If you’re new to the homebrewing process and wondering if you can use plastic bottles for homebrew, we want to assure you that you can, but it has a limited period. If you’re going to store your beer longer than three months, you should keep them in glass bottles instead of plastic bottles. If you store your beer in plastic (PET) bottles, after three months, it will start to go flat and plastic bottles can easily scratch. It’s challenging for you to sanitize them after a scratch. When they scratch, bacteria can easily hide on them. Since plastic bottles are usually light, if the beer in them gets exposed to ultraviolet rays, it will give it a bad smell.
Using plastic bottles for homebrew helps you have your drink in a portable container. You don’t have to bother about handling heavyweight like bottles. Plastic bottles don’t also break, so you don’t need to necessarily handle them with care the same way you do for bottles. For plastic bottles, too, you don’t have any problem with bottling your beer too early. Also, with plastic bottles, you can easily store your beer. The issues with storing beer in plastic bottles it is relatively harder to clean because you can’t clean it with a bottle brush without scratching the plastic; after three months, the beer in the plastic starts to go flat, and most people don’t see plastic bottles as things that have worth, so they quickly dispose of them.
Since storing beer in plastic bottles makes the plastic go flat after some months, some homebrewers prefer using glass bottles because you can store beer in them for as long as you want as long as you keep them in good condition. Also, bottles can be easily reused, they can be cleaned very well with a bottle brush, and you don’t have to bother getting them scratched like plastic bottles. But using glass bottles can be pretty heavy to carry around; you will need to spend money on getting a bench capper and caps; capping each bottle is also a lot of work, and you may have to handle the dangerous aspect of explosion for capping your bottles too early before they ferment well.
Can you store beer in plastic bottles?
You can store beer in plastic bottles, but it is not safe because, after a short while, your beer will become stale.
There are plastic bottles that are pretty strong and can withstand high heat, but then most plastic bottles are clear and oxygen-averse, and beer doesn’t do well when exposed to light. It is easier to add a dark color to glass bottles than plastic bottles. If you try to darken plastic bottles, it could still affect them.
Plastic bottles can also leach into your drink and alter the original taste of the beer. And when you don’t store them at the required temperature, they can get affected and unsafe for consumption.
Most people do not store beer in plastic bottles because they cannot stand up to the pasteurization process that glass bottles undergo. When beer is brewed, fermented, and packaged, it goes through a machine that sprays it boiling water to heat the beer inside so that microorganisms that are inside can die. These bottles are pasteurized so that the beer inside them is safe to drink and the beer shelf life can be improved. Most glass bottles can safely undergo this pasteurization process without anything happening, but plastic bottles cannot withstand it, so they get twisted. This is another reason why most brewers don’t store beer in plastic bottles.
Does alcohol react with plastic bottles?
Yes, it does. If you allow your alcohol to remain in plastic bottles for more than three months, the chemical substances in the plastic-like ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid will start to react with the alcohol in the plastic bottle. This reaction often ruins the taste of your drink.
How long can alcohol stay in a plastic bottle?
Alcohol can stay in plastic bottles for three months as long as you store them the way the manufacturer wants you.
How do you sterilize plastic bottles for beer?
You can clean and sterilize your plastic bottles in different ways. You can clean them with mild detergent and tap water, then rinse them again in distilled water. You can rinse your plastic bottles with a chemical sterilizer like Pink Cleaner or Sodium Metabisulphite. Rinse your plastic bottles in this solution and air dry them. As soon as they get dry, rinse them in cold water, so no cleaning solution is left in them.
Don’t use hot water to sterilize or clean your plastic bottles. You should also not use the same brush used in washing your glass bottles to wash your plastic bottles. Using a glass bottle brush for your plastic bottles will scratch it, introducing bacteria to your bottles. Also, avoid using abrasive cleaners or scouring pads to clean your plastic bottles. Using alkaline cleaning agents and polycarbonate (PC) on your plastic bottles is also not suitable.
A lot of plastic bottles, especially the polyolefins (PMP, LDPE, HDPE, PP, and PPCO), have non-wetting surfaces that enable them to resist any form of attack. They are also easy to clean.
The sterilization of plastic bottles is different from disinfecting them. While sterilization kills all the viable microorganisms, disinfection only decreases the number of microorganisms. Some common disinfectants are iodophors, quaternary ammonium, and alcohol.
To sterilize your plastic bottles, follow the procedures below.
Wash your plastic bottles with a bar of antibacterial dish soap with warm water to disinfect them. Since this is a disinfectant, it will destroy the surface bacteria but will not kill all the bacteria because the plastics have not been sterilized yet. If you want to get a better result, use a non-diluted alcohol rinse when washing your plastic bottles after washing with the antibacterial dish soap and warm water. Grain alcohol and rubbing alcohol kill bacteria in plastic bottles.
Soak your plastic bottles in a five to ten percent bleach-water solution. This will help to sterilize your plastic bottles. It doesn’t take long for the bleach to disinfect your plastics, so; you should only soak your plastic bottles in them for a few minutes.
