How to Make a Glass Bottle in Minecraft

To make a glass bottle in Minecraft, smelt three sand blocks into three glass blocks, then arrange the glass in a V shape in a crafting table. One recipe gives you three empty bottles. Use one on a water source or a water-filled cauldron to turn it into a water bottle, which is used to start brewing many potions.

What you need

• Three sand blocks, or three glass blocks if you already have glass
• A furnace and a fuel item, such as coal, charcoal, or wood
• A crafting table with a 3-by-3 grid

Sand is easy to find on beaches, beside rivers, and in deserts. You can break it by hand, but a shovel collects it faster. If you already have glass in a chest, skip the furnace and go straight to the crafting steps. Use regular glass blocks for this recipe; glass panes are a different item.

Smelt sand into glass

1. Place or open a furnace.
2. Put sand in the furnace's input slot.
3. Add fuel to the lower fuel slot. Coal and charcoal work, as do several kinds of wood.
4. Wait for the furnace to finish, then move the glass from the output slot into your inventory.

Each sand block smelts into one glass block, so smelt at least three blocks for one bottle recipe. You can process more sand in the same furnace if you want extra bottles for later. Keep the glass in your inventory after collecting it: ordinary glass blocks usually shatter when broken, so smelting more sand is the dependable way to replace misplaced glass.

Craft three glass bottles

Open a crafting table so you can use its full 3-by-3 grid. The glass bottle recipe does not fit in the smaller 2-by-2 crafting area in your personal inventory. Place exactly three glass blocks in these cells:

In other words, put glass in the left and right cells of the top row and in the center cell of the row beneath it. The shape points down like a V. When the bottle icon appears in the result slot, take it into your inventory. The recipe consumes three glass blocks and returns three empty glass bottles.

If the recipe is not appearing, check that you opened a crafting table, used full glass blocks rather than panes, and placed the blocks in the exact cells above. In Java Edition, the recipe book can also show recipes you have unlocked; Minecraft's official crafting guide explains how the recipe book and crafting grid work.

Fill a bottle with water

1. Move an empty glass bottle to your hotbar and select it.
2. Face a water source block or a cauldron containing water.
3. Use the bottle on the water with your platform's use or interact control.

The empty bottle becomes a water bottle. On a computer, the usual action is to right-click; on a controller or touchscreen, use the game's interact action. A water source is the simplest option. A water cauldron also works, and filling a bottle removes one level of water from the cauldron. Repeat the action with each empty bottle you want to fill.

Minecraft's Water Bottle guide confirms the three-glass bottle recipe and describes filling a bottle from water or a cauldron. Water bottles are a starting ingredient for brewing, so make several if you plan to prepare potions. You do not need a brewing stand just to craft the empty bottles; you only need it later to brew them.

Common questions

How many bottles does one recipe make?

One recipe makes three glass bottles from three glass blocks. To make more, repeat the same pattern with another set of three glass.

Can I make a bottle without smelting sand?

Yes, if you already have three glass blocks. Otherwise, smelting sand in a furnace is the straightforward way to get the glass. Minecraft's official glass overview notes that glass can be made from sand and used to craft bottles.

What else can I do with an empty glass bottle?

Besides filling it with water for brewing, an empty bottle can collect honey from a full beehive or bee nest. Keep the bottle selected and use it on the honey-filled block. If you only need water bottles, fill them from a nearby water source instead of carrying a bucket back and forth.