Re-bottling?

[Bleery]

Hi, can anyone provide any guidance? I have a jeroboam (9 ltr) of St. Feuillien Triple my brother brought back from Belgium for me at Christmas. Problem is that I don't have any opportunities to drink that much beer at that strength (8.5%). Can I just decant it into 500ml bottles and cap them with crown caps? That way I could have a couple at a time without wasting any.

 

[xozzx]

I would think this will work but you would still want to drink it all reasonably quickly as you wont be able to avoid getting any air in. I guess since it is high alcohol and not a hoppy beer I guess it should stay good for a month or 2, I might be wrong tho!

If doing it I would chill all the bottles as much as possible (including the St Feuillien) before pouring.

On a side a Jeroboam is not 9L (unless its different for beer?)

 

[Agentgonzo]

I wouldn't recommend that.

When you rebottle it, you'll get air in the new bottles and that'll cause the beer to oxidize. Probably a lot faster than xozzx says... I'd expect it to start turning in a few days to a week.

Plus you'll lose carbonation at you transfer it,, so the rebottled beer will be flatter than it sounds

It you have a CO2 setup you could try refilling by purging the bottle and counterflow pressure filling. That would give you more life on it

 

[Agentgonzo]

Another option that could buy you a little life/carbonation would be too add a bit of sugar and yeast to bottle condition it. It'll help prevent it going off quite as quickly and also restore any lost carbonation.

But adding sugar to already fizzy beer will make it foam up and make a mess when bottling

 

[RichardM]

Another option that could buy you a little life/carbonation would be too add a bit of sugar and yeast to bottle condition it. It'll help prevent it going off quite as quickly and also restore any lost carbonation.

But adding sugar to already fizzy beer will make it foam up and make a mess when bottling

I wonder if adding a pinch of conditioning yeast to each bottle would do the job, without adding more sugar .
Alternatively, make syrup and add a bit to each bottle before filling

 

[Agentgonzo]

I wonder if adding a pinch of conditioning yeast to each bottle would do the job, without adding more sugar .
Alternatively, make syrup and add a bit to each bottle before filling

Unlikely. Without any food, the new yeast won't do anything.

Alternatively, make syrup and add a bit to each bottle before filling

Yes, that'll work up to a point. The syrup will prevent foaming that you'd get with granules. Though making a sugar syrup etc risks introducing more nasties as well. Though st feullien is high in alcohol so probably inhibits a lot of things.

 

[jof]

Um,plastic bottles & squeeze when putting the lid on so no oxygen at the top, only co2 that comes out of the beer?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Um,plastic bottles & squeeze when putting the lid on so no oxygen at the top, only co2 that comes out of the beer?

There'll still be a little bit of oxygen pickup and you'll lose more carbonation, but another option.