So after purchasing a beer kit from The Frugal Homebrewer in Waukesha, I’m attempted my first home brew. I’m attempting a clone of one of my favorites, Lakefront Brewery’s Riverwest Stein. I ended up buying plastic, reusable PET bottles from Mr. Beer via Amazon.com because I won’t need to worry about breaking or exploding glass and the need for caps and bottlecapper. I also bought a John Bull lager kit, which mixes a special blend of malt extract and hops into a can which looks like melted caramel. I bought an additional 3lb of malt extract from the brew shop, per the owners recipe recommendation.
It took me about an hour to sanitize all of my equipment. I started the brewing process on 7.22.08. The brew went pretty smooth and made our house smell like a brewery for about 10 hours. I have my wort (the boiled mixture of hops, yeast and water) fermenting with my dry yeast in the basement. It is about 70 degrees, which should work good for a lager beer fermentation (lager is bottom fermenting and ale is top fermenting).
Congratulations on your first brew, hope it turns out well. It is a shame you chose to put a fine crafted brew in a plastic container, that is like eating a prime rib on the floor with your hands. I suppose if you pour it in a glass like it is meant to be drank you are better off.
Just remeber plastic can scratch much easier than glass and your beer can become contaminated in the bottle much more likely with plastic than glass.
Enjoy and Relax Don’t Worry, Have a Homebrew.
Bill
Thanks Bill! I’m pretty excited to start the hobby and taste the fruits of my labor. You make a good point and I hope that my delicate bottle brush is gentle enough not to scratch. I alway drink my beer in a glass btw. Smelling it is 1/3 of the experience for me
Chime in any time and I appreciate your comments. I might collect some champagne bottles from the restaurant in my building at work. Then I’ll have some picnic bottles 
My buddy said beer bottle caps fit nicely on champagne bottles.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!