Plastic PET Bottles.....?

[danielenglish87]

Hi there. Ive just finished racking off my first ever brew. I orderd the plastic PET bottles for convinence and was just wondering how long the beer will remain ok in them for after the carbonation and initial clearing period? Any info would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[tubby_shaw]

PET bottles are slightly oxygen permeable and are not suitable for long term storage
But having said that beer will keep fine in them for up to 9 months if kept in the cool and dark :thumb:
If 40 pints lasts longer than that you have a serious drinking problem :lol:

 

[danielenglish87]

:thumb: Thats great, thanks for the help. Im sure ill manage to get it drunk by then :drunk: :lol:

 

[Bribie]

Although I've now collected a fair amount of glass and the purpose made 750ml PET beer bottles, I started off with just 2L pop bottles last year and at one stage had all my beer in them. I've phased most of them out but find that for keeping a beer up to 2 months 2L bottles are fine but keep in the dark or a lidded carton. For up to 6 months the little brown PETs are fine, but for dead reliable storage glass is the go.

The little PETs are very reliable but I found that the big pop bottles tend to start leaking at the cap after two or three uses and the beer starts going stale tasting after two or three months, although having said that ambient temperatures here are a bit higher than the UK, I regularly get 35 degrees in the garage.

Photo from last September:

:drunk:

 

[pansub]

Hi bribie

As a mater of interest, how do you brew in those sort of temperatures?

 

[Bribie]

Hi bribie

As a mater of interest, how do you brew in those sort of temperatures?

In the brewery I have two fridges, a live fridge freezer and an old dead fridge that I got for free. During the hot months, October to April, I ferment in the dead fridge with a couple of two litre frozen PET bottles swapped in morning and night, which keeps the brew between 15 and 19 degrees depending on the ambient temperature. When Primary is finished I rack the beer into another fermenter and put it in the live fridge for a week at just above freezing then fine and bottle it. This time of year I can ferment out of the fridge as the outside temperature is between 12 and 23 most days and the brew stays around 18 by itself in the garage, so it's the golden brewing months until October.

Added bonus is that the dead fridge now holds at about 12 degrees with two PETs so I'm using it to brew genuine lagers, have a Bohemian Pilsener on the go at the moment. :drink:

 

[danielenglish87]

Ive now had my beer clearing in the PET bottles for over 2 weeks. There looking nice and clear now so the other night i thought id crack one open and have a taste. I undone the screw cap, but upon doing this all the seddiment at the bottom of the bottle bubbled up through the beer making it all cloudy again :? . I was wondering if any1 could give me an explanation for this?
Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[corby_brewer]

evening dan.

just a quicky, how much sugar did you use to prime the bottles?

 

[ano]

When you release the pressure carbon dioxide will come out of solution and form at nucleation sites. These will be knobbly bits and as plastic is fairly smooth it finds its way to the yeast sediment. When the bubble forms it can lift some sediment up like a little buoyancy aid. If you leave it to condition longer the sediment will get a little harder and will be more reluctant to spring back up into your beer.

 

[danielenglish87]

I used the coopers carbonation drops, and added 2 to every 1 litre bottle. So if i leave them longer this should hopefully prevent this from happening? Would leaving the beer in the fridge for a few days help me any further? Thanks for the help.

 

[Bribie]

You don't seem to be over carbonated there. Coopers drops are really geared towards Australian bottles where, for historical reasons, our big beer bottles are 750ml and the small 'stubbies' are 375ml. Coopers drops are designed for 2 of them in a large bottle and 1 in a small bottle, with the beer to be drunk cold. So for litre bottles you aren't over priming. Two hints:

Use a good settling yeast such as Nottingham
Chill the beer before serving

And of course leave the bottles to mature and settle as long as possible.