Beer; Twist-off vs. Pop-off. Why GOD?

[Birdmonster]

Dearies,
Without ragging on my budding alcoholism, can someone tell me why some beer bottles are twist-offs while others necessitate a bottle opener or a fancy snap of a bic lighter? It seems that the lower quality beers of the world (sorry Budweiser & Co.) opt for the the tool-less opening, while the nicer beers demand a little more effort. I wait in the wings.

[TheLoadedDog]

It's remarkably easy to open most traditional "crown seal" beer bottle caps with a key. Choose a key which has a large sharpish triangular part on it's cut edge somewhere, and use that to prise off the cap by pulling out two or three consecutive protruding parts on the bottom of the cap. Then put your thumb under the newly splayed out part of the cap and flick it off.

It might take you ten or twenty seconds (which is still efficient compared to going looking for a bottle opener - and great if you're out somewhere and simply don't have an opener). With a little practice you can do it in about three seconds.

[Birdmonster]

A fine trick. I also like hooking the bottle on the end of a flat surface (staircase or table, for example) and hitting the top with the palm of the hand. Not that classy, but definately effective.

Still, the question remains...why are some twisties and other poppies?

[August West]

The bottles that require an opener are usually returnable bottles, but not always.

Most breweries in the US have already or are in the process of converting to twist-offs because returnable bottles are a major headache for them. They must be collected, shipped back to the brewery, cleaned with caustic ( which must be disposed of properly), labels removed, inspected for damage and for foreign objects and all of these steps can be skipped by using non-returnable bottles. Also, non-returnable bottles are cheaper because they are made with thinner glass, as they do not need to withstand the rigors of being re-used.

Microbreweries often use non-returnables that are not twist offs because they are using older equipment that does not have the proper type of crowners to crimp a twist-off crown.

[harmless]

I did that until I effed up my kitchen counter.
I guess it's all in the technique :D

It doesn't seem fair though...they cost more and are harder to get open.
They ought to include a free can opener with ever 12-pack, for Pete's sake!
Especially Corona. :mad:

[silenus]

If you drink Corona, you deserve whatever happens to you.

IMHO, that beer should be as hard as possible to open.

The biggest problem is thinking it's a twist-off when it isn't. Hands up....how many of you have shredded your fingers trying to twist off a regular crown cap?

Thought so.

Or you can just carry a beverage key (http://www.logo-it.net/bevkeys.htm) and not have the problem to begin with! :D

[that_darn_cat]

I just have an opener on my keychain. Of course, I brew my own and cap with crown caps, so I don't spending a little extra time to get good beer. Imports are mostly crowns, too.

Someday, a kegging system. Sigh.

[harmless]

Hey!
It's nummy with some lime, TYVM.
Beats the hell out of a "heiny" any day. :p

[August West]

Not to be too big of a stickler, but since this is GQ I should point out that closures on both types of bottle are called "crowns".

And yes, Corona is vile. Even with a lime. And non-skunked Heineken is pretty good, you have probably only had the skunked stuff.

[chaoticbear]

I think it's easiest to get the top off with a lighter. YMMV.

[harmless]

Ooh...do tell!
I didn't know there were skunked and non-skunked versions.
What's the difference?
How do you tell when buying?
Any time I've tried it, tap or bottle, it tasted like I imagine horse piss would.
And I'm not picky about beer.
Two words: Red Dog :D

[daffyduck]

I suspect it's more about the cost of the bottling machines than anything else. Older and smaller and/or low volume breweries are probably using older equipment to save on the cost of the machine if they are doing their own bottling.

[August West]

Try Heinieken in a can, where light can't get to it. It may change your opinion of it.

[August West]

Sorry, I missed that you have had it on tap. I guess it just isn't your style. No worries, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on what type of beer they like.

[manhattan]

I suspect it's more about the cost of the bottling machines than anything else. Older and smaller and/or low volume breweries are probably using older equipment to save on the cost of the machine if they are doing their own bottling.That's most of it, though customer perception plays a part. Some beer drinkers think of traditional crown caps to be higher-end than twist-offs (in fact, on some really expensive beers you can still find real or simulated cork rather than plastic at the sealing rim). Further upmarket, like the Belgian monk brands, you'll find the older-still cork seals with metal fasteners. They could produce the same product with crown caps if they chose, but Baron Rothchild could use faux-cork stoppers, too.

