Home Distiller

Hi all,

Been a while since I posted, but I would like to say what an awesome forum this is!

Ok, down to business. I have been trying to find a source of glass storage containers in Syndey, Australia without much luck. I am after anything from at least 4L - 20L (1-5 gallons), whatever works out most economical to buy. I love those 1 gallon glass jugs/bottles you guys in the U.S. have but can't find anything similar here. I was hoping someone could point me to a good source of suitable glass storage containers in the Sydney area.

Thanks for the help.

Keep checking the bairgan places mate. I'm not in sydney, but i found a bargain joint that has largemouth square 4l glass bottles. they're wireframe clipdown lids with a rubber seal that just lifts off for a glass to glass seal that's good enough for our purposes. At $5 each, the twenty or so i have is still a sizeable investment.

The only other thing you can do is collect used 2l flagon bottles or 2l spirit bottles from your local club. The big glass demijohns are too dear here from the brew shops, and we aren't as lucky in this regard as our brothers across the water who seem to get a lot of products in large glass bottles including wine. We just can't get em used here.

Do any of the restaurants or bars there get bulk goods in glass these days...??? Pickles, olives, peppers, etc... Granted, they would most likely only be in the 1G/4L range, but better than nothing... It never occurred to me that you wouldn't have wine in this size glass jug...

if you go to "dan murphys" or some other bottle shop, you can buy wine in flagons $19.99 - $25 you can do a neutral run with the hi quality wine

Go LO,Clints or $2 dollar shops are the go for jars up to 4 or 5 litres.
Home brew shops have glass carboys 20 litres and up

I too feel your pain. I just use the 5 litre cookie jars from the reject shop for aging and then transfer to 2 litre flagons for maturation. I buy the sherry or port flagons for around $10, I reckon two litres of cheap port plus a good sturdy glass bottle for $10 is a pretty good deal.

I believe the cheap $2 shops have the market cornered for us brewers with the 4lt square jars in AUS. definately the place to get cheap storage containers. Since devoting part of my life to reading this forum (cheers to all involved ) I and a few others have stocked up on these jars. careful with the thin corners of the jar walls as they shatter quite easily. lesson learned- kitchen cleaned. great for storage/ macarating/ infusing. in adelaide we have bottle recycle depots and 2lt flagons are 1.50 a piece as many as you can handle - bargain! some 5lt bottles do appear, but you wanna know the bottle yard real well or elso you will miss out.

The Cooperage at Smithfield has everything from bottles to demijohns , wooden kegs etc

also some fancy bottles with ring type necks and some small stone bottles

http://www.cooperagebrew.com.au/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Those olive oil storage tanks are interesting, would make good storeage or even a boiler. too bad they don't have an online catalog.

i have been planing on taking a look at the place in smithfield next time im in the area..
they look prety large..

cheers rod..

also what are those olive storage containers mentioned.. ive only seen the maroon plastic drums olives come in.
are they stainles or somthing and how big..?

They were S/S, looked like from 4L up to around 40L. Shown under the food prep section.

rad14701 wrote:Do any of the restaurants or bars there get bulk goods in glass these days...??? Pickles, olives, peppers, etc... Granted, they would most likely only be in the 1G/4L range, but better than nothing... It never occurred to me that you wouldn't have wine in this size glass jug...

Nope.

All that stuff comes in plastic here.

where are those ss olive cointainers, are they available in australia?

Smithfield, NSW.
Click on the link Rod provided. Then they are pictured at the bottom of the Food Processing section.

ok so the brew place in smithfield has em...

thanks hawk and rod..

looks like a drive is in order..

Hi guys just came back from http://www.cooperagebrew.com.au/ , in Smithfield.

if you are in sydney it should be the first place to stop and have a look, and his prices are very good.

few items i made note of for futer purchase..

100gm E1118 yeast.............$12
2lt flagons..................... ..$2
5lt Flagons.......................$14
54lt bottle in basket............$68

he has probably the most comprehensive range covering beer wine and spirits.
the stainless oil tanks look goo they go to 100L i think it was $250 approx.

anyway his wesite only covers 2% of his stock

cheers..

My local home brew shop just got these in. He is in Greensborough Vic, the 2L flagon on the left is $3.00 with the cap and the gallon and a bit one on the right is $14.00 with the swing top. He also carries 750ml bourbon style bottles for $2.25.

coops the supplier for those bottles is in melb, i will pm you there details later..

Geez... Never knew it was so tough to get 1G/4L glass jugs down there... I can go into any liquor store here and get them, filled with cheap yet drinkable or distillable wine, for $7.99 - $10.99... You're paying more empty than I do full... That's a shame...

rad14701 wrote:Geez... Never knew it was so tough to get 1G/4L glass jugs down there... I can go into any liquor store here and get them, filled with cheap yet drinkable or distillable wine, for $7.99 - $10.99... You're paying more empty than I do full... That's a shame...

Yep, i know it's hard to grasp, but we get all that food stuff in plastic, and the bulk wine comes in foil bags.
We can get two litre flagons or two litre spirit bottles easy enough at recycling centres or from peolple who drink fortified wine, but two litres/half gallon is not an ideal size at all for storage even though it's ok for some oaking projects or for various small amounts of feints.

Other thn that, we need to buy imported bottles, and they're importing the bottle, not the contents so that's where the value is.
I can get gallon glass jugs from a mate but they're brown, had chemicals in em.

Yes! I've got to say it is a bit of a mission finding anything glass over 2 litres that isn't at a ridiculous price.
I'm gonna check out the $2 shops, and get my dad that frequents the swap meets to keep his eyes open! I think swap meets would be the place to go for finding distilling related goodies! all I have to do is get a sunday off from work!!!

The reject shop in cannington W.A has 4.5ltr square glass jars for $5 no to bad a price

sconly wrote:The reject shop in cannington W.A has 4.5ltr square glass jars for $5 no to bad a price

that sounds great!Best price for size that I've seen!
I'll be checking that out tomorrow for sure!
thanks sconly!

SuperDavid wrote:

sconly wrote:The reject shop in cannington W.A has 4.5ltr square glass jars for $5 no to bad a price

that sounds great!Best price for size that I've seen!
I'll be checking that out tomorrow for sure!
thanks sconly!

Our reject shop in country NSW has em too, they are what i use for some aging projects, i have 15 of em.

punkin wrote:

SuperDavid wrote:

sconly wrote:The reject shop in cannington W.A has 4.5ltr square glass jars for $5 no to bad a price

that sounds great!Best price for size that I've seen!
I'll be checking that out tomorrow for sure!
thanks sconly!

Our reject shop in country NSW has em too, they are what i use for some aging projects, i have 15 of em.

Shit mate,you keep going like that,you will need a bigger shed

I feel like I won lotto or something!
4.5ltr jars for $5!
Thanks sconly!

4.5ltr jars for $5!

Nice.

[Where's an envy icon when you need one?]

SuperDavid wrote:I feel like I won lotto or something!
4.5ltr jars for $5!
Thanks sconly!

My little brother is handy some times

Yes, very good for aging in...

punkin wrote:Yes, very good for aging in...

did you take the rubber seals out punkin?
if you have....do you shake your jars while aging? how do you avoid the mess?