Coopers DIY Beer 740ml Oxygen Barrier Home Brewing Beer Bottling Set, Qty. 15, Brown

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Been using these now for over 3 years - same bottles. Incredible quality. UPDATE: Still happy with these, but 1 bottle out of the 15 had a manufacturing flaw around the neck and wouldn't hold a seal. ORIGINAL REVIEW: If you've tried bottling cider or beer in regular bottles or Grolsch-style bottles, you know what a pain bottling day is. Bottling in these is a piece of cake. Sanitize the bottles and caps with Starsan, drain for a bit, fill them up, and screw on the caps. That's it. And I especially like that I can give one a squeeze each day after two weeks and determine when they're ready to cold-crash. I've always been afraid of a bottle bomb, because that would be it for my home-cider-making since SWMBO would outlaw it, so I always carbonate lightly but with these, you can carbonate as heavily as you'd like. When the bottle's hard, stick it in the fridge. I brew right around 3 gallons at a time and that's 14-15 bottles, so a case of these is perfect for one batch of cider. I just bottled my second case today and cracked the first one from the case I bottled 2 weeks ago. Carbonation level was perfect and the bottle performed great. I was just about to write that I didn't like that ring on the cap that stays on the bottle after opening it--but before I wrote that, I picked up the bottle and discovered that the ring comes off very easily--no problem and it doesn't screw up the threads. I like the fact that the caps are reusable, but eventually I can see that they'd need to be replaced so it's good to know the rings just slide off. Going to buy another case right now and some more caps before word gets out that this is the way to go. As soon as everybody finds out, the price'll go up!

We bought a Mr Beer, beer making system, and we wanted extra bottles. I decided to go with several cases of these even though our Mr Beer kit came with bottles. These bottles are great for your secondary fermentation where your beer is carbonating in the bottles. The bottles are designed to release excess pressure so they don't blow during secondary fermentation. They have worked perfectly so far. In our past beer making, we have had a number of bottles blowing their tops. Not one of these had an issue. Yes they are plastic and glass offers a better flavor, but in life, there sometimes needs to be a trade-off to get to where you want to be.

These are awesome bottles and I love them! I like that both the bottle and the caps are reusable and lake/river safe! I use a 1/2 bottle wand and can bottle a 5g batch in under 10 minutes! So why the 1 star dock? The instructions! The instructions say to use 2 coopers carb drops per bottle, do NOT do this unless you enjoy your beer carbonated to campaign like levels! I lost an entire batch of farmhouse ale to over-carbonation due to their crappy instructions. I switched back to just using priming sugar and everything has been fine.

Personally, I prefer plastic bottles over glass bottles... Why? 1) Never had a bottle bomb, but if there was one, I'd prefer it to be plastic. 2) Plastic bottles tell you when they are carbonated. Squeeze 'em. See #1 - you might find a potential BB just in time. 3) Capping plastic bottles is 95% faster and simpler than capping glass bottles. 4) Caps can be re-used over and over. 5) They don't break, are light and quiet. Like when you drive in your car. 6) After bottling, I squeeze all the air out before I tighten the caps. Not sure if it makes a diff, but not really possible with glass bottles. ;) So, that said, you can just collect soda bottles, but they are usually transparent or green, which may lead to skunkiness. Plus most are very flimsy, not sure how that affects O2 intrusion. That leaves us with these bottles, and MrBeer 1l bottles. I have both, and I like both. Main differences are the size (yes, Cptn Obvious). I like both sizes. Maybe the 1l a bit more - it is just enough for a Sunday afternoon. 3/4l is a bit too much for my regular weekday (prefer 0.5l), and just a bit short for the weekend. These seem a bit stronger than the MrBeer ones, but I am not sure... perhaps it is because they are smaller? Not a biggie anyway. MrBeer bottles have white caps, which are easier to write on than the black ones that come with Coopers. Finally, at the moment these are a tad cheaper than MrBeer bottles - $1.71/l vs $1.875/l. Not significant. Conclusion - these are fine if you like plastic bottles over glass. Different size compared to MrBeer, decide what works best for you. Maybe both.

I used these on a batch of pear cider I made, and they are easy to sanitize, fill, and clean after. they are not all that clear, they have some inconsistency in their color or whatever, giving the appearance of sediment in the bottle when there is not, but its a dark brown bottle, you'll generally pour out to a glass anyways so that's not a big issue. I have not reused them yet but I can see it being easy, the clean up easily if washed right after using (I'd be hesitant on using bottle brushes on them, they may get scratched easily) but the cap should screw on just as tight as the first use, I'm hoping anyway. The ring on the bottom of the cap does tear off like in commercial screw tops, but that is removed and should not be needed for subsequent uses. They are thin and easy to squeeze, but once my cider was inside and carbonated (naturally) they were tight and didn't indent easily.

Years ago when I lived in Germany, I bought beer in PET bottles at the local ALDI. When I saw these on Amazon, I thought-- I'll try it. These hold 25oz, so slightly more than a traditional bomber. They hold a great seal and carbonate without ANY problems. They are lighter, cheaper and bigger than most traditional home brewing bottles, and these are all pros in my book. They reseal very well, so you can easily drink half a bottle, screw the lid back on and put it in the fridge. When you come back, it still has a perfect carbonation. Check out my video. I had half the bottle last night, and now it is still like new. I'm a believer.

For those of you that are constantly reusing your bottles or make as much beer as I do, you definitely want to change to these. Bottling is easy and so far, no exploding bottles. The last batch I bottled was 9.8% by volume. It literally blew the bung and hydrolock across the room from the ammount of active fermentation. Even still, no bottles burst. The other handy thing is if friends take a bottle or two home, they are definitely unique so they remember to return them to me. The size is perfect. Anyone who brews knows that 12 oz. is nowhere near enough. Easy to clean. I rinse after pouring and then throw them in the dishwasher. When I go to bottle again, a quick shot of StarSan and they are ready to go. I soak the caps in a bowl of StarSan during bottling. Because they are plastic, when I prime them, I roll them across the kitchen floor to ensure it's completely mixed. That's NOT something I would do with glass bottles. I will NEVER bottle in glass again. I will be purchasing plenty more of these Cooper's bottles. Hope this helps with your decision.

Seems strange to use a screw cap on a plastic beer bottle but they do the job