Side by Side Comparison of: EZ Cap vs Chefs Star®

I really like these bottles. They are made out of heavy quality glass and the caps do not leak. To test for leaks I lay them down. If they were to leak, I would find fluid pushed outside the bottle. After you figure out how to put the caps on, it is really easy to do and they are easy to take off too. The shipper does not include any instructions with the bottles. There is a great video showing how to put the caps on. But no information on how to re-open the bottle or remove the cap when it is time to wash the bottle. I think it would not be good to put the bottle caps in the dish washer so I remove the caps for washing. To re-open the bottle, just put your right thumb on the right wire hinge and your left thumb on the left hinge and push away from you. Do not try to lift the wire ring to un-cap. I have very strong hands, but find that to be almost impossible. To remove the cap completely for washing, just push the wire nub out of the divots in the glass.
My goal with these bottles was to make Kombucha that is VERY fizzy. That means to cap the brew tight and leave it in a warm place. On my second batch I managed to explode two bottles. I was anticipating this might happen, so I had the bottles at room temperature inside an ice cooler. I happened to be in the room when they broke. I wanted to gage how powerful and dangerous a Kombucha explosion might be with this type of bottle. It turns out the bottom of the bottles blew out in a big chunk and did not appear to be all that destructive. I was in the room at the time and the sound was not much more than a “pop”. In my eyes this is a good thing. I think these bottles are designed to fail at lower than expected pressures preventing serious injury to bystanders. The bottles that survived were put in the fridge in the crisper tray in case more explosions occur.
I plan to buy more bottles. (My destructive testing makes that necessary) I am really happy with them and I am really enjoying the benefits of Kombucha as it has replaced my detrimental soda pop habit.

I had no doubt these were going to be good. I am just happy I found them on Amazon Warehouse Deals. The glass is sturdy. The bottles are well balanced. The bails come separate from the bottles so you have to install them. They are a pain to remove BUT at least you know they are secure to the bottle. The stopper is made of plastic, but that doesn't bother me. The little red gasket seal does a great job of keeping liquid and air in the bottle.

I've been using them for kombucha second fermentation and may start using them for water kefir second fermentation as well. These work way better than screw top bottles.

Love these bottles. I use them for kombucha. I can honestly say the glass is very durable because i have dropped one on tile floor and its still going strong. I have never had one burst. The cap did pop off violently one time with an exceptionally fizzy batch of kombucha so definitely open it away from your face or even better put a towel over the cap before opening it. It can be difficult to wash inside so i always make sure to rinse immediately after use so that stuff doesnt stick and accumulate at the bottom.

The assembly can be troublesome and painful if you don't do it the right way. Check out my quick video to make assembling the seals a cinch and save your fingers.I have bought two sets of these bottles to use with my homebrew kit from Mr. Beer. I like this product for two reasons: need fewer bottles for a batch of homebrew and it's easier during the process.FEWER BOTTLESWith a dozen of these 16oz bottles, I get 192oz or 1.5 gallons. I would usually need between 20-22 beer bottles that are 12oz each to bottle a batch of homebrew. Now, I can do the same thing with fewer bottles. The height in my cabinets allows me to store the taller bottles and the greater size frees up some space to have more than one batch going at once. You won't have as many bottles to share with friends but a pint (16oz) is really a better serving size!EASIER BREWINGFor people who are starting out, Mr. Beer suggests putting 3/4 teaspoons of sugar into each bottle to prime during the carbonation phase. I don't have a 1/4 teaspoon measure (only 1/2 and 1) so the process is a little guessing. Going under or over is not a big deal but these larger 16oz bottles require 1 teaspoon flat so it's pretty darn easy to not mess up.Another pro on the brewing process is to not have to keep track of bottle caps or buy them online. You also don't have to deliberately drink only beers with twist off caps. The plastic caps on these bottles are great. They clamp on well and eliminate the problem of the metal bottle caps.There is one con with this product: assembling it. Nothing hard about putting it together but it does take a little force and can sometimes scratch the glass as you set up the metal prongs onto the bottle. No biggie, though. I need to start looking for labels some time. Maybe I can find some that are washable/reusable so I can easily label each bottle and change them when I fill up with a new batch. If anybody knows of good re-usable labels, please let me know!

