Home Distiller

Wasn't sure where to post this.
First of all, Happy Fourth of July. Be sure to toast the Colonies today.
Not everyone will have an ALDI's grocery nearby, but just in case.
Shopping there yesterday, I spotted bottled Sparkling Lemonade in this 25 ounce bottle.
Big deal.
BUT, at only $1.69 that's not far off the price of the bottle itself, not to mention S&H.
And with the labels, certainly makes it a little more discreet than a mason jar.
And I'm interested to see how the lemonade tastes as a mixer.
So If you have an ALDI's nearby, you might want to check them out.
BB

What country?

Geoff

The Baker wrote:What country?

It's a German discount grocer chain, Geoff, but we have them here in the U.S.

I'll have to check my store. Been pricing 750mL bottles (~25oz.) and they're running about $5 each. Screw that.
Thanks Bama. Happy 4th.

A friend of a friend is nuts about that lemonade. I get bunches of these bottles. They're really handy to have around.

Nice.
Pay attention to the rubber of the stopper: I found that strong alcohol weakened the rubber of similar stoppers of Grolsch beer.

The rubbers degrade even with an empty bottle after a few years. And we often store our spirits a few years. But it looks easy to replace them.

We have ALDI in Australia too but probably they have different specials....Which is why I asked 'what country'.

Replacement seals are available, not sure what they are made of but I don't think it is rubber.
But you may have to do a lot of searching to find a supplier.

I have been saving empty wine bottles....
And the one litre (tapered from the bottom to the top) bottles used for fruit juice in the supermarket sometimes; also bought new in bulk by people making their own tomato sauce.
Often found in op shops (you may call them something else, used clothes and household items in charity shops....) and if you search you can find new lids in the catering suppliers where you buy the bottles new (so that you get new seals, the lids are the kind that pop when the vacuum is present, keeping the sauce or whatever fresh).

Geoff

If I can't easily get a natural cork for a bottle, or demijohn, I don't take it home.

You got to admit a $1.69 bottle is pretty cheap.
I've got a few of the bottle's and their great mixed ladies drinks
If you don't want or need the fancy cap.
Cut the wire off and use a natural cork in the bottle.

der wo wrote:The rubbers degrade even with an empty bottle after a few years. And we often store our spirits a few years. But it looks easy to replace them.

there have been warnings previously about those synthetic gaskets here on HD

but now that EPTFE has a little better availability new / safer gaskets can be made.

natural cork gaskets are all but impossible to install over that little nub without breaking.

cob wrote:... but now that EPTFE has a little better availability new / safer gaskets can be made.

Have you tried it?
From I've read it has little memory, making it pretty much useless for this type of application.

Thanks for the feedback.
This pricing is in the US.
I haven't tasted the lemonade yet, thinking of using it for a Pimm's Cup.
My favorite summer drink and I'm trying to figure out how to distill something close to it.
I had thought of buying 750 ml wine bottles from Amazon, but they're over $2 plus a tasting cork.
I ASSuME tasting cap will fit in these.
I'll be heading back tomorrow to buy some more.

Why do you need them?

I age my likker in 2/3rds filled demijohns, with their oak. Because aging finishes once it is off the wood, I only bottle enough for my projected requirements, leaving the rest to continue aging.

NZChris wrote:Why do you need them?

Exactly. Projected requirements such as camping & parties. Nobody wants to tip a demijohn.
Remember, Chris, not all of us have been doing this for 30 years. I have no bottles yet because I've been waiting for a deal such as this.

In thirty years, I've never had a stash of bottles until now. Someone encouraged me to start collecting spirits bottles a couple of years ago, now my shelves are full of empty bottles, some of them quite rare, but I am feeding them back to the recycler because they just don't get used.

Something special, like a fancy gallon whiskey bottle, is worth keeping to impress the hordes at a major pissup, but for your daily tipple, any ex spirits bottle will do. Scrub the label off and write your own with a felt tip.

Most restaurants, clubs and pubs will just give you as many bottles as you like - often though without stoppers or caps.

[Edit - I do occasionally buy the 3 litre flagons with the "ears" on that Lidl sometimes sell cider in for £3.99 - but then you're stuck with finding someone to drink the cider - or tipping it away ! ]

Aldi in Australia sell French soft drinks in those bottles, Geyer Frere . OK now the stopper is plastic with a silicon seal that covers the whole underside of the stopper. Old Grolsch bottles had stone stoppers but I think they are plastic now. I use to use them for bottling beer back in the day.

I guess I'm just lucky, there is a bottle dumpster near my work used by several different bars. I have about 60 wine bottles hanging out in the back of my truck right now waiting to come in and get prepped for the wine that needs bottled. I noticed that most modern flip tops have plastic stoppers which is why I only use then for cider and have begun moving away from using them at all in favor of crown type caps for the low ABV stuff. I have used ceramic/stoneware flip tops wrapped in PTFE tape for a seal but I prefer cork t-caps. I have a bunch of patrone bottles salvaged from the dumpster and I've bought bottles at a local auction from a distillery that went out of business. One thing to watch out for is some bottles have odd size openings. I paid something like 50 cents a bottle for the oval whiskey bottles but they have a 21.5mm opening, where I think 18mm is standard and the only supplier I could find for corks was Widgetco at a cost of (I think) 75 cents a stopper. So the corks actually cost more than the bottles. My goodwill often has bottles, I bought some square 500ml bottles at the auction where I bought the whiskey bottles but also found them new at Goodwill for 50 cents a bottle. The nice thing about the square ones is they pack tightly together so they are good for shipping samples to people and they fit the t-corks. I don't think t-corks fit in most flip top bottles. If shipping were reasonable I'd volunteer to ship bottles to you guys who need them but it would probably cost more money to ship than buying them new. My brew shop that closed down also carried used bottles for $8 a case, sometimes I would buy those just because I didn't have to remove the labels, which gets tedious when you have to bottle 50 - 100 bottles of wine.

Few years back, I got from 99¢ store 25 (2 cases + 1 bottle, all they had) 25 oz or 26 oz bottles of "Rieme" carbonated pink grapefruit juice from France. Was the best tasting soft drink ever, , ,

And, yes, you can use cork gaskets, just cut the hole big enough to go over the nub on the stopper, without stretching it. It sometimes falls off when you open the bottle, but, yah know what? it works.

-hey-