Between modern production techniques and faster shipping, almost no one consumes a beer old enough that the type of seal matters much.

August West Not to be too big of a stickler, but since this is GQ I should point out that closures on both types of bottle are called "crowns".Really? I'm surprised. The crown cap was invented by the guy who founded Crown Cork and Seal. Unless they also introduced the twist-off cap I'm surprised the company let the term stick to that kind of opener without a fight.

[harmless]

OK, good to know. :)
Back to the OP, the best I could find on the net was someone talking about home brewing and that the twist-offs just don't keep the air out good enough.
: shrug :

[_xiao_wenti_]

As a homebrewer, I really prefer the non-twist as they are easier to cap. The problem is that the non-twisties aren't really refillable. They are returnable. I have started drinking mexican sodas because they are in real refillable bottles (the empty bottles weigh about fifty percent more). This doesn't answer the OP, but it puts me into the bottle consumption pyramid.

[GorillaMan]

An international element may come into play. Twist-off caps are never sold here (no idea if they're banned or just not liked) - anybody planning on shipping bottles to such markets (Budweiser, for instance) may find it easier to make everything the same.


BTE, Try Heinieken in a can, where light can't get to it. It may change your opinion of it.
is a joke, right?!

[August West]

Hey manhattan.

I don't know if they were invented by the same company, but I suspect that, like aspirin, a former brand name has come to include an entire category. I know our brewery has changed suppliers twice since I have been there, and all three labelled their products as crowns.

And yes, daffyduck is mostly correct. It's the same thing I said in my post at 4:15.

[Birdmonster]

This returnable bottles idea is throwing me for a tiny loop. Returnable as opposed to recyclable, right? Although, returning for reuse is recycling in the strictest sense. So where do the returned bottles come from. Could one, for example, send one's Miller High Lifes (assuming one would drink such swill) to Miller for compensation? I'm saving my High Lifes for the impending lawsuit. It's gotta come sometime right?

[August West]

Sorry, I should have been more clear on bottle types.

There are :
1) Returnable. You usually pay a deposit on these cases and you get your deposit back when you return the empties to the store. These bottles are made of thicker glass and are "pop-top" instead of "twist-off"

2) Non-returnable. These are normally "twist-offs"(at least in the USA), but can also be made in "pop-top" form.

[Manduck]

I Read Somewhere that twist-off caps are made of aluminum, while the other kind are made of steel. Somehow this means that twist-off caps don't seal the bottle as reliably as the churchkey caps, so beers that have to be shipped long distances use the non-twistoff caps. So there you are, it's a shipping thing.

[dalej42]

Could the answer perhaps have something to do with the fact that most bars sell more domestic macrobrews which are opened with a twist off cap, thus speeding up the process for a busy bartender?

[Phelan]

Could the answer perhaps have something to do with the fact that most bars sell more domestic macrobrews which are opened with a twist off cap, thus speeding up the process for a busy bartender?

No, from what I've seen they use an opener for every bottle. Chances are that they have to open over 100 bottles a night and even though it is twist off, it would still do some damage to the hand to open that many. Plus, I don't think I'd want somebody's dirty hand cupped over something I was about to drink out of.

[Elvez]

I didn't know there were skunked and non-skunked versions.
What's the difference?
How do you tell when buying?
Any time I've tried it, tap or bottle, it tasted like I imagine horse piss would.


I'm with you on the horse piss thing. I bet Heineken is good in Holland, but the US stuff sucks.
The skunked effect is from light or heat spoiling the beer. It's a typical taste in any brew bottled in green or clear bottles. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout tastes awful to me, but everyone else seems to like it...
You can't tell from outside the bottle whether a beer's been skunked or not. You just have to taste it, or not buy green- and clear-bottled beer.

[ninetypercent]

Doesn't matter, it's beer. One way or another, it will be opened.

[Princhester]

A fine trick. I also like hooking the bottle on the end of a flat surface (staircase or table, for example) and hitting the top with the palm of the hand. Not that classy, but definately effective...

... for removing a small chunk of said surface.

[Elvez]

... for removing a small chunk of said surface.

