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Any problems using blue bottles versus brown bottles?

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  • Any problems using blue bottles versus brown bottles?

    I've seen cobalt blue bottles used for non beer products (fruit sodas) and I think they would make a very nice package for beer. Are there any problems using blue bottles versus brown bottles?

  • #2
    It is my understanding that blue are better at guarding beer against being light-struck (skunky) but more people don't use them simply because they cost more than traditional, brown bottles. I could be wrong.

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    • #3
      I thought that blue was similar to green in that it provides more protection compared to clear glass, but still allows skunking to occur.

      A quick google pulls up this article:

      cdn2.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbrskunking.pdf

      I remember reading somewhere once that red glass is actually the best at preventing light strike, but is too expensive to manufacture. But, I don't remember where I read that and it's perhaps a useless point anyway...

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      • #4
        "Blue light, and to a lesser extent green and a bit of near ultraviolet are the most damaging to beer. Most wavelenghts of ultraviolet light are not a concern because glass blocks them quite effectively (that’s why you don’t get sunburned in your car). The color of glass is the color of the light that it transmits, so green bottles allow the green light though. Similarly, blue light passes unhindered through pretty, cobalt-blue bottles. Clear bottles transmit all of the visible light. That is the reason beer in green, blue, and clear bottles is almost always skunked. Yes, even some very expensive imports."

        From professorbeer.com

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        • #5
          Not such a problem for dark beer though!

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          • #6
            D'oh.

            el_mocoso

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            • #7
              The following was my response in a local entertainment weekly column called 'Wha?'. Readers ask some off the wall questions. The question was 'Why is beer packaged in glass bottles and why are they brown?'.

              "Beer in glass bottles is the current norm for consumer trade packages although plastic and aluminium bottles/cans are becoming more popular in certain markets. Cans and plastic offer certain advantages to the brewer but consumer acceptance is often difficult.

              I like glass bottles for beer. When you drink from an aluminium can/bottle, you are actually drinking out of plastic (plastic liner inside can). As I generally don't like putting petroleum based products near my mouth as a rule, beer for me comes in stainless steel (kegs), glass or wood.

              At to the colour question, beer is packaged in brown glass to protect it from light. There is a reaction of certain hop compounds to UV-B light which leads to the formation of a compound known as 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (or 3-MBT). This compound is very 'skunky' in aroma and is detectable by most at the level of 4 parts per trillion. It is one of the most powerful flavour/aroma compounds found in beer.

              3- MBT is also more commonly formed in beer bottles by the excitation of riboflavin molecules by visible light (blue-green, 490-500 nm wavelength) to their triplet state which then cascade into a reaction with certain hop compounds leading to 3-MBT in the bottle. This reaction can happen in less than a second in full sunlight.

              Wow. That last paragraph was seriously geeky.

              Brown bottles protect beer better at this blue-green wavelength. The worst is flint glass (clear) followed by green and blue bottles (too close to call), followed by brown and then black. Aluminum cans are of course, opaque to light."

              ...UV-B is a problem, but not as much as light in the visible spectrum at the blue green wavelength. Just sayin'.


              Pax.

              Liam
              Liam McKenna
              www.yellowbellybrewery.com

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              • #8
                Florida Beer Company bottled their Octoberfest this year in blue bottles. Made a nice presentation. Actually, you didn't know they were blue until they were empty.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Capt. Bob
                  Florida Beer Company bottled their Octoberfest this year in blue bottles. Made a nice presentation. Actually, you didn't know they were blue until they were empty.
                  It looked great with the label but like Bob said, you couldn't even tell until it was empty and unfortunately the one I had was skunked to the point of being undrinkable. If you want light protection brown is the way to go.
                  Justin Stine
                  Head Brewer
                  The Waterfront Brewery
                  Key West, FL

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by kai
                    I remember reading somewhere once that red glass is actually the best at preventing light strike, but is too expensive to manufacture. But, I don't remember where I read that and it's perhaps a useless point anyway...
                    Schlitz used "Royal ruby red" glass bottles manufactured by Anchor Hocking in the 1950's (supposedly to help celebrate their 100th Anniversary) and again in the 1960's. Here's a brief history (with some inaccuracies) of Schlitz that discusses them, along with a few other brewers' who used them.
                    SCHLITZ “The Beer [& Bottles] That Made Milwaukee Famous” Supposedly they were discontinued both due to cost and customer resistance.

                    Lone Star Brewing Co. used an very dark>opaque black bottle (a US style stubby "one-way" bottle) from the late 1960's into the mid-1970's, manufactured by Owens-Illinois, that they claimed prevented light penetration "far more effectively than any other beer bottle heretofore commercially available".
                    Last edited by jesskidden; 11-21-2011, 09:27 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Thanks, that's a good little read.

                      I wish we had near opaque bottles. Would make fill heights look a lot better when there's no neck label.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by kai
                        I wish we had near opaque bottles.
                        Sleeved bottle?

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                        • #13
                          That would certainly be a trendsetting moment in the Aussie craft beer market.

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                          • #14
                            Kai - found these people in your part of the world

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