Can anyone suggest a good source for bottles? I mean other than Amazon or do they have the best price? I have read about the different closure methods and am leaning towards screw-tops. I have about 40 gallons of plum wine in secondary so I will need around 200 bottles if I use the typical 750ml size.
Source for bottles and closure discussion
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Well just remember that screw-top bottles tend to be single use. I'd go with corked. There's all kinds of ways to get bottles, but I'm lazy so I just buy them. Don't forget to check the bottle price at your LHBS, they may be no more expensive than Amazon.
This subject was discussed many times and I'm sure you can find some better answers using search in the forum but I can give you some options that I used. I went to a local restaurant that sells a lot of wine and a bartender was very nice to leave empty bottles for me 2-3 times a week. I gave him a few bottles of my wine and he was happy too. I did the same with a local bar that I visit frequently but they don't sell too much wine so I got only some 1.5 l bottles from them. Now i found a local winery that sells a lot of wine daily. I have at least 30-40 bottles a week from them.
You can buy new caps. In fact, the sources I am looking at tend to sell the caps and bottles separately anyway.
I would love to use my LHBS but there is no longer anything near me. Hop Tech closed. There are any number of big wineries within 5 miles of where I work in Livermore CA (like Wente) but not sure I can call them and see if they would sell me bottles.
I did about an hour of searching. Thanks.
Best I am seeing is about $20/12.
I was surprised to see that ULINE sells wine bottles but they only have cork type and synthetic corks. If I do go that way, they would b e a decent choice.
Waterloo container will sell wine bottles in small quantities. shipping charges ae usually the turnoff. However they have the screw top bottle with a Sterling finish, this is the finish used for commercial screw top wines. screw top closures are available on amazon search for Novatech.
that doesn't seem to find anything sensible. Possible typo? Or post an actual link.
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Midwest Supplies/Northern Brewer sells bottles.
Also check Label Peelers.
I have ordered North Mountain Supply bottles but I think that was through Amazon.
I have purchased bottles a few times from Morewinemaking.com. They messed up my last order (received it this weekend) but they shipped the correct bottles today and I can return the wrong ones on their dime. Assuming I get the right ones this time, I would recommend them as they seem to have decent prices, although I had to pay for shipping. I found the sweet spot for shipping was quantity 2 for what I ordered, so I put in 2 separate orders of 2 boxes each to get the best shipping price. Even with shipping, their 375 ml cork finish bottles are way cheaper than my LHBS, at least when I ordered last week!
Also check Label Peelers.
I have ordered North Mountain Supply bottles but I think that was through Amazon.
I have purchased bottles a few times from Morewinemaking.com. They messed up my last order (received it this weekend) but they shipped the correct bottles today and I can return the wrong ones on their dime. Assuming I get the right ones this time, I would recommend them as they seem to have decent prices, although I had to pay for shipping. I found the sweet spot for shipping was quantity 2 for what I ordered, so I put in 2 separate orders of 2 boxes each to get the best shipping price. Even with shipping, their 375 ml cork finish bottles are way cheaper than my LHBS, at least when I ordered last week!
I get bottles from a local meadery, which is very happy for me to haul away their tasting room trash for free. I call it a win.
@rhodesengr One thing to consider in your decision regarding corks vs caps is whether you want to reuse the bottles. I have learned it's cheaper to give away cork bottles to my friends and relatives. If I give away my screwtop ones, I may or may not get the same one back, and it may or may not have the cap still. Corks are cheaper per bottle.
A floor corker is a must-have, in my experience. Makes the decision even easier!
A floor corker is a must-have, in my experience. Makes the decision even easier!
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Yep. I just went to a local winery tasting room. The manager was happy to save them for me. The downside…. removing labels.
It's a trade-off, the cost of new bottles vs. a bit of elbow grease for removing labels. I'm cheap, so I put in the labor.
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I’m frugal
My friends give me bottles. Unfortunately, my perfectionist tendencies of wanting to get the whole label and all the stickiness off sometimes goes to war with my laziness. The laziness won today when 3 cases of used bottles from friends went to the recycle bin, because I was sick of the boxes taking up space. I reuse my own labeled bottles because the labels come off easily. And I'm saving all the 375 ml bottles I got even though some of those labels don't come off easily.
