| Author |
Message |
    
aleman
Member
Username: Aleman
Post Number: 224
Registered: 04-2003
Posted From: 24.230.107.243
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 12:21 am: | 
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Whew! I'm in the process of moving to a much nicer town. I've spent the evening dumping crappy meads and mediocre beers. Its quite amazing how one can accumulate bottles. "Ewww, thats a nice heavy bottle, better save these bottles, gosh that Full Sail six pack holder sure is pretty, better save these bottles. Pretty soon your overwhelmed. I just filled a large trash dumpster full of old bottles. I kept wishing that I could beam my giant pile of bottles over to Chumley's extra garage just for fun. So you newbies beware, just say no to bottles.
Anyone have a recipe for quadrotriticale ale? |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2651
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.45.166
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 03:04 am: |
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I've posted this before, but it's relevant:
When I started brewing, I made a fetish of collecting bottles. "Never know how many I'll need. Better keep these just in case." It got so bad that I would rifle through the neighbors' recycling bins if I was walking the dog late on garbage night. Embarrassed the heck out of my wife. But I discovered that one neighbor bought a lot of Gaffel Kolsch and Franziskaner Hefe -- worth picking through the bin for.
It became an illness. After I got to about 500 bottles, I was hiding them behind the furnace and in the crawlspace. After I got to 600, I stopped counting.
I finally came to my senses. One night I took 6 cases to the curb -- just the funny shaped ones and some with labels I didn't feel like soaking off. The pile didn't look any smaller. Then I gave away 8 or 9 cases of 22oz bottles because I never use those. About 10 more cases have gone in various ways and I still have way more than I need. |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 7560
Registered: 03-2004
Posted From: 74.215.101.110
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 03:40 am: |
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In my shop's basement, there are bottles that haven't seen any beer in almost 20 years. Probably never will again. I will let the kids sort it out at the estate sale. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 12286
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.150.49.181
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 03:42 am: |
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This is reason enough never to even think about buying empty bottles. Newbies, ask around; old-timers will be trying to give you more bottles than you could possibly need. |
Connie
Senior Member
Username: Connie
Post Number: 1577
Registered: 10-2000
Posted From: 98.230.141.204
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 05:36 am: |
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yeah. I remember the loads of bottles that I hauled home from our local recycle center...then hauled back when I moved on to kegging. |
Bob G.
Advanced Member
Username: Brewerbob
Post Number: 655
Registered: 06-2002
Posted From: 192.77.86.2
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 06:00 am: |
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Admitting you have a problem is the first step 
I do the same thing. I always look at the bottles I've accumulated already and I've been here just under a year. I mean well, I WILL bottle condition again someday, really! |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 2278
Registered: 11-2002
Posted From: 98.66.40.178
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 12:50 pm: |
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The ABC is the only reason I need 12s. I would like to have some 22s that will take caps rather than corks for various gift giving. |
ChriSto
Advanced Member
Username: Christo
Post Number: 738
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 216.176.226.154
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 01:00 pm: |
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I rotate through about two cases of 12-oz. bottles each year sending to various competitions and a few for x-mas, but that's basically the only reason I ever bottle anymore (except my latest 6-er of experimental peppermint beer ).
I did bottle one full batch this year - my 10/10/10 batch of 1.100 OG and 100 IBU American Barleywine - mainly in 22 ozers that will be x-mas gifts. I don't think I would want to keep a keg of that in the fridge as I only have room for 3 kegs.
That said, I have 6 more cases of 12 ozers under my brew counter and over my cabinets, plus 4 full cabinets of over-sized bottles just sitting empty. Oh yeah, and the two boxes in the garage of never-used flip-top 22ozers, and . . . |
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1999
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.36.8
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 04:04 pm: |
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I only save a few bottles. This is one. I also have Batch 1500 and Batch 2000 on the shelf, along with SNCA bottles going back to 1990 |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 2275
Registered: 10-2002
Posted From: 141.232.1.1
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 04:47 pm: |
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Is anyone else disturbed by the statement "I've spent the evening dumping crappy meads and mediocre beers."?
3 words for such brews. Blend, Marinade, and in-laws.
Doug |
Chumley
Senior Member
Username: Chumley
Post Number: 6221
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 63.118.227.254
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 05:01 pm: |
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Doug, you don't know how truly mediocre aleman's beers are. |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 2276
Registered: 10-2002
Posted From: 141.232.1.1
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 05:13 pm: |
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I drank Old Style for years and still have a place in my heart for it so I doubt aleman's mediorcre beers would ever be turned down by me.
