Can I use plastic bottles?

[ed71]

Have made my cheepo country wine and its down to proper FG. My question is, I dont have any bottles on hand and not about to go out and buy any. (money problems) I was planing on using some whisky bottles but only have a few and have 5 gallons worth of wine. Could I use PET1 soda bottles? or better yet the HDPE 2 used distilled water gallon jugs? (Im not sure about this since the cap doesnt really seal super tight) I do use 2 liter soda bottles for beer but that is only for about 2 month storage. Not so sure about wine. (since storage is alot longer and concerned about leaching over a year)

 

[jamesngalveston]

I would not use anything but wine bottles, with corks, you have to seal the bottles, are they will oxidize, unless you plan on drinking it all in a few weeks.
I bought 12 bottles when i started...i now have a few hundred empty and more then that bottled.
There should be some bars,stores,restaraunts,that you can ask for bottles.
They give them up freely.

 

[GreginND]

You can get all the bottles you want for free. Check out your local recycling drop off place and grab what you need.

 

[stevieevans]

Wine in plastic bottles is not safe for long time. So, you should use thin glass bottles to store your collection. You can take help from wine Club & bar owners. There you can get everything which you want.

 

[beano]

I have gotten all of my bottles (hundreds) from the recycle bin behind a local resturant. Do ask first though. You can ask your wine drinking friends friend to save thiers for you also. If you look around, resturants, bakeries, etc. you can get all type and size of food grade containers and buckets for free. I'm all abour cheap!!


Sorry Folks, I didn't realize this was an old thread

 

[spaniel]

Plastic bottles are air-permeable over a relatively short time frame (a year or under). I would not put wine in them not intended for near-immediate consumption. Through friends, recycling bins, and restaurants, you should be able to find plenty if you are resourceful. I've got several hundred originally rescued from a restaurant recycling bin, some of them have been used at least 10 times over the past 12-15 years.

 

[ed71]

Yeah Ive been saving up every bottle I drink up and try to salvage them (unfortunately I only use the screw top since I dont have a corker) However, I read some article somewhere by some company that uses giant plastic containers which they have created which supposedly breathes oxygen at a rate similar to what a wine barrel will do. (so they use it for aging and storage) I cant remember the name of the company or the site, but they had a 20 gallon version for small batches. Wondering if this is acceptable?

 

[sour_grapes]

However, I read some article somewhere by some company that uses giant plastic containers which they have created which supposedly breathes oxygen at a rate similar to what a wine barrel will do. (so they use it for aging and storage) I cant remember the name of the company or the site, but they had a 20 gallon version for small batches. Wondering if this is acceptable?

Probably, but I don't think it will be a cheap solution! Much more expensive than buying glass bottles.