Or removing a small chunk of glass from the bottle neck. I've done that more than once...

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Based on my experience as a homebrewer, the non-twist bottles are a lot easier to get a good, solid seal on. Presumably the big bottlers have solved that problem with their equipment.

I really don't understand why anyone would bottle beer in clear bottles, like Corona. Since "skunking" happens with exposure to light, the dark brown bottles protect the product much better.

My favorite non-twist story happened at the funeral of a good friend. They had a bunch of cheap beer in the house afterwards, and his son (knowing my tastes) told me that there was a cooler of good stuff on the balcony outside. I went out and found a bottle to my liking, and didn't see an opener. I used the tried & true method described by Birdmonster in post #3. Problem is, I missed the bottlecap and smacked the neck of the bottle, snapping it off. I examined both parts and it looked like a clean break, so I proceeded to dring the beer out of the neck of the broken bottle.

One of the guests looked at me and said, "did you just bite the neck off of that beer bottle?" I smiled enigmatically and walked away. He told everyone there that he saw me bite the neck off the bottle and then drink it. I developed quite a reputation with that crowd. ;)

[daffyduck]

I really don't understand why anyone would bottle beer in clear bottles, like Corona. Since "skunking" happens with exposure to light, the dark brown bottles protect the product much better.

True, but the bottles are immediately sealed in cardboard boxes. I think the only light that most Coronas see is the light in the refrigerator.

[NinjaChick]

How do you open a bottle with a lighter?

[antechinus]

WAG alert - Could it be that real beer, that is beer that is bottle conditioned*, requires a good seal that can only be provided with a non-twist cap.

Pretend-beer, which is pasteurised on bottling does not undergo further furmentation with subsequent co2 release and thus can get by being packaged with twist-top.



*Bottle conditioned beer is bottled with a small amount of yeast. The yeast eats the residual sugars in the beer and the beer continues to ferment and condition. Secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle rather than the brewery.

Pretend beer is brewed with sucrose and often pasteurised. I think this is a criminal offence in Germany under the oldest food purity law - the RhineHightsGaBoat ??- Bavarian beer puity law.

[Angua]

Pretend beer is brewed with sucrose and often pasteurised. I think this is a criminal offence in Germany under the oldest food purity law - the RhineHightsGaBoat ??- Bavarian beer puity law.

You mean the Reinheitsgebot (lit. purity law)? It originates in Bavaria from about 1516.

[dlack]

Sorry, I should have been more clear on bottle types.

There are :
1) Returnable. You usually pay a deposit on these cases and you get your deposit back when you return the empties to the store. These bottles are made of thicker glass and are "pop-top" instead of "twist-off"

2) Non-returnable. These are normally "twist-offs"(at least in the USA), but can also be made in "pop-top" form.

In New York State, a deposit is charged for all beer and soda and you can receive a refund for empties. Twist off, pop off, plastic, glass, aluminum. All are "returnable."

[Mycroft Holmes]

How do you open a bottle with a lighter?

You place the butt-end of the lighter under the crown cap, use the knuckles of the hand wrapped around the neck of the bottle as a fulcrum, and then just use the lighter as a level to flick off the crown cap. With some practice you can get very good at this. I can open a bottle like this without even having to look, and in about two seconds from when it was handed to me and I have my ligher out.

[Mycroft Holmes]

How do you open a bottle with a lighter?

I just found a pretty good picture here (http://www.duckyousucker.com/dys_bio.htm). You may have to scroll down a little to get to the picture.

[Mycroft Holmes]

and then just use the lighter as a level to flick off the crown cap.

Bolding mine. That's supposed to say lever. One of these days I will learn to check more thoroughly when I preview.

[Genghis Bob]

Sorry, I should have been more clear on bottle types.

There are :
1) Returnable. You usually pay a deposit on these cases and you get your deposit back when you return the empties to the store. These bottles are made of thicker glass and are "pop-top" instead of "twist-off"

2) Non-returnable. These are normally "twist-offs"(at least in the USA), but can also be made in "pop-top" form.

Not necessarily. Here in Michigan, where every beer bottle and can is returnable, we get both pop-tops and twist-offs. From anecdotal evidence, the better beers* invariably come in pop-top bottles. If I grab a beer and find I can twist off the top, I know I'm in for a corporate swill-fest.

