You don't want to use bottles that are cracked and chipped. Clean and maintain the bottles with the use of ammonia. This is especially true if you are using old bottles with labels. The old bottles for use in bottling the brew should be soaked in a mixture of water and ammonia. After that, just rub off the labels to clean it up. In order to take your hobby to the next level, then what you can do is to participate in trade shows and you can even join competitions. And if you are lucky, then a commercial bottler of beer may take notice and may even carry your brew nationally! In the end, what matters is your dedication to your hobby and everything will just fall into place. These storeowners are usually home brewing enthusiasts, and they are more than willing to share tips and techniques to novices. There may be some area where there's no home brewing store around, and you might be the unlucky few who live in that area. Well, you don't have to worry since there are also home brewing sites online where you can order supplies and discuss information about home brewing. Home brewing will not be successful if you are not armed with the right equipments. Now don't be distracted by the costs associated with buying these equipments; for less than $100 you can have your own basic set of equipments. Some of the major equipments to take note include the brewing bin, the air lock and the stopper, bottles, thermometer and a few more equipments and household items. As expected, it only took a short time before commercial breweries started to mass-produce beer. While that made beer more accessible to the general public, connoisseurs and hobbyists have never stopped brewing their own beer. Home brewing was most popular in England during that era, largely because it's customary for feudal manors to make sure that beer is available for consumption for the lords and their subjects. Make sure that the bottles are of returnable grade since these bottles will be cleaned for many times and that these bottles will need to withstand the pressure build-up. If you are planning to brew your first batch of 5 gallons of beer, then you need to get at least 60 bottles of 12 ounce returnable grade bottles.