls and so the flavour of the cider does alter over time compared to natural conditioning in glass."
"Any bottles used for carbonated ciders must be designed to withstand the pressure generated by the gas, or there is a serious risk of them bursting and causing injury (not to mention the mess!).
Some years ago there used to be quart cider bottles with internal screw threads and special threaded stoppers, but these no longer exist. An alternative is to use glass beer bottles which are sealed with a crown cork - these and the capping tools are widely available from home-brewing suppliers.
The industry has now gone over almost entirely to PET (polyethyleneterephthalate) bottles which are lightweight and hold a moderate pressure well. Also, if they do burst, there is no risk of injury from flying glass.
If you are making a small amount of cider for home use, you can recover, rinse and re-use these bottles several times if they have previously contained other carbonated drinks. If you cannot scrounge sufficient secondhand bottles or you are working on a larger scale, you may have to buy new PET bottles from a specialist supplier.
Non-carbonated ciders can of course be bottled in wine bottles with regular corks if required, but the bottles must be stored on their sides to prevent the corks drying out and the air getting in (which will cause spoilage). The plastic (PET) bottles do allow oxygen in through their walls and so the flavour of the cider does alter over time compared to natural conditioning in glass."
Well, bottled it all last night. Got 10 x 1L glass bottles (Grolsch style) and about 35 of the smaller plastic ones out of one batch, happy with that! Just gotta leave them out for about 5 days to grow some fizz!
Have put them all in a big pot just in case they go off with a bang, hope not...!
Have put them all in a big pot just in case they go off with a bang, hope not...!
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