Help

[Luvabeer]

Hello everybody
Complete newbie so could do with some help please. Firstly are magnum cider bottles suitable for bottling my beer. Secondly can I bottle my beer straight from a pressured barrel. Any advise would be very much appreciated
CHEERS

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Welcome to the forum.
Yes, Magnum cider bottles are suitable for bottling beer - I use Old Mout bottles, myself. You may have to shell out for a bench capper - the general consensus on the forum is that hand cappers are not suitable for used commercial bottles.

 

[-Bezza-]

Secondly can I bottle my beer straight from a pressured barrel

I assume you're looking to bottle a beer that has already carbonated in the pressure barrel. In which case yes, although you might want to invest a bottling wand and a small bit of silicone hose too. The bottling wand reaches right into the bottom of the bottle, meaning you can fill gently from the bottom up, rather than direct from the tap into the top of the bottle which will fizz, make a mess, and likely take a lot of the carbonation out of the beer. I would also do any transferring with the PB as cold as possible, as more CO2 will be locked up in the beer.

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[William Smith]

Yes cider bottles are designed to hold carbonation. Out of interest what size bottles are they?

 

[Luvabeer]

Cheers this what I was hoping for people prepared to help like minded folk
Int life great!!!!

Yes cider bottles are designed to hold carbonation. Out of interest what size bottles are they?

568ml

 

[Hoppyland]

Secondly can I bottle my beer straight from a pressured barrel

Careful, here. It depends upon how you do it and how much the beer is already under pressure (which really means how much CO2 is dissolved in it). You will definitely have problems bottling a beer that is already potentially fizzy and under pressure. Once the pressure is released, then the beer will fizz and froth (just like opening a bottle). In this state, you won't easily be able to transfer to a bottle - you'll end up with a bottle of froth, not beer, and a mess everywhere.
How are you intending to bottle? Siphon out of the barrel top, or use the tap? I'd caution against the tap, as Bezza suggests. Too easy to over-aerate your beer which will not improve it! One advantage to using a siphon with a bottling wand is that, if there is too much CO2 already in the beer, then the siphon won't really work - the beer won't flow as it will just fill up with froth.
So, my advice is: release any pressure in barrel at least a day before bottling and let it settle. This could be a good time to batch-prime with a sugar solution. Then, use a siphon and bottling wand, my preference is one with a spring-loaded shut-off valve.

 

[-Bezza-]

My suggestion was to connect the bottling wand to the tap via a short length of silicone tube. I agree to gently release the pressure from the pb by unscrewing the cap first but a very cold beer through the wand shouldn't have too many issues. There's always a bit of froth.

That doesn't seem massively different to bottling direct from a cornie which I understand people do all the time, although not done it myself since I don't have cornies yet!

 

[Hoppyland]

My suggestion was to connect the bottling wand to the tap via a short length of silicone tube.

Yep, never done this myself but that should surely work.