jovialmonk.com.au

[Muse]

I'm new to this and am, in fact, just brewing my first batch (yeh!).

I have been giving some thought to the issue of bottles and seals and would like some feedback on and idea.

I am actually a very dedicated wine bottler and belong to a wine bottling club that has been going strong for the past 45 years - making it the longest running bottling club in Australia. We bottle 600 litres every 6-8 weeks in a member's back yard.

Now we have been using cork for these entire 45 years but have just made a significant change to a new seal called 'Novatwist'. Novatwist seals like a standard Stelvin seal but is able to be alpplied by hand without machines and has a greater mechanical protection because the outside is completely encased in plastic (also improving the appearence).

Since I already have a heap of standard green red wine bottles hanging around (apologies for the 'green red' thing there but it does work!) I thought that I might try bottling some home brew into standard wine bottles using these Novatwist seals. I am told that the PET bottles are not really very good for beer.

My questions therefore are:
1. Is there any known problem with bottling beer into a stanard green coloured red wine bottle?
2. Is there any known issue with the use of screw type seals?
3. Has anyone tried this type of stuff before - with what result?
4. What can people tell me about the use of PET bottles and their possible issues?

Whatever happens, I might at least try putting some of my first batch into wine bottles and seeing how they compare over time. I believe that slow and careful testing will be important here!
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The Muse

[The Monk]

[Muse]

Yes, I realise that beer is carbanoated and will self carbonate but my thinking is that if Coopers supply PET bottles with screw caps and these bottles are sufficient to hold beer and softdrinks then a Novatwist cap is also probably likely to hold the pressure. Have a look at the Novatwist site www.novembal.com/en/wine-and.../novatwist-screw-caps.php

Looking to get the ease of bottling without crown seals and also get the cleanness of glass. Figure that I might just have a small trial (ie 1 bottle) for a start! Will report in!
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The Muse

[The Monk]

Glass bottles and crown seals are the best and quickest, least troublesome way to go.

Uh oh! GREEN bottles? Hmmm brown is best, if you keep going with the green bottles keep them out of the light at all times.

[Muse]

OK. Thanks
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The Muse