Bottling question

[Dam0]

Hey all,

Just purchased the Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit, about to start it all looks good.

I was wondering about the bottling process. Do I have to put this beer in bottles for the second fermentation stage or can I use the pressure barrell I got with my previous kit and pour it straight out the barrel to either a pint glass or to bottle it at a later date? - Links Below.

Woodfordes Microbrewery Premium 40 Pint Starter Set

http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beginners ... t-set.html

Cheers Guys

Damo.

 

[ScottM]

You can use the barrel if you wish but it won't be as good as if you bottled. As it's a lager kit it generally requires much more carbonation, for head retention and mouthfeel. Barrelling doesn't hold a lot of pressure, which is ideal for ales and the like as not a lot of carbonation is required.

I would definitely recommend bottling for this particular kit. Also, hold it back a little. 19L is plenty for this kit, it's too watered down at 23L :)

 

[Dam0]

Cheers for the speedy reply mate.

Ill take your recomendation and set it up for 19litres.

Also logical guess then, glass bottels are the way forward i presume over the cheaper plastic ones?

 

[ScottM]

Cheers for the speedy reply mate.

Ill take your recomendation and set it up for 19litres.

Also logical guess then, glass bottels are the way forward i presume over the cheaper plastic ones?

Plastic ones are fine for purpose but I think everyone agrees that glass are just a step up. If going with plastic bottles I would definitely go with 500s rather than litres as when you pour a lager it needs to be finished in the 1 pour. Anything leftover will get mixed up with the high levels of CO2 thus ruining your drink.

Found that one out the hard way

You will be able to get bottles for free from pubs etc, aim for brown 500ml bottles if you can get them. Green are also not bad, but they don't cover the same range of light as the brown ones do. Clear is a big no-no unless you are storing your beer in a near dark area. If you have a local HBS then you may be able to pick them up for around £4-£5 per dozen. I'm lucky in that my LHBS owner also has a brewery so he sells the bottles for £3 a dozen

 

[Davybarman]

Freecycle and Gumtree are always good bets too :thumb:

 

[wilsoa1111]

hi just to give my 2 cents about bottles, the plastic ones are generally cheaper and they tend not to explode when dropped and never due to pressure(provided they were meant for fizzy stuff or beer if not they deform a bit but still dont pop). Glass if incorrectly carbonated- like if brew is stuck or not quite finished then is bottled can lead to explosions especially if carbonating to lager levels. however glass is reckoned to be better for longerterm storage as less air can possibly get in but mainly cos brown glass bottles filter uv light far better than brown plastic(not an issue if store in dark place). As such many beginners use 2l pop bottles 18p ea plus free lemonade (as are cheap and already sterile) while they amass a glass bottle collection or decide to really go for it and invest in kegs or plastic "better bottles". its also real easy to tell if plastic bottles are carbed-feel firm. hope it helps :)

 

[clz]

I started with the 17p value fizzy water bottles too - but got tired of having to pour the lot in one go lest it disturbs the sediment and turns the rest of the bottle cloudy. Have now invested in a capper and taken to asking pubs for their empty glass bottles - managed to get almost a full brew's worth yesterday, absolutely free! Crabbies bottles are common at my local and do the job well - I've also got a big batch of Kopparberg bottles which are a sort of dark brownish-green, hoping these will work almost as well as brown bottles at keeping the light out? Anyway I'd definitely recommend just going and asking for free bottles rather than paying through the nose for empties, odds are you'll be saving the bar staff a trip to the bin too so everyone's a winner!

 

[Sideboard]

You can use the barrel if you wish but it won't be as good as if you bottled

Could you elaborate on this scottm please? what does "not as good" mean? interesting. :thumb:

do bottles hold more pressure?

 

[ScottM]

You can use the barrel if you wish but it won't be as good as if you bottled

Could you elaborate on this scottm please? what does "not as good" mean? interesting. :thumb:

I did.... just after where you quoted

 

[Sideboard]

Yes , I read it again. sorry. but do bottles hold more pressure than kegs or barrels?

 

[ScottM]

Yes , I read it again. sorry. but do bottles hold more pressure than kegs or barrels?

Yes, loads more. That's the reason that less sugar is used when barrelling, there's no point as the keg won't hold the pressure created. Obviously this is a lot different when using a cornelius keg or something like that, but with the king kegs etc I wouldn't recommend storing lager.

 

[Sideboard]

Good good, I have cornies and a king keg(which has to come into action when i'm pushed) so it was all relevant to me too. thanks for the info there.