Newbie!

Chippy_Tea · Jun 11, 2020

neilb said:
The forum looks great and I'm looking forward asking lots of advice

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the feedback.

neilb · Jun 11, 2020

Chippy_Tea said:
Welcome to the forum and thanks for the feedback.

Thanks very much! athumb..

neilb · Jun 30, 2020

terrym said:
Another tip. If you are using PET bottles that are fairly flexible, then after you have filled the bottles and primed, squeeze the bottle slightly to expel as much of the air as you can before you screw on the cap. This excludes oxygen which may over time slightly taint your beer. And if the bottle distorts a bit dont worry it will usually regain its shape as carbing progresses.

Terry, keep meaning to ask, would you fill the bottle to roughly 2 inches from the very top of the bottle before squeezing it or could you get away with filling it a bit more - say an inch from the top?
My thoughts are, if you're going to be expelling the air by squeezing the bottle then the CO2 gas produced during carbonating would then start filling the gap between the cap and the top of the beer first before putting pressure on the bottle. Or does it not work like this?

Banbeer · Jun 30, 2020

Hi @neilb, best thing is to leave an inch or so space, although the C02 is filling that void it still needs to be there for head retention later down the line.

terrym · Jun 30, 2020

neilb said:
Terry, keep meaning to ask, would you fill the bottle to roughly 2 inches from the very top of the bottle before squeezing it or could you get away with filling it a bit more - say an inch from the top?
My thoughts are, if you're going to be expelling the air by squeezing the bottle then the CO2 gas produced during carbonating would then start filling the gap between the cap and the top of the beer first before putting pressure on the bottle. Or does it not work like this?

Fill to an inch of the top or thereabouts. Prime then immediately squeeze the air out until beer is almost touching the bottle top. Screw the cap on. Gently roll the bottles on their side to help dissolve the sugar. Then within a day or two the void you evacuated will have returned now filled with CO2 and just a smidgin of air. If you prime with lots of sugar the void will get bigger, since PET bottles are flexible yet strong. And the volume of gas in the headspace of a bottle is quite small compared to the volume of dissolved CO2 in normally carbonated beer.