Philippa Tinsley <[log in to unmask] wrote: >......."Wolverhampton being a brewing town, our glass collection includes >a lot of beer bottles. Going through these in detail, I discovered that three >are still full of beer. >Should I empty them, or keep them full? All three have regular metal caps >(not screw caps) which appear to be securely in place. All are around >250ml (is that 9 fl oz?) >All are currently in a non-environmentally controlled room at the historic >house. Their journey to the stores will be around a mile, where they could >be stored in either a controlled or non-controlled (but stable) storeroom. >There are no plans to exhibit them in the near future. >So, what should I do? If I should empty them, is there a secret way or do >I just flip off the cap in the usual way (bending it in the process of >course). If I don't empty them should I wrap them in any special way? And >of course, the question all the wrapping team have been asking - can we >drink it? (does this count as deaccessioning?).........." The first thing you need to decide is what reason do you have for removing the contents? If the contents aren't doing any harm to the botles then there is really no reason to empty them. I'd store them in a cool dark place. If you decide that you do need to empty them, then I'd use a normal bottle opener, and carefully prize all around the lid, so that the top doesn't get bent & therefore there will be less evidence of tampering. As regards to you drinking the contents, well I doubt it will taste very good after so long, but you never really know until you try. I wouldn't regard this as deaccessioning, but as basic analysis using traditional testing techniques used by the brewing industry. Ideally, you'd need some fresh samples to compare with, and perhaps some cheese and biscuits to complete the scenario. I've found that such testing is most effective on Friday afternoons. Cheers (no pun intended) George Bailey Objects Conservator Australian War Memorial Treloar Centre for Conservation 4 Callan St, Mitchell, A.C.T. 2911 Australia Phone: +61 6 241 6122 fax: +61 6 241 7998 email: [log in to unmask]