I really like these bottles. I'm using them for brewing Kombucha tea. The glass is thick/bottles are heavy. I wanted these qualities for safe brewing. I didn't find the tops to be difficult to put on.
All the bottles that I received were in perfect condition-none were broken. I was alittle concerned about this from other reviews.
Also, I like the look of these bottles. I love the free shipping. At other sites the cost of shipping is almost as much as the bottles. I plan on ordering another set today.
I'm going to update this review after the first brewing cycle using these bottles to let all know how it went.

work well and I use them a lot when i make beer and give out free samples

The bottles are of good quality. Thick quality glass with out the weight you would expect. The wire use for the caps is not thin gauge and should stand up a while for usage. The caps themselves are plastic instead of ceramic in which I am used to but they seem to be fine. They use the same gaskets as found of others of this design.

This are good quality I use them for kombucha fill to the top

I am using these bottles for home brewed kombucha and they work great. Since they are amber, it is difficult to see the liquid inside, however it is more protection for the growth. I am actually looking to buy another case as my kombucha production has become more streamlined. Would recommend for anyone in need of air-tight bottles.

they were awesome. I used them to make homemade rum punch and give them as gifts for the Christmas season. the colour is not only great for alcoholic beverages buy any kind of drink to keep the sun from affecting it. The size was just right for my purposes and the closure wasn't too difficult to work out. will probably buy again if still available later this year

Use it for Kefir Water. The seal is good and they are very sturdy. My first experimental batch of Kefir Water...I may have left the bottle at room temperature for too long, so when I popped the top (luckily I had the foresight to do this outside), the top flew about 20 feet across the yard and the Kefir Water blew about 5-6 feet in the air and left about 1 inch of liquid in the bottom of the bottle...lesson learned. Was a funny moment and it proved to me how strong the glass is in these bottles. Obviously able to handle more pressure than normal bottles.

Great product. The caps keep coming out if the bottle when opening a bottle and there is too much carbonation

The bottles weren't that difficult to assemble. I followed a fellow customer's video and was able to figure it out within five minutes. The only reason for not giving 5 stars is that I received 11 out of the 12 bottles in perfect condition; one bottle was shattered to pieces. Can't figure out whether I can get this replaced or if it's even worth the hassle...

In one picture it shows a standard skinny brown bottle, in another a wider base with bulbous neck. FYI, I received the wider bottle. Very nice bottle indeed, no issues with quality. However the size in the description says 500ml/16 oz, but in the product description further down it says 18oz, however 500ml is actually 16.9 oz. But when I measured it, leaving space in the neck of the bottle, I put in a full 20oz. This may not be an issue for many, but if you are trying to figure out how many bottles you will need for homebrewing it may throw you off as it did me. Also, the fatter bottle design does not work with my beer cases for storage.

Glass is thick and I was surprised by the careful packaging using to cover each individual bottle. Any other time distribution will use bubble wrap overall and not protect the items from banging against one another.

The swingtops were difficult at first, but I was stubborn and didnt look to the reviews to see how they were to be put on. I figured it out, so can you....If not its in the reviews here.

My only real downvote here is that the bottles are not as shown by the seller. The bottles have a tapered neck, not a bulbous one. In and of itself isn't a large problem, just an annoyance. I know, I know. "The bottles are shown in customer pictures". Yes I saw that too, it's still no reason for the seller to not have an appropriate image up.

All in all...good bottles. Can't wait to try them.

The bottles are of excellent quality and very attractive. However, the bails required some adjustment with pliers. You will need to slightly tweak the corners where the bail snaps onto the bottle for the cap to close. Just angle the wire tips so they're pointing straight at each other rather than at an inward angle. The goal is to get the bail length just a few millimeters longer so the top will close. This takes about 15 seconds per bottle and is not difficult as long as you realize what to do. The good news is that this means they create a very tight seal; perfect for holiday gifts! The bad news is that it's an extra headache.

Aside from the issue with the bails as ordered not closing, these bottles work perfectly for our uses. Just be sure to have your tool kit handy!

These worked great for the most part. Most bottles were able to stay carbonated for a few weeks. A few didn't carbonate well after priming, but that could be due to other factors. I do enjoy the look and feel of these.

Great quality. Nothing to complain about. The glass is pretty dark, so you cant see through it very well(which is kinda the point). I've been using these and Teikis brand bottles for my Kombucha and homemade kefir soda. I seem to prefer the Teikis ez cap bottles. But thats just me. These are solid and reliable. Good choice if you like amber glass.

I use these to brew kombucha, and they have worked really well. They are packaged in individual bubble-wrap sleeves, and the the tops are all wrapped together (unattached to the bottles). Even after leaving some tea fermenting on the counter in them for way longer than I expected (I forgot about them) the bottle showed no signs of distress. The only issue I've had with them, is when I was trying to open (those very-over-carbonated bottles) by only breaking the seal and then resealing, to slowly release the extra gas, part of the gasket stuck out, which cause a slow leak that I just had to ride out and let the bottle mist, because I couldn't reopen it for fear of creating a fountain. That has happened twice.