* I'm counting Corona in the "better" category. It's my summer beer, for when I've finished mowing the lawn and want something light and tart. With lime; always with lime. For flavor, it's Bass Ale or Old Peculiar.

[Scumpup]

Yet one more advantage to carrying a Swiss Army Knife is that many models include a bottle opener among the blades and you need never worry about being beer-less for want of an opener.

Re: Use of the edge of a counter or table. An idiot "friend" of mine did this at my house and permantently marred the surface of a new countertop. He is no longer welcome. Anyone wishing to experiment with the technique should practice only on surfaces that are their personal property.

[Alessan]

My favorites are the pop-tops with plastic tabs. Easiest to open by far.

[Colophon]

Could the answer perhaps have something to do with the fact that most bars sell more domestic macrobrews which are opened with a twist off cap, thus speeding up the process for a busy bartender?
Surely a prise-off top is quicker for a bartender than a twist-off? They always have a wall- or bar-mounted opener, so it's a lot quicker to pop the bottle in and flip the top off than it is to grapple with a twist-off.

[audiobottle]

Or removing a small chunk of glass from the bottle neck. I've done that more than once...

Small? My roommate did it once and took off the entire neck. It took us three days to find the glass. He sliced up his hand pretty well too. And worst of all, half the beer was wasted when it shot everywhere!

[Trunk]

... for removing a small chunk of said surface.

. . .or bruising your hand, while removing chunk of wood from counter, while partially opening the cap, while subjecting the bottle to a tremendous jarring force, which causes beer to jet from the partial opening. . .

That's an old, faithful method all right. . .it'll turn your bottle into Old Faithful.

I always thought that pop-off versus twist-off didn't make much difference, much like a cork versus a screw cap in a wine bottle.

It's just all in the marketing.

I also think Corona is one of the worse beers going, or at least way overrated. They've marketed themselves as a real premium beer, and I think its quality is on par with a Budweiser, Miller, or Rolling Rock.

The greatest Mexican victory against America since the Alamo.

[DrMatrix]

Yeah!

And why do some wines come with easy twist-off tops while others have tops that require some kind of mechanism to open?

[GorillaMan]

And why do some wines come with easy twist-off tops while others have tops that require some kind of mechanism to open?
This one's mainly down to the snobbery involved with wine. Many experts will tell you that a real cork is necessary, but there's little objective evidence. The plastic corks are a half-way house, and also mean that the bottling machinery doesn't need to change. Screw-cap wines have always been associated with cheap rubbish, although they're becoming more common.

[Mr. Moto]

When you've had too much to drink, there's certain things to keep in mind... (http://www.picklehead.com/mini/ra_cavanagh_drunk.ram)

[Balthisar]

I also think Corona is one of the worse beers going, or at least way overrated. They've marketed themselves as a real premium beer, and I think its quality is on par with a Budweiser, Miller, or Rolling Rock.

Rolling Rock is arguarbly better than Bud or Miller. But Corono is the Mexican Budweiser, the everyman's beer. Negra Modelo, now that's an excellent beer. Too bad that here in the north it seems the competition has the lock on the restaurant market -- can't get Grupo Modelo stuff anywhere.

[Labdad]

Yeah!

And why do some wines come with easy twist-off tops while others have tops that require some kind of mechanism to open?

Interestingly, this little blurb just appeared in the wine column of our Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper:

"SCREW IT Have you noticed the Boone's Farm-like closures on your favorite Down Under wine lately? These metal saviors aren't just creeping up on us, they're sprinting. The Aussies and New Zealanders love the screwtop, preferring it to the cork, which can pollute up to 10 percent of wine. You will continue to see more and more of the screwtop, so get over yourself and try one. Same goes for bag-in-a-box wine."

I can attest that screwtop are here to stay. One of my favorite wines, Lucky Country Cabernet/Shiraz blend, comes in a screwtop bottle. It's made by Two Hands (http://www.twohandswines.com/sitePages/detailPage.asp?MainMenuID=1&PageID=1), one of Australia's better new wineries.

[Labdad]

Yeah!

And why do some wines come with easy twist-off tops while others have tops that require some kind of mechanism to open?

