They seem pricey from homebrew suppliers. Would it be wrong to ask the local pub for their empties?

Could be worth asking at the local – never tried myself. If you’re after 500ml brown bottles I’m not sure if pubs tend to have many of them.

I’ve found it far better to buy them filled, enjoy emptying them, then clean and keep. Can take a while to get a decent number though.

I’ve found it far better to buy them filled, enjoy emptying them, then clean and keep. Can take a while to get a decent number though.

Agreed.

Empty magners bottles from the local boozer. They’re more than happy to have someone take them away.

Yes, wish I’d thought of that years ago! Kind of defeats the object of home brewing now – trying to buy as much beer as I need for bottles. I guess with Chrimbo coming, might start scrounging empties from friends and neighbours.

Stick an ad on freecycle

You need the bottles with the long rim the neck too, not the ones with a small rim as the bottle capers grip onto the bottom of it.

Like this:

not this:

Good point. Also, bottles with a ‘shoulder’ are better if you need to be careful about your sediment.

And avoid clear glass bottles like the above.

Wait for recycling day and see what you can find on your street?

I find that telling everyone you know that if they give you empty bottles they’ll get some back with beer in them works quite well. I’ve got several people collecting for me now (my Dad being the best source). Here’s some of the brew – https://twitter.com/MattBowns/status/492774812826472448

I brew with 2 mates to split costs and so we get more variation (rather than having to drink 40 pints of the same beer). If you do the same and get everyone to collect you’ll have loads of bottles in no time. We’ve got enough for about 8 or 10 different beers at a time

Save ones I buy ask neighbours and friends to do the same. End up with quite a lot quickly.

I’ve got loads in the garage you can have, Midlands based if you’re nearby…

silly buggers.
Use wine bottles. that way “just 1 bottle dear” gets you half as much again. and the tit in the bottom hold the sediment nicely.

You need the bottles with the long rim the neck too, not the ones with a small rim as the bottle capers grip onto the bottom of it.

except only shit breweries use clear bottles; good ones use brown glass so you should too!

I get most of my bottles from beers I’ve drunk or from mates (seriously unless you only know teetotallers you should be rolling in them if you ask around) although for my latest belgian brew I’ve invested in some 330ml bottles from the local homebrew shop – not too bad @ £6 for 24 especially considering “proper” homebrew bottles are stronger than commercial ones so should last longer.

I’ve just got 40 bottles of beer from Aldi because they have the flip top lids like the old Grolsch bottles so that covers one bucket of brew. I I have got no idea what I’m going to do if I get two on the go at the same time.

I buy beer in bottles at the supermarket. Then I drink the beer and clean the bottles.
Theakston, Black Sheep and Fullers are the best IMO as the labels just fall off as soon as they hear the tap running

I just buy beer in brown bottles then drink it. As much as I enjoy my home brew its nice to try some new beers now and again

I agree with the above regarding drinking your own and saving the bottles. Avoid Wychwood bottles the cap size is slightly larger. Good bottles include Black Sheep and Theakstons (Dead easy labels to remove if you soak in warm water) as mentioned above and Saltaire Brewery bottles have been good too but to remove the labels I’d recommend filling with boiling water and leaving for a few minutes then peel them off. I just recently bought a bottle tree and sanitiser, it really makes bottling a pleasure rather than a chore.

You should most certainly NOT use wine bottles for beer! (Champagne bottles might be ok, never tried…)

Obviously the correct answer is to buy the bottles full and drink the contents 🙂 But 500ml soft drink PET bottles also work fine IME (even though everyone says you shouldn’t): also gives you the possible benefit of easily reducing the pressure a bit if you over-prime. I’ve used 2l for ginger beer but not real beer, I would assume they are as good for either. Soft drinks are usually higher pressure than beer and googling suggests that in practice they can hold about 100psi or more.

No problem with clear bottles in a dark room/box.

I guess if you’re paranoid, store the beer somewhere where a blowout won’t matter. But I have never had one (my mother, with wine corks, on the other hand…).

Coopers’ brown PET bottles come in boxes of 24 for about a tenner – not just at homebrew stores but at larger Tesco stores too. I make sure I have at least one PET bottle in every batch so I can tell when it’s carbonated.

Use wine bottles.

please don’t. (a) they’re not strong enough for pressurised liquids (except sparkling wine bottles as JulianA mentioned) and (b) they’re usually green, not brown – although that’s not a problem if you store in a dark place

They work perfectly. Never had one burst. The corks pop first. And that is so infrequent that I can’t remember one ever doing so. I can’t see why you would waste money on caps unless you can re use them? Can you?

I can’t see why you would waste money on caps

Because it only adds 2p to the cost and I want my beers to look like beers not like some dodgy old homemade rhubarb wine!