Doug |
Jim Williams
Member
Username: Jim_williams
Post Number: 153
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 72.221.65.41
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 05:43 pm: |
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What about the bottles of old unopened beer? I've got a good pile of those. Even a 6 pack of Guatemalen beer one of my amigos gave me for christmas a couple years ago. Usually, it's cheap Tequila from Macario. He really stepped up last year |
aleman
Member
Username: Aleman
Post Number: 225
Registered: 04-2003
Posted From: 24.230.107.243
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 10:23 pm: |
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Mean, mean, mean, fat, fat fat! My beer is better than Chumley's cole slaw but not as good as Mrs. Chumley's peach pie. |
Jeff Rankert
Intermediate Member
Username: Hopfenundmalz
Post Number: 263
Registered: 06-2008
Posted From: 76.122.174.139
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 12:32 am: |
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Paul, I thought at first that was Batch 10,000. Just had one of those, so maybe it influenced my reading skills? |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 2279
Registered: 11-2002
Posted From: 98.66.40.178
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 02:08 am: |
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Speaking of 22 ouncers, I have a decent collection of Stone and Schlafly bomber bottles. Is there an easy way to dissolve the painted-on logos on these things? |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 12288
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.150.49.181
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 02:14 am: |
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Not that I know of, DH. You would have to use paint stripper, rubber gloves and a razor blade. |
Graham Cox
Senior Member
Username: T2driver
Post Number: 2601
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 72.15.105.173
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 03:09 am: |
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I used to be a hoarder. Now I recycle anything that is going to take more than a token effort to clean and de-label, to include the painted bottles and any odd-sized bottles, to include the Sierra Nevada-type stubbies, with which I have a passing familiarity.  |
Nephalist
Intermediate Member
Username: Nephi
Post Number: 422
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 71.136.20.1
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 04:53 am: |
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This thread has me wondering. I have a creative streak in me, but I chose to go into science (the former dominates). I have a messy garage including things I've brought back from the dumpster that I thought I'd get around to using someday. Beer bottles were in that vein. Someday, I thought, I'd have piles of bottle conditioned beer and aging barleywines. I read people's posts about methodical notetaking during brewsessions and exact numbers of batches/gallons brewed per year. Recipes followed to the T, then repeated just to track consistency. I couldn't be further. Is there a correlation between bottle/junk hoarding and a free-spirit attitude towards brewing, contrasted with the detailed brewer who would never dream of removing something from a dumpster?
I once found 3 kegs full of soda next to a dumpster. |
Connie
Senior Member
Username: Connie
Post Number: 1578
Registered: 10-2000
Posted From: 98.230.141.204
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 05:32 am: |
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Nephalist, I guess we are just dumpster divers. I found a full Coke keg a few years ago at one of our recycle centers...and over the years, a whole bunch of other useful stuff.
All my wine bottles come from there. |
ChriSto
Advanced Member
Username: Christo
Post Number: 739
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 216.176.226.154
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 12:52 pm: |
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Sooo....
What DO you get when you feed a Tribble? |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2653
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.45.166
| | Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 02:04 pm: |
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Nephi, my bottle fetish is nothing compared to my "re-usable" electronics fetish.
Every since my first post-college job in a robotics research lab (many decades ago), I've dabbled in homebrew robots and electronic gadgets when I've had the time. (A soldering iron and parts for a half-built 3-D printer are scattered within reach as I type. Yes, I am a nerd.)
Since I'm also cheap (another common homebrewer trait), I tend to scavenge stuff which might someday be useful in this hobby: dead Walkmen, CD players, and cameras; old wall warts; discarded toys (rechargeable RC cars, especially); etc.
My tiny office already overflows with this stuff. But rather than purge, I'm tempted to double down on some of it. Sony has discontinued the Walkman and nobody sells portable CD players anymore. Both are sources of some of the very best low-voltage motors and gear trains ever made. Same with beepers, cameras, and cell phones -- either dying off or getting too small to contain useful motors. So I'm thinking of raiding the local tag sales and stocking up.
My wife thinks I'm crazy but doesn't mind as long as it all stays in my office. My kids know for sure I'm crazy and hope it isn't contagious. |
Vance Barnes
Senior Member
Username: Vancebarnes
Post Number: 4051
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 24.99.147.250
| | Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 12:25 am: |
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I don't understand about not having enough bottles when you start brewing. Not doing enough R&D it seems.
I bottled 2 entire batches this year for the first time in probably 10 years. A Berlinerweisse and Skot's Wee Heavy recipe. |
Dave Witt
Senior Member
Username: Davew
Post Number: 1506
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 24.7.226.155
| | Posted on Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 08:48 pm: |
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I usually bottle big beers and since I've been brewing more bigger beers the last couple years and find myself occasionally scrounging for bottles. It reminds me of my beginning homebrewing days. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2657
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.45.166
| | Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 11:10 pm: |
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Today's brew session got rained out, so I spent the day cleaning out the basement. Took the opportunity to get rid of 5 more cases of 12oz bottles. Could probably cut deeper. I STILL have more than I need. |
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