Interestingly, this little blurb just appeared in the wine column of our Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper:

"SCREW IT Have you noticed the Boone's Farm-like closures on your favorite Down Under wine lately? These metal saviors aren't just creeping up on us, they're sprinting. The Aussies and New Zealanders love the screwtop, preferring it to the cork, which can pollute up to 10 percent of wine. You will continue to see more and more of the screwtop, so get over yourself and try one. Same goes for bag-in-a-box wine."

I can attest that screwtops are here to stay. One of my favorite wines, Lucky Country Cabernet/Shiraz blend, comes in a screwtop bottle. It's made by Two Hands (http://www.twohandswines.com/sitePages/detailPage.asp?MainMenuID=1&PageID=1), one of Australia's better new wineries.

[August West]

OK, I forgot that some people live in states where all bottles and cans require a deposit. That really has no bearing on my post, however, as a brewery doesn't classify bottles by what your state's law is. Either a bottle is re-usable (Returnable) or not.

[Excalibre]

This one's mainly down to the snobbery involved with wine. Many experts will tell you that a real cork is necessary, but there's little objective evidence. The plastic corks are a half-way house, and also mean that the bottling machinery doesn't need to change. Screw-cap wines have always been associated with cheap rubbish, although they're becoming more common.
Course, without corks, there's no risk of your wine getting corked. Apparently supplies of the cork of sufficient quality for wine bottles are rapidly running out, and shittier cork that ends up leaving your wine ruined is more common.

[Colophon]

Apparently supplies of the cork of sufficient quality for wine bottles are rapidly running out, and shittier cork that ends up leaving your wine ruined is more common.

Actually, the reverse is true. Falling demand of real cork is leading to the destruction of cork oak forests, which are a valuable habitat for wildlife including rare birds.

Some wine producers try to sell the total BS argument that "real cork comes from trees, so our plastic produce saves trees and is better for the environment!".

Not so at all. Cork is harvested sustainably, so the trees are not cut down. The environmentally friendly way is to use real cork, so that cork oak forests continue to be economically viable. Otherwise they will be grubbed up.

See this article, for one: http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=1819

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

*Bottle conditioned beer is bottled with a small amount of yeast. The yeast eats the residual sugars in the beer and the beer continues to ferment and condition. Secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle rather than the brewery.
I'm a fan of bottle-conditioning, but let's not overstate the case. The secondary fermentation still takes place at the brewery. The main job of the yeast in the bottle is to provide carbonation. If the entire secondary fermentation took place in the bottle, it would explode.

Pretend beer is brewed with sucrose and often pasteurised. I think this is a criminal offence in Germany under the oldest food purity law - the RhineHightsGaBoat ??- Bavarian beer puity law.
The Reinheitsgebot doesn't say anything about pasteurization. It does prohibit adding additional sugars (including sucrose). Technically, it forbids adding yeast, too, as they didn't know what yeast was back then.

Personally, I don't understand why anyone would want to follow the Reinheitsgebot today. I love the extra flavors and complexity you can get with moderate amounts of extra additives. I've brewed beer using rye, wheat, clover honey, oats, and other goodies along with the malted barley and had great results.

[blowero]

In New York State, a deposit is charged for all beer and soda and you can receive a refund for empties. Twist off, pop off, plastic, glass, aluminum. All are "returnable."
Ditto for California.

[Balthisar]

We usually use the term refundable for the containers that we take back for a deposit. "Returnables" are really "reusables." For some reason they're still popular south of the border. Here, it's a real pain in the neck, 'cos you gotta take the bottles back to the same place if you want your deposit back.

[TheLoadedDog]

Really? I'm surprised. The crown cap was invented by the guy who founded Crown Cork and Seal. Unless they also introduced the twist-off cap I'm surprised the company let the term stick to that kind of opener without a fight.
"Crown" seals are just the cap. The only difference between the traditional and the twist-offs is the bottle itself. Precisely the same machinery and "blank" seals are used to bottle either way. The only difference is the bottles. If the bottles come with a screw thread moulded into the glass, then the crown cap will take on the shape of the thread when placed under pressure by the bottling machine. This also kinda disagrees with the theory that micro-breweries don't switch to twist-offs because of the economics of re-tooling. They don't need to re-tool - simply order in some new bottles. Anyway, long story short - if the term "crown" is trademarked, and the breweries had permission to use it before, they would have permission still as they are still using the same blanks.