Great bottles for water kefir. The tops are a bit tough to "pop"...especially when you are anticipating a spray of carbonated kefir and want to release quickly, but I don't know that there is any similar quality bottle that doesn't have this issue. I do wish that the tops were red like in the picture instead of the orange that they sent. Also, I had a bottle chip at the top when I was washing the bottles and one hit the other while in the sink. Hey, they're glass. It was my fault for not being more careful, but I do wonder if the glass is not as durable as I had hoped. Otherwise, everything about them has been great and they certainly keep the air out of my kefir so that it's as carbonated as champagne!

Very sturdy good bottles that will hold a bit of pressure. I would recommend them but I take off one star because they are listed as a prime 2 day shipping item then after the order it said about 1 week shipping. They ended up arriving in 4-5 days so not so bad but still a little deceiving about the 2 day shipping I was hoping for.

I love these bottles! I purchased them to make homemade vanilla for Christmas gifts and they were exactly what I was looking for! My only complaint is that one of the bottles on the bottom was completely smashed when I received the box. I know Amazon would have taken care of it had I reported it because they are awesome at returns, however I needed them immediately and technically didn't need the sixth bottle anyway, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

Bottles are great and do everything as advertised. After waiting 3 weeks of fermentation I finally realized I was a cap short during the bottling process. My bad for not having checked beforehand but either way it was an annoying situation to be in.

I needed these "Grolsch" bottles for my homebrew which will be ready in a few weeks. After I received the bottles, I slapped my head in frustration as I realized a better option. So I jumped (actually climbed) into my car and drove to my local beer store and bought a 24-bottle case of Grolsch 15.9 OZ beer bottles filled with delicious beer! For another $18 (including tax) above and beyond what I paid for TWELVE empty friggin bottles, I got TWENTY FOUR re-usable bottles filled with delicious cold beer.

Duh.

Much too expensive - I actually found that it was about half the price to buy Grolsch beer, drink the beer, and sterilize the bottles. If you're not picky about your craft beer/liquor/other liquids being in an unbranded bottle, then these are well-made and will suit your purposes.

Good bottles, sadly they are not what is shown and what I was hoping to get. I was hoping for thick neck, patterned bottles as displayed in the product images, instead got plain bottles with a less attractive crown cap neck.

These bottles are not exactly what you think - you think they would be just like grolsh bottles but.... the bottles themself are good quality except no design on them as pictured- no biggy.... but it's the cap that is different and in a major way. The white cap comes not assempled - no problem ... the problem is they are not porcelin they are plastic and worse the rubber gasket is permenantly glued to the plastic white cap.... the key to grolsh bottle is these gaskets are made to replace - cause they only last for about 8 uses I've been told ! so this is a key differnce and I do not see any place where you can get an entire replacement cap!!

Ok. Update. I used these and worked great. Bottles are high quality. I haven't had to replace gaskets yet, but I'll let you know how that goes ......

Latest update - after several uses - still working great

While I am pleased with the thickness of the bottles- I was really dissapointed that the glass was a very dark brown color- not the lighter color depicted in the picture. Also- shocked at the plastic caps and pseudo orange rubber. When I read that they were "Grolsch" bottles, I expected porcelain or something hardier than the plastic. I should have read the other reviews.

I wasn't thrilled with the rubber seals on this set. I received a set of bottles from Amazon as a gift earlier and wasn't aware of the brand. That set has a much better grade of rubber seals on them.

Look great and washed them all out to be filled. Sadly every single one had to be adjusted so they would stay closed. I just hope they stay closed now.The price is reasonable since I got free postage and they come well packaged.

The bottles are fine, but for some reason the tops that I got feel like they are on the verge of rusting. Not enough of an issue to return them.

Great, with exception of metal quality. When we sanitize the bottles for re-use, the metal of the flip-top corrodes (or something) and winds up with dried white marks/stuff on it. Hopefully not harmful, but not nice. We have never had this problem with the Grolsch bottles we use over and over again, so presumably the problem with these ez cap bottles lies with the metal quality. If these bottles are for use in brewing, the metal should be able to withstand repeated sanitization, but something happened to the metal the very first time we sanitized the bottles.Other than that, the bottles are BEAUTIFUL and substantial. The glass is nice and the bottle caps seal well and work great.

Only used these a couple times yet, but they seem to be sealed well. They are not easy to open/close, but this is the case with this type of bottle closure. My only complaint is that bottle is very fat and the neck is extra thin. The picture doesn't do it justice for how awkward it looks. It was also difficult as my funnel was about the same size as the opening which is unusual for bottles.

