Bottling!

[Steven Driessen]

Hey folks, your advice has been very useful in the past - so once again...

Bottling an ale in 33ml bottles with a little bit of priming sugar added (for CO2).... Will they explode?
I've never done this you see.

If you think they will explode.... Is there anyone in Dunedin willing to sell me some larger bottles that won't turn in WMDs?

Cheers!

[Ally Mcg]

They shouldn't explode. Unless you've gone hard out with the sugar... Whats a little bit of priming sugar?

[Mike Neilson]

what the grams per litre of priming sugar ratio? what bottles are they? and how stable is the beer?

[denimglen]

Yup, as above.

Amount of priming sugar is relative to amount of carbonation.

Just go 'long term borrow' some swappa crate bottles from your local bottle store, most will give you the empties for the price of the deposit.

[JoKing]

Get some kegs bro - you'll be the star at university.

[Mike Neilson]

University you say? I funny you should mention this I was chatting to a guy today who said when they were at uni they used to make a 120L brew in the bath tub with tin foil over the top of it then when it was finished fermenting they just had a party and drunk it all!! I think this way you wouldnt have to worry about bottling and yeah you would be a star!!! and to tell you the honest truth I would rather clean up the party than bottle!!

[Stu McKinlay]

yeh, you could just hook up a beer engine

sounds delicious

just knocked off firestone union jack... balanced. too much so, if i'm going to complain.

[Mike Neilson]

Your a Hard man Mr Mckinlay!!

[Stu McKinlay]

Hi Steven

Emerson's or Green Man will sell you a few bottles (or give you some, I'm sure). These guys are pro homebrewing, not against it.

I definitely recommend kegs but, if they are too expensive, the next best thing is BIG bottles. Really... how many times do you feel like just one 330ml bottle? It is good to have some but it is a lot of work cleaning, sanitising and filling them.

As for carbonation, there are plenty of calculators around. I'd suggest going down the bulk priming route if you want consistency...

http://kotmf.com/tools/

Tip: make sure fermentation is finished before bottling!!!


Cheers
Stu

[Barry]

What he said (Stu) re: make sure fermentation is finished before bottling.
Check the specific gravity with a hydrometer, when it's at what you expected to be terminal gravity (or close to it) for 3 consecutive days, consider bottling.
It's not so much the amount of sugar you add for conditioning, as the amount of sugar you add PLUS the residual sugar remaining in your beer - make sure the yeast has done all it can to the wort first!

[Steven Driessen]

Hey folks, Just bottled our ale yesterday.
Used 750mL crate bottles from the liquor store - cleaned and sanitised. Fermentation was definitely finished, and we calculated the priming sugar using a guide from John Palmer's book.
Cheers for your advice!