A beer bottle is a bottle designed as a container for beer. Such designs vary greatly in size and shape, but the glass commonly is brown or green to reduce spoilage from light, especially ultraviolet. The most widely established alternatives to glass containers for beer in retail sales are beverage cans and aluminium bottles; for larger volumes kegs are in common use. Bottling lines Bottling lines are production lines that fill beer into bottles on a large scale. The process is typically as follows: Filling a bottle in a filling machine (filler) typically involves drawing beer from a holding tank Capping the bottle, labeling it Packing the bottles into cases or cartons Many smaller breweries send their bulk beer to large facilities for contract bottling—though some will bottle by hand. The first step in bottling beer is depalletising, where the empty bottles are removed from the original packaging delivered from the manufacturer, so that individual bottles may be handled. The bottles may then be rinsed with filtered water or air, and may have carbon dioxide injected into them in attempt to reduce the level of oxygen within the bottle. The bottle then enters a "filler" which fills the bottle with beer and may also inject a small amount of inert gas (CO2 or nitrogen) on top of the beer to disperse oxygen, as O2 can ruin the quality of the product by oxidation. Next the bottle enters a labelling machine ("labeller") where a label is applied. The product is then packed into boxes and warehoused, ready for sale. Depending on the magnitude of the bottling endeavour, there are many different types of bottling machinery available. Liquid level machines fill bottles so they appear to be filled to the same line on every bottle, while volumetric filling machines fill each bottle with exactly the same amount of liquid. Overflow pressure fillers are the most popular machines with beverage makers, while gravity filling machines are most cost effective. In terms of automation, inline filling machines are most popular, but rotary machines are much faster albeit much more expensive. Shape and size Stubby and steinie A short glass bottle used for beer is generally called a stubby, or originally a steinie. Shorter and flatter than standard bottles, stubbies pack into a smaller space for transporting. The steinie was introduced in the 1930s by Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company and derived their name from their