Value of 1.5ML Glass Bottles

[Hiltonizer]

Based on my avatar, you'd be correct in making an assumption that I drink quite a bit of Southern Comfort.... that said...

I have dozens upon dozens of empty glass SoCo handles. After first lurking the survival section, I've been keeping a majority of the bottles I drink. Now after reading a few water storage threads, the common theme is that plastic bottles are the weakest link.

My town uses public well water, which as far as I know is treated similarly to any other city water.

Should I make an attempt at storing water in them, or giving/selling them off to someone more proficient than myself in treating water for storage?

I would have no problem buying a gross of the 2.5 gallon jugs from the supermarket and keeping them in my cool dark basement.... or should I fill these glass bottles with tap? If the latter, who can link me to a good comprehensive article on doing so?

All opinions valued equally. Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[coastie]

If you have the bottles I would use them. There is no reason you cant. As for the tap water, if your city water is already treated with chlorine or something else I wouldnt hesitate to put it right into the bottles. If it isnt then I would add a little bleach to it first. I forget what the amount is. I write it on the bleach bottles so I dont have to remember. It is only a few drops though. As for a link Google "purifying water with bleach" or something like that and you should get a ton of hits and articles.

 

[pernox]

Couple things that might help..

Glass bottles are the best for water storage IF you don't have to move them. If you do, well, you're SOL 'cause they're going to break. =)

Don't hesitate to add a few drops of bleach to each bottle - if it's too strong when you open it, letting it sit out for a day will let the chlorine evaporate. I learned this after spending money on de-chlorination tablets for my daughter's hermit crabs, and subsequently finding out that I could've had the same effect for free.

Don't buy gallon jugs (or the flimsy "tap" jugs) from the store and use those for storage; the plastic breaks down fast, and will either contaminate the water or literally disintegrate. Soda bottles are a great alternative, as long as they're NOT DIET. The ingredients in Diet soda begin the plastic breakdown process early.

Good luck! Personally, I'd go for it on the glass jugs, as long as you have a permanent place to keep them. I'd also advise sealing the cap of each bottle with electrical tape to keep it airtight during expansion/contraction. I would also, however, have some less fragile water storage available in case I had a situation where I had to boogie real quick and wanted to bring water with me.

Hope this helps!

 

[Hiltonizer]

Couple things that might help..

Glass bottles are the best for water storage IF you don't have to move them. If you do, well, you're SOL 'cause they're going to break. =)

Don't hesitate to add a few drops of bleach to each bottle - if it's too strong when you open it, letting it sit out for a day will let the chlorine evaporate. I learned this after spending money on de-chlorination tablets for my daughter's hermit crabs, and subsequently finding out that I could've had the same effect for free.

Don't buy gallon jugs (or the flimsy "tap" jugs) from the store and use those for storage; the plastic breaks down fast, and will either contaminate the water or literally disintegrate. Soda bottles are a great alternative, as long as they're NOT DIET. The ingredients in Diet soda begin the plastic breakdown process early.

Good luck! Personally, I'd go for it on the glass jugs, as long as you have a permanent place to keep them. I'd also advise sealing the cap of each bottle with electrical tape to keep it airtight during expansion/contraction. I would also, however, have some less fragile water storage available in case I had a situation where I had to boogie real quick and wanted to bring water with me.

Hope this helps!

good tips, thanks for the reply.

as far as cleaning the glass bottles... should i just dilute some bleach with water and rinse them out?

what kind of shelf life can I expect using the few drops of bleach tactic? They'll be in my basement there entire lives (hopefully) which doesn't swing much more from 55-65. I'll also cover them with an old towel to help block any light they may get exposed to.

 

[pernox]

good tips, thanks for the reply.

as far as cleaning the glass bottles... should i just dilute some bleach with water and rinse them out?

what kind of shelf life can I expect using the few drops of bleach tactic? They'll be in my basement there entire lives (hopefully) which doesn't swing much more from 55-65. I'll also cover them with an old towel to help block any light they may get exposed to.

I use soda bottles, so I'm more particular with washing than you'll have to be. Alcohol is pretty safe stuff, so you're mostly looking to rid the bottle of the scent. No bacterial growth going on in the SoCo, I'd imagine. I wash with hot water and a TINY drop of dish soap, then rinse thoroughly, and rinse with a mix of ~1/2tbsp of bleach and ~2cups water. I then rinse again, because my tap water is chlorinated (heavily!) by the city. Don't forget the cap - get those threads clean.

As for shelf life, I honestly think that this water will be safe to drink much longer than you or I will be around to drink it. If you have an airtight seal, there's nothing alive in there, and nothing alive can get in there to start causing nastiness. The only factor in storage (assuming the above airtight seal and proper preparation of the water itself) is chemical contamination from the material it's stored in. The rate of decay with glass is so small that I wonder if it's even been measured by science.

That said, if you're extraordinarily anal, you could always set a dating system and rotate every few years. Being glass, you'd be perfectly fine to reuse the containers, and could bleach/refill ad nauseam.

Also, a hopefully-never-helpful hint... If you're ever in a situation where you resort to drinking this water, you'll notice that it's "flat" tasting. It just needs to be aerated - pour it back and forth from one glass to another a few times, and shake the jug for a while before drinking. That'll liven it up a bit.

 

[ShadeWPI]

Glass is ideal storage

Glass is actually the ideal storage medium for long term storage. It does not degrade significantly over time (it does flow over hundreds of years - dutch windows are noticably thinner at top verse bottom) As several people have mentioned, you need to protect against 2 basic forms of contamination: Chemical and biologic. If the water is clorinated or iodized and sealled, you eliminate the later and stored in glass you will virtually eliminate the prior. If you want water that will last nearly indefinately: 1) Clean the bottles and caps out with soap and water. 2) Boil two large batches of water and metal a sample of markers or sealing wax (this is the wax used to cover some alcohol bottles and wine bottles. 3) submerge the glass bottle and cap into the first batch of boiling water, remove returning the boiling water to the first batch. 4) fill the bottle from the second batch of boiling water, add 2-3 drops of chlorine and cap. 5) Allow the bottle to cool till warm to the touch with the cap on and then dip the top past the cap in the wax. 6) Store in a light blocking container (cardboard box works fine) in a cool, stable place (basement). If/When you need to use this water, remove from storage, remove wax and cap, pour out half into a second container, then recap both and shake. For nearly complete removal of chlorine, leave in open air for 24 hours at room temperature - Chlorine boils off into the air very nicely. Warning - Handling glass bottle full of boiling water is danagerous, please be VERY careful when doing this. Boiling kills any biologic contaminants, removes most disolved gasses (including oxygen) and it creates a negative pressure of the air inside the bottle to help preserve the seal as the bottle cools. This is how wine is has been stored for several hundred years and remained fresh. Even a small amount of oxygen will turn wine into vinegar very quickly. The fact that 2-300 year old wines stored in wax sealled glass bottles have not spoiled is a good indication that this storage method is extremely effective. - If you're going to use cork to seal a bottle, remember to boil the cork too.