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Fill Height Issues


Guest Liberty Bar - Seattle

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Guest Liberty Bar - Seattle

Hey there - I'd like to first say that I've been digging around the web to see if I can find the answer to this question, but I've not found even the topic discussed, so I thought to be someone else to try to mine info from the more knowledgeable folks here - so thanks in advance.

I was looking for a bottle and found just the right bottle, but the manufacturer suggests that this bottle would not work for liquor because of "fill height issues". What exactly ARE these issues and why is wine different than spirits in this regard?

Thanks in advance, and if I am able to get more info before people jump into this thread, I'll post that info here.

Thanks again.

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I don't know about fill "height" necessarily, but without seeing the bottle in question I'd hazard a guess that because of the way it's made, 750 ml (for example) might look significantly different from bottle to bottle, creating the appearance that some bottles contain more product than others. Variations in glass thickness can do this even in the most standard bottles. Does that help?

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Liquor bottles have more head space than wine bottles. With wine you want very little space between the closure (cork or screwcap) and the liquid. With spirits you need extra space for the expansion of the higher proof alcohol. As temperature of the spirits fluctuate the level of liquid will fluctuate quite considerably (think alcohol thermometer). I have seen the level of 80 proof spirits fluctuate nearly an inch from 60 deg F to 100 deg F.

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Hey there - I'd like to first say that I've been digging around the web to see if I can find the answer to this question, but I've not found even the topic discussed, so I thought to be someone else to try to mine info from the more knowledgeable folks here - so thanks in advance.

I was looking for a bottle and found just the right bottle, but the manufacturer suggests that this bottle would not work for liquor because of "fill height issues". What exactly ARE these issues and why is wine different than spirits in this regard?

Thanks in advance, and if I am able to get more info before people jump into this thread, I'll post that info here.

Thanks again.

There is a group (ANSI?) that approves glass moulds depending upon whether they are for still wines, sparkling wines, beer or spirits. It has to do with effervescence and/or ABV levels. If you consider the difference in expansion of vapors under heat via ethanol, CO2 or water, different spaces can mean the difference between corks popping off on a hot day or not for example. We learned the hard way with that one.

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According to the TTB, for spirits you are not allowed to have more than 8% headspace of the volume of the bottle (at least that's what they said at the Expo last month).

There is a group (ANSI?) that approves glass moulds depending upon whether they are for still wines, sparkling wines, beer or spirits. It has to do with effervescence and/or ABV levels. If you consider the difference in expansion of vapors under heat via ethanol, CO2 or water, different spaces can mean the difference between corks popping off on a hot day or not for example. We learned the hard way with that one.
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Guest Liberty Bar - Seattle

Hmm. All great responses. I'll have to run this thread by the glass folks to whom I've been speaking.

This is a wine bottle, but...hmm...

Thanks again, y'all!

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Definitely check the overall capacity. I had many bottles sent as samples only to find that they held European standard volumes of 700 mls. Make sure you get a sample bottle fill it to 750 mls with an accurate graduated cylinder, and check for ample head space. The TTB only recognizes certain bottle sizes as well, so just because there are 700 ml or 500 ml bottles widely available as spirits bottles does not mean you can use them here in the USA.

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Guest Liberty Bar - Seattle

Since it's so hot here in Seattle and my wine bottles are bursting their corks, it's time for the next question:

If a bottle that has an inappropriate 'fill height' is wax-sealed, would this solve the problem?

I'm also asking the Saverglass people this question, so we'll see what the answer is, but I'd love to see what the thoughts are here for this question.

Thanks,

Andrew

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Since it's so hot here in Seattle and my wine bottles are bursting their corks, it's time for the next question:

If a bottle that has an inappropriate 'fill height' is wax-sealed, would this solve the problem?

Sorry, wax won't stop this. I had a bottle of our wax sealed Pumpkin spirit empty itself all over my back seat last summer. Can still smell it every time the humidity is high. It no longer smells nice either.

Hope you find a reasonable solution!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest Liberty Bar - Seattle

Sorry, wax won't stop this. I had a bottle of our wax sealed Pumpkin spirit empty itself all over my back seat last summer. Can still smell it every time the humidity is high. It no longer smells nice either.

Hope you find a reasonable solution!

Thanks for the help. The "reasonable solution" is to find another bottle. Too bad that those folks in the ad at the top of the page, United Bottle don't have anything close.

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