Haven't even used the product yet but
Not terribly pleased by the fact that 2 of the bottles arrived broken.

There seems to be some variation between the pictures here (a bottle with a wider base and sharper angle to its neck) and the ones I received (a narrower and longer base and gradual angle to the neck). Regardless, its not the shape of the bottle that bothers me, its the poor quality of the caps/seals. The caps are plastic, not ceramic as with higher quality bottles. I brewed a batch of beer and bottled some with these and some with the ceramic caps. All of the beer in these bottles came out almost flat because the seal is not good. The beer in the other was fine and in fact almost too carbonated since I had gone a bit heavy on the priming sugar. I wouldnt buy these unless you want to use them for a purpose that doesnt require an airtight seal.

I really wanted to like these, however after 2 batches and a bunch of completely flat beer bottles I started to doubt my priming process...But after really paying attention and measuring my priming solution very carefully (by volume); I still had several flat bottles. There is no doubt that these bottles are simply not good and they do not hold pressure properly. Maybe I was unlucky I got a worst than average case when comes to defective bottles, but the matter of fact is that they all should be perfect especially when brand new and pristine seals. But they are not. This is an inferior quality and I think you are better of buying something better. There is nothing worst than putting all your effort and care brewing a batch to end up with flat beer because of crappy bottles.

All arrived timely and packaged well. I did not realize they are made in China. I hope they do not shatter under pressure, as I am using them for kefir. Reviews say not to buy China made bottles...I guess we will see when I use them.

Four of the twelve bottles that I purchased didn't seal at all. The beer that came out of them had the mouth feel of apple juice (but didn't taste anywhere near as good). These bottles were kind of pricey to have that kind of issue. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that I got a bad batch, but I won't be purchasing a matching set.

Bottles came without the caps. Nice bottles, but not a deal since I have to get the caps

Unfortunately one of the six bottle tops was broken when it arrived. Therefore, we could only bottle a 5 pack. Other than that, the product was just fine. I didn't like the tops, but they got the job done.

The tops to the bottles came and 2 of them weren't the complete tops and will not work or close the bottles. Only one part of the metal swing top was included

The metal on the flip top attachment oxidizes if it comes in contact with water. Mine has these awful white looking specks all along the metal parts.

Bottles worked fine enough but the packaging was awful. Two bottles were broken on arrival. There was a minimal effort to ensure that six glass bottles could travel across the country without a casualty. The box was torn and there was basically a single sheet of waded paper inserted amongst the classware intended to serve more as an amulet for protection during shipping rather than actually securing and padding the bottles.

The botles themselves are very nice but with problems with my hands it was extremely difficult for me to use the lids. It was difficult to hold the bottle and then to put the wire stopper wire on and it would have been harder once the bottle was filled and cold. Im sorry but the stopper looks like it is a part of the bottle instead of a entirely separate from the bottle. It should be explained that you need to attach them and with health problems it might not be easy to do so. It is certainly not easy cap, at least for me it was not.

I received a different shaped bottle than the one pictured. Also the flip lids were not the ones pictured and are in fact inferior (I have the correct bottles and lid from a previous order so I know).

Do NOT buy these for home brewing. The seals are cheap and ruined my brew. Half my bottles were a different grolsch bottle and they were all fine, but my beer was completely flat in all of these. Definitive proof as far as I'm concerned.

I should have read the reviews. These were shipped without the tops. I'm so annoyed. I was getting ready to flavor and bottle my water Kefir. 😤

I could not get the caps to work. I feel the metal parts were miss sized.

Wished I would have taken other's advice at the start... buy/drink beer get better bottles. XD

These did not come with the tops so they are useless.Please send the tops and I will happily edit my review.

I receive the package timely and bottles are of good quality but cap are cheap plastic with thin seal (not as pictured!) and do not fit well or hold seal well. I'm really happy with the bottles but may return if we can't adjust seals. Bummer!

Do not buy! The flimsy wire caps bend out of shape with normal use and no longer secure the top. If you bend it back, it'll just deform again. The wire is just too soft for the purpose. If you buy this, you'll just have an expensive set of useless, cap-less bottles.

Missing parts 2 of the bottles had no toppers.

The bottles are good quality and thick glass. My issue was with the swing tops. They are made out of horribly cheap metal and all of the chrome was already peeling off of them right out of the box. I got swing tops that look different than the ones in the pics and other review pics. The ones I got have a much thinner orange seal and the plastic tops dont seem to be as good of quality. To top it all off the last bottle I took out of the box is completely shattered. For this price for 6 (5 after a broken one) bottles the swing tops should be better quality.