Heat your plastic. You can use a warm dishwater rinse to do that, but a microwave is better. Before you put them in the microwave, ensure you wet them first because the heat from the microwave and the water on the plastic bottles leads to sterilization. Keep your plastic bottles that are wet in a microwave on high power for two minutes to sterilize. You should know that the dishwasher or microwave can melt the plastic bottles, so you need to be very careful. Polypropylene plastics are more robust than a lot of plastics, and they can withstand high heat. It would be best if you considered using them often for bottling your drinks.
Then, position your plastic bottles under an ultraviolet (UV) lamp. Ultraviolet plastic sterilization is a safe, non-heated method that many food processing laboratories and water industries use for their products to make sure they are safe enough for people to consume.
Plastic bottles also have special brushes that you can use to clean them. Gordon Brush® is an example of a brand that provides people with different brushes for cleaning and sterilizing their plastic bottles. You can check out their other sterilizer cleaning brushes below.
Acid brushes are used for quickly cleaning or wiping applications, applying glue and other chemicals, too, on plastic bottles.
Block brushes are used for cleaning, sterilizing, and disinfecting plastic bottles.
Chemical-resistant brushes are also great for cleaning plastic bottles with chemical coatings attached to them during the manufacturing process.
The cleanroom or heat-tolerant brushes are used to disinfect plastic bottles used for applications with heat treatment or cleanroom requirements.
The flow-thru brushes are a unique kind of sterilizer cleaning brush that helps liquid flow through the synthetic or natural bristles of the brush. This brush allows you to disinfect your plastic bottles.
The hygienic or sanitary brushes are used to reduce the likelihood of trapping bacteria and other microorganisms during the sterilization and disinfection of your plastic bottles. The unique feature about this specific brush is that the bristles are strong to carry out aggressive cleaning and also soft enough to give you scratch-free plastic bottles after cleaning.
The metal-free brushes are another sterilizing, cleaning, and disinfecting brush for plastic bottles. They can touch all the corners of your plastic bottles and clean them properly. You can also use them to clean fittings or valves that need aggressive scrubbing were scratching the surface must not be done. With these brushes, you can clean your plastic bottles and other equipment without getting them scratched.
Their spiral or twisted-in-wire brushes are suitable for cleaning plastic bottles that need thorough cleaning without them getting scratches or abrasions. This is just a perfect option for cleaning plastic bottles because you don’t need to bother about your bottles getting scratches and attracting bacteria.
The toothbrush-style brushes are used for plastic bottle applications that need fine detailing. This kind of brush can quickly go inside your bottles and clean them thoroughly.
Their utility brushes help in sterilizing and disinfecting plastic bottles. Their many other things you can use these utility brushes for.
Their valve sterilizer cleaning brushes provide complete coverage when you are cleaning your valves and plastic bottles.
Do you need to sterilize your plastic bottles? Yes, you should, and here is why.
It is sterilizing your plastic bottles that helps to kill whatever fungi, bacteria, or viruses that are in them.
You will always find microbiologists test for the different microorganisms contained in plastic bottles, even pyrogens that are not just the remnants of bacteria but carry endotoxins that cause fevers. They conduct this test because your plastic bottles can be sterilized but still has pyrogens in them.
Plastic bottles cannot withstand exposure to high temperatures that kills microorganisms and burns endotoxins; that is why you need to sterilize them and also wash them with pyrogen-free water.
Can you ferment in plastic bottles?
You can ferment your drinks or beverages in plastic bottles. It would be best if you used small plastic bottles to ferment because you can easily manage them. When fermenting in plastic bottles, ensure you keep them in the same spot for some weeks.
You should also know that many plastic bottles have bisphenol A (BPA) in them, so always lookout for this when you consider using plastic bottles to ferment your drinks. Always go for plastic bottles that are BPA-free this is because BPA is a chemical compound that has a connection with various health conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and infertility.
With clear plastic bottles, air permeability is low, and you can quickly ferment your drinks in them. All you need do is put your drink, add your yeast and fix a stopper with an airlock, and fermentation begins and ends perfectly. You can use plastic (PET) bottles for fermentation because it is straightforward and fast.
If you’re going to ferment your drinks in plastic bottles, make sure you allow some headspace and screw the cap down, short of air-tight, so that the pressure doesn’t blow off the lid.
Don’t ferment your drinks in metals like aluminum, copper, tin, and cast iron. These metals can react with the acids in the fermented beverages and cause a change in the color of the drink and also alter its flavor. These metals can go as far as leaching your drinks.
Also, avoid using containers that are coated with Teflon or containers that have nonstick coatings. This is because, over time, these coating peels of, and the metal beneath the coating reacts with the acid in the drink leading to funny flavors and color of your beverage. Stainless steel and enamel are safe for you to ferment your drinks in them, as long as your enamel doesn’t have chips in them.
Conclusion
You can use plastic bottles for homebrew as long as you don’t store them for too long. Most alcohol starts to go stale when you keep them in plastic bottles for more than three months.
A lot of homebrewers prefer using glass bottles instead of plastic bottles for storing their beer because of specific reasons like having to deal with the change in the taste of the drink after a while, plastic bottles not been able to go through the pasteurization process without getting affected and many other reasons.
If you want to consume your beer within few days of packaging it, you are free to use plastic bottles, but if you are going to store them for over three months, it will be great you use glass bottles to save yourself from a lot of stress.