A friend of mine just leaves the labels on. Half the time, he doesn't remember to label the bottles, either. So it's mystery time when I get wine from him. Since I've given him some of my wine, I often get my own bottles back full of his wine!
A friend of mine just leaves the labels on. Half the time, he doesn't remember to label the bottles, either. So it's mystery time when I get wine from him. Since I've given him some of my wine, I often get my own bottles back full of his wine!
I guess I should try some of the wineries in Livermore. There sure are a lot of them. Also, I remembered I had some dealings with Gallo Glass Company. They are about an hour away. They make all the glass for Gallo. It's a huge factory. Have to see if they will deal with home wine makers.
I appreciate all the replies. While we are on the subject of bottles I need to know the common practice for prepping bottles (cleaning/sterilizing) as this will be my first time using wine bottles. I though maybe just ask here rather than start a new thread. Years ago, I just put my mead in gallon jugs and called it good. It all got drunk pretty fast so long term storage wasn't an issue.
I've just been using Star San for my fermentation vessels and gear. Is that all you do with wine bottles or do you need to boil them like canning jars? The Star San leaves some bubbles in containers. Sometimes I rinse that out with boiled water and sometimes not. Or I can use the stronger K-Meta.
I've just been using Star San for my fermentation vessels and gear. Is that all you do with wine bottles or do you need to boil them like canning jars? The Star San leaves some bubbles in containers. Sometimes I rinse that out with boiled water and sometimes not. Or I can use the stronger K-Meta.
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I use One Step. Some people use Star San, others the stronger K-Meta. You don't have to boil them. Make sure you also sanitize the caps if you go that route.
If the bottles are new, some people just use them right out of the box like they do in the wineries.
My protocol is to sanitize all bottles right before bottling ("right before" can sometimes be an hour and once in a while, the day before, when I was doing two separate batches and wanted to get all the bottles sanitized at once).
For used bottles, I wash with Dawn dishwashing soap in hot water, and rinse several times to make sure all the soap is out. If anything is stuck in the bottles, I either use a bottle cleaning brush or I give up and recycle the bottle if it won't come clean.
Once they have dried, I store them upside down in bottle boxes. Then, as mentioned above, I sanitize before bottling.
If the bottles are new, some people just use them right out of the box like they do in the wineries.
My protocol is to sanitize all bottles right before bottling ("right before" can sometimes be an hour and once in a while, the day before, when I was doing two separate batches and wanted to get all the bottles sanitized at once).
For used bottles, I wash with Dawn dishwashing soap in hot water, and rinse several times to make sure all the soap is out. If anything is stuck in the bottles, I either use a bottle cleaning brush or I give up and recycle the bottle if it won't come clean.
Once they have dried, I store them upside down in bottle boxes. Then, as mentioned above, I sanitize before bottling.OK thanks. I will definitely sanitize. Just wondering whether I should use Star San or K Meta. Or if it matters. I have both.
You may see a common saying, "ask a question of 10 winemakers, and you'll get 11 opinions". With regard to bottle care, the 11 jumps to at least 35 ....
For commercial bottles, I soak in hot tap water and Oxyclean, which generally removes 3/4 of the labels. Some have a plastic or metallic backing, and peel off neatly when hot water softens the glue. Others require scraping, and I use Goo Gone to remove any remaining glue.
My bottles also get soaked briefly in Oxyclean, and the labels come off easily.
I air dry on a bottle rack, and put them mouth down in clean cases after visually inspecting for foreign matter. Rejected bottles go back through the cleaning cycle and may get bottle brush treatment.
Bottling day, I pull the bottles out of the cases and visually inspect before lining them up. I do not sanitize at that time -- as noted above, commercial wineries generally transfer bottles from boxes to the bottling line with no treatment. My bottles were clean, dry, and mouth down, so nothing can get in.
Most folks sanitize at bottling time, and that causes no problem. Folks get nervous about the bubbles remaining from Star San, but reliable information from the vendor says that is harmless and may be ignored.
I use Easy Clean for oxidizing out the organics and then dip the bottles in Beer Clean, which is a listed sanitizer.
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