Carbonating - sealed tanks

[andyn2001]

On a tour to Meantime Brewery last week I was surprised to hear how they carbonate their beer.

The beer is fermented for 5 days then moved to sealed conditioning tanks for 28 days. As there is nowhere for the C02 to escape the beer absorbs it. I always thought breweries force carbonated.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has tried this method for home brew? And if you have, were you able to keg or bottle?

I would think if bottling is possible using std homebrew methods there will be less sediment in the bottles, as you don't have to add priming sugar and start off a mini fermentation.

 

[PD]

Mass crap is forced carbonated.
Craft Beers and home brew are not usually.... Kegging is a half way house in my opinion

Need any more reason to brew your own...?

Home brewers usually ferment for 10 to 14 days for the sugar to be converted into alcohol. The beer is then bottled with priming sugar and kept for 2 weeks for this sugar to be converted into a tiny bit more alcohol but mainly for the production of Co2. this gas fills the head space in the bottle and the bubbles in your beer.
The bottle is then moved to a cooler spot. The gas cannot go anywhere at this stage until the pressure has built up sufficiently in the bottle for it to be absorbed fully into the beer.

That's a simplified version of events obviously.

The process is the same for pressure barrels but a layer of Co2 is forced into the barrel to cover and protect your beer. Cornies and such like force gas into the beer as far as I'm aware but its not a method I have used.

 

[andyn2001]

Thanks for the reply. I actually do know all about priming and bottle conditioning :

My question was whether anyone has tried carbonating is a sealed container, maybe taking the airlock out of the fermenter after 5 days and replacing with a bung. Then leaving for a period of say 28 days like Meantime to condition and carbonate. Therefore, no need to prime bottles and create more sedimant in the bottles.

 

[PD]

Sorry I wasn't trying to teach you to suck eggs.

Replacing an air lock with a bung will not make a sealed container for this purpose...no bucket lid is air ( or Co2 ) tight.
I would suggest that if you tried it as described the yeasts would devour all the sugars over the 28 days the gas would slowly escape your bucket leaving the brew flat with no sugars left to ferment in it.
Now if you had a totally sealed presure safe container......hmmm an interesting experiment.

 

[andyn2001]

I ferment in glass carboys or brupaks sealed fermenters, so I think they will be sealed enough to give this a try!

 

[ScottM]

Let us know when you get back from A&E after having the glass removed

 

[PD]

:whistle: :whistle:

 

[fbsf]

I ferment in glass carboys or brupaks sealed fermenters, so I think they will be sealed enough to give this a try!

Seriously...don't.

They are not designed to take any pressure and ScottM's comments have more than an element of truth to them. If you want to brew in something like that, it would need to be steel and pressure tested with a release valve, like a corny.

 

[31bb3]

Ok as I'm reading this if you was to transfer into a corny before the initial fermentation has finished the last co2 produced would be forced into the brew IMO you would have to purge the air out at some point unless it was filled to the brim so no room for air but you would still have yeast in suspension so therefore sediment in the corny
I'm thinking its similar to transferring force carbed beer from a corny into a bottle

 

[Hawks]

I would think this is just the same as bottling / kegging a couple of points before FG - so no need to add sugar as there is enough left to ferment. You get a lot of sediment as there will have been a lot of yeast is suspension. I would think if Meantime are then bottling they could do that under pressure and therefore get conditioned and carbonated beer into a bottle sediment free. You could do the same by conditioning in a corny and then using a bottling gun.. trick there is that some don't seal without a blast of pressure to start.
Personally I prefer to clear the beer as much as possible first, although I have bottled from a corny and also racked from one to another under pressure.

 

[andyn2001]

So you can carbonate in a bottle, but not a carboy?? Surely a glass carboy is srong enough for natural carbonation?

 

[PD]

try it and let us know.

If a 500ml bottle burst's its a minor disaster

If a large glass carboy explodes...............

I prefer to stay safe.

 

[andyn2001]

Out of interest, have you ever had a 500ml bottle explode? Doesn't the cap blow off before the bottle break ups? Wouldn't the same happen with a carboy with a bung, actually, thinking about this, the bung wouldn't stand a chance! I think my brupaks fermenter woudl be the best bet.

 

[PD]

when pressure builds up in a bottle or vessel it will give way at its weakest point. Bottles and carboys are massed produced these days, quality wise they are usually good but a little ***** on the glass sides or a bubble in the glass and it can give way.
Crown caps can fit tight, screw tops can't unscrew.
As I say, I prefer to play it safe and stick with methods that will cause the least damage injury if and when things go wrong.
I've had an old fashioned pot vessel ( 2 gal ) explode with rhubarb wine and that just had a 6 inch cork top on. However it had cemented itself to the pot in the 6 months it had been maturing.

 

[oz11]

I had a bottle go last week. The bottom quarter or so came away. The cap was still firmly in place. It was a kopperberg(sp?). I won't be using those again.