Based on my experience as a homebrewer, the non-twist bottles are a lot easier to get a good, solid seal on. Presumably the big bottlers have solved that problem with their equipment.
I can second this. When I was first getting into homebrewing about a decade ago, I was told that I could use either type of bottle. I found that the twist-offs had a failure rate (not properly sealing and going flat and rancid) of about ten percent, which is unacceptable. So who knows? Maybe the breweries also have a high failure rate, but since high volume mainstream sugary beer is dirt cheap to make (before all the taxes etc), perhaps they are willing to absorb the loss in the face of overwhelming evidence that the market likes twist-offs. I don't know.

You mean the Reinheitsgebot (lit. purity law)? It originates in Bavaria from about 1516.Until it becaome a casualty of the European Union's food laws a few years ago. Or did I imagine that?

Re: Use of the edge of a counter or table. An idiot "friend" of mine did this at my house and permantently marred the surface of a new countertop. He is no longer welcome. Anyone wishing to experiment with the technique should practice only on surfaces that are their personal property.
Concur. It's a really dumb way of doing it. The surface area on the cap is so small that you need a table with a sharp edge to do it. This makes it very easy to chip the table. The only time I've ever used this technique myself is on a beaten-up rusty locker. It had pop-riveted construction and a sheetmetal side that had a top edge which was perfect for this. Even so, I saw a friend of mine do it on the same locker and he ended up with glass in his beer. It's quite hard to do safely and without damaging anything.

Interestingly, this little blurb just appeared in the wine column of our Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper:

"SCREW IT Have you noticed the Boone's Farm-like closures on your favorite Down Under wine lately? These metal saviors aren't just creeping up on us, they're sprinting. The Aussies and New Zealanders love the screwtop, preferring it to the cork, which can pollute up to 10 percent of wine. You will continue to see more and more of the screwtop, so get over yourself and try one. Same goes for bag-in-a-box wine."

I can attest that screwtop are here to stay. One of my favorite wines, Lucky Country Cabernet/Shiraz blend, comes in a screwtop bottle. It's made by Two Hands, one of Australia's better new wineries.
I don't know where these guys are getting their information from, but the Australian and NZ market most certainly does not like screwtop bottles. Yes, they are making inroads here, but they now represent only a tiny fraction of wines instead of a very tiny fraction. There are some winemakers trying to encourage their use, but others are opposed to it, and the consumers hate the idea. Maybe the screwtops are being exported to the US as a trial.

I'm a fan of bottle-conditioning, but let's not overstate the case. The secondary fermentation still takes place at the brewery. The main job of the yeast in the bottle is to provide carbonation. If the entire secondary fermentation took place in the bottle, it would explode.
Really? I've always known secondary fermentation and bottle conditioning to be more or less the same thing. Beers put into a secondary vat at the brewery are usually there to "settle" and not ferment further. Bottle conditioning involves adding extra fermentables (malt or sugar) and sometimes extra yeast right at bottling time. This looks like fermentation to me! The bottles won't explode if the fermentables are measured correctly.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

This may be a terminology issue, LoadedDog. When I brew, I do a primary fermentation for a few days, typically in a plastic fermenter. I then siphon the wort into a glass carboy with an airlock for secondary fermentation. The siphoning process leaves behind various sediments that settled out during the primary fermentation.

The bottle conditioning process does use a little sugar "kickstarter," but since you're fermenting pure sugar, it really doesn't change the taste of the beer noticeably. It just adds a bit more alcohol and the CO2 needed for a properly carbonated product.

[antechinus]

The Reinheitsgebot doesn't say anything about pasteurization. It does prohibit adding additional sugars (including sucrose). Technically, it forbids adding yeast, too, as they didn't know what yeast was back then.

Thats because pasteurisation wasnt discovered for another 350 years.

The point is when you have live yeast going into the bottle with some residual sugars, a better seal would be required - ie pop top - to keep the extra carbon dioxide in.

The pasteurised beers are perhaps less likely to require a good seal, since they keep the same level of carbonation - thus a twist top is sufficient.

