PET bottling advice

[Trish]

I'm looking for a bit of advice. So far I've always bottled into 500ml bottles using 1carbonation drop and have had successful results. My new brew is ear marked to take on holiday. Self catering accommodation, miles away from a pub I did a similar thing last year, carrying two dozen 500ml bottles from north east England to North Uist but thought using 2 litre PET bottles would make the job easier this time.

Can anyone advise how many carbonation drops would I use in each bottle and is there anything I should be aware of.

Thanks in advance.

 

[aamcle]

I may be easier to bulk prime your beer then you don't need to worry.

Atb. Aamcle

 

[Duxuk]

If 1 carb drop works well for 500ml then 4 would do the same for a 2l bottle. I use half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle for ale, so would use 2 teaspoons for 2l. I make a paper funnel from a sheet of A4 since SWMBO threw my plastic funnel away. She replaced it with an attractive stainless one which the sugar gets stuck in. It's completely useless.

 

[kngsze]

Yep - 4 would be fine. Personally I found these to carb too much for me, but then I brew mainly ales and so prefer a low carb'ed beer.

Batch/bulk priming is defiantly a great way to go long term as it gives a nice uniform brew.

 

[Slid]

Are really easy.
Sterilise as you get them.
When ready to bottle, rinse out well and measure out the priming sugar in a little bowl - 120g for Ales, up to 200g for lagers.

If you put 12 2L bottles in a Laundry basket, they don't fall over, so teaspooning the sugar in is easy and to my mind, as reliable as bulk priming.

Siphon or pour (from the tap at the bottom if there is one) the beer in, screw up the lid and the job's easy. I usually use a secondary bottle to fill from the FV to top up the 2L bottles, as I like to pour it in using the tap at the bottom. This always froths up too much and it has to settle a bit. This requires a proper funnel (Wilko) as a paper one would be non-viable.

If you are intersted, Dave off Whatsbrewinguk has done multiple Youtube videos where he shows off his fondness for re-used lemonade bottles and it works OK for me too.

500ml bottling is a labour of love if ever there was one. 2L bottles are a good half-way house to kegging, without having to buy a keg and sort it out when it goes wrong.

 

[Rivvo]

There may be an issue with pouring unless you're going to pour it all out into a large jug, if you only pour a glass at a time it may disturb the yeast and disperse it into the rest of the bottle, especially after a long journey the yeast may have loosened up a bit.

 

[Slid]

There may be an issue with pouring unless you're going to pour it all out into a large jug, if you only pour a glass at a time it may disturb the yeast and disperse it into the rest of the bottle, especially after a long journey the yeast may have loosened up a bit.

Yes that's right, it never works well in my experience if you transport it or do a partial decant. That's the downside. But I live with it :thumb:

 

[PaulCa]

You only get the first pour clear and even then sometimes that doesn't work either. The problem with PET is it expands, unlike glass. So if you carbonate in a plastic bottle the bottle expands, the yeast cake forms at the bottom, but when you open the bottle it shrinks and dislodges the yeast cake. If you are unlucky it has CO2 trapped in it and it flips upside down and floats up. If you are lucky the first power is clear and fine, but as soon as you set the bottle down the yeast starts stirring up into the beer.

 

[Trish]

Just to thank everyone who has replied. Your knowledge and advice is appreciated.

 

[ian808]

I use some 2 litre bottles on most of my brews and never have a problem. I have a large jug which I pour the whole bottle into and then just pour into glass. Not had any problem using them I keep them in dark area so light doesn't do any damage, sometimes nearly half goes into PET bottle mainly 2 litre but have a few 1.25 and 1.5 bottles as well

 

[Fil]

+1 for decanting 2l bottles prior to drinking, also be careful of bottle collapse during the decant. a third hand to hold the jug at an accepting angle is a real help as it will allow u to hold both the neck and bottom of the pet bottle helping maintain structure while you pour.

to avoid aeration if using a tap to fill, consider fitting a sterile drop tube to the tap so u can fill the bottles from the bottom up, the agitation will release some of the co2 in suspension in the beer and will hopefully provide the beer with a protective co2 layer as u fill.

one thing to watch for with bottles stored empty for a while is kinks and dents which have white stress points in the clear plastic, these could be a point of weakness so avoid using those bottles, (tho must admit ive never heard of a pet bottle failing other than at the lid)

 

[Trish]

An after holiday update.

I took 6 x 2 litre bottles of Wilkinsons Golden Ale to Gairloch in PET bottles. After a day's walking, another two miles to the pub sometimes wasn't on. Taking ian808's advice we decanted the beer into a jug first before pouring into glasses. Brilliant result although I found this one a bit too hoppy for my taste but wasn't put off for too long.

Thanks again for the advice :)