[TheLoadedDog]

This may be a terminology issue, LoadedDog. When I brew, I do a primary fermentation for a few days, typically in a plastic fermenter. I then siphon the wort into a glass carboy with an airlock for secondary fermentation. The siphoning process leaves behind various sediments that settled out during the primary fermentation.
Yes, I guess it must be mere terminology. I'm 100% sure that "secondary fermentation" is the bottle conditioning part as it is known amongst Australian homebrewers. One thing I don't remember (I haven't brewed for a few years) is the name given to the process of transferring the brew to a second carboy. I used to wait until the specific gravity was just about stable, then turn off any heating devices I was using (to minimise convection stirring up the sediment), wait a day or two, and then transfer it to the second vessel. It would be in there for another few days. This is what confused me with the different terminology - there really isn't much going on at all by way of fermentation in the second carboy. The yeast is more or less just marking time - still alive but going a bit hungry until bottling time.

The bottle conditioning process does use a little sugar "kickstarter," but since you're fermenting pure sugar, it really doesn't change the taste of the beer noticeably.
Don't be so sure about this. I don't know if you've ever done your primary fermentation with pure sugar (household) as one of the main fermentables or if you've ever drunk somebody else's, but if you've tried it you will no doubt know about that sour "cidery" taste that gives it the evil "Uncle Lou's Bathtab Brew" flavour. By bottle conditioning with this type of sugar, you are actually reintroducing a little of this flavour, which is a shame if you've gone to the trouble of making an otherwise great beer. White sucrose shouldn't really go anywhere near the beer if you can avoid it.

Don't get me wrong, it is only a small amount of sugar, and I used to frequently bottle with white sugar simply because it is easy (pours well through the measuring hopper). However, if you try bottle conditioning using pure malt (or at least glucose / dextrose), you'll notice a slight but definite improvement - and homebrewing is certainly one of those hobbies which is all about making slight tweaks here and there.

Accurately measuring out pure malt into bottles can be a pain in the arse, so I used to transfer the brew into a third carboy a few minutes before bottling; this ensured zero sediment, enabling me to heartily stir the entire thirty bottles' worth of conditioning malt directly into the beer. This technique works a treat, but you have to really stir the hell out of it to ensure even distribution. The other potential problem is you are introducing yet another air exposure to the brew, but I never managed to get it contaminated this way, so I think the risk is minimal. For ease of bottling, there is a strong argument for sticking with white sugar - which I did when making lawnmower beer.

[Balthisar]

I, too, always referred to bottle conditioning and carbon development as secondary fermentation. Regardless of what it's really called, it's fermenting a second time, so I leave it at that. I only ferment in the carboy, i.e., the wort goes into the carboy just as soon as I've cooled it (reverse radiator made from copper tubing immersed into the wort works in just a couple of minutes!). I leave it with a hose in the stopper for a couple of days, then swap the hose for the airlock when all of the foam is done coming out.

I used to use white table sugar back when I started with Mr. Beer. Don't laugh; Mr. Beer is excellent stuff and super easy to use. Bear in mind that "excellent" is in comparison to Bud-Miller-etc and not to better beer!

I'd been using corn sugar most recently for bottle fermentation. I'll try malt next time. I've stopped using bottles altogether, though. Too much a pain in the butt. I got my hands instead on an old soda syrup container -- corny keg -- and a CO2 bottle, and depending on the type of beer (or my impatience :)) I just throw the corn sugar into the keg or use the sugar and give it gas. The problem, of course, is sharing the beer outside of the house. Oh well, one day I'll get once of those bottle fillers that fill the bottle under pressure right from the keg. I think there' relatively cheap -- just haven't done it. Then conditioning and bottling will be so super easy that I'll wonder why I ever stopped bottling in the first place.

'Course I'm working in a foreign country right now, and don't know if they'll throw me into the slammer if I try to break the Corona monopoly. :)

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Yeah, I stopped bottling and switched to kegs, too. I got tired of spending all the time sterilizing bottles, and I would inevitably end up with a few that didn't carbonate properly.

When I was bottling, I tended to use dextrose just because that's the natural sugar produced from the malt and I didn't want to change things any.

For my lawnmower beers, I use honey. A friend brought me ten pounds of clover honey from Idaho, and it added a really nice flavor to the beer.