Belgian bottles with plastic champagne corks...

Okay..several questions....

I have a number of old Duvel bottles which I've been using when bottling. Typically one bottle per batch with a plastic champagne cork http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4371
and a wire stopper. After opening this weekend, i found it was flatter than a board. Oh, I still drank it. I mean...come on...it's beer!

Anyone else ever use these stoppers with success?

What about the 29MM caps I've read about will these fit on a Belgian bottle? I know i may need an adapter for my capper...

Also.... assuming that all my other bottles are flat, is it possible to use a bit of dry yeast and a bit of sugar to "re-carb" these...

Any advice on these is greatly appreciated.

champagne bottle openings may be a different size from dvel bottle oopenings, I don't know. How long was the beer sitting, and was it oxydized from being exposed to air through the cap.

I spoke at length with Northern Brew about this about two years ago. The measured and found the opening on a Belgian Bottle and a Champagne bottle were slightly different. If yo are using Belgian bottles, the best thing to do is use Beer Corks (Belgian corks). Northern Brewer just started carrying them. They work great, I use them (with the cages) for all my big Belgians.

-Todd

Weekend Brewer sales belgian bottles, corks, and wires.

http://www.weekendbrewer.com/beercapperscapsbottles.htm
scroll down to see them

I haven't ordered any yet, because I keg, but want to do a batch with these so bad.

Plan 9.... do you know if I need a special capper to use these corks?

With respect to whether the beer was oxidized, i cant say i've ever tasted a beer that was, nor would i know what it might tatse like. As it was, this wasnt my first second or for that matter 3rd beer of the day, so my perceptios were a bit dull at that point.

What about re-priming? i searched the forum, but some, but most of the questions were from folks who had only waited a week and were asking if they should reprime or not. I recall reading somewhere that a couple grains of dry yeast and a bit of sugar might do the trick, but for the life of me i cant find that again.....

It says you need an Iris compression Champagne corker.

I haven't ordered any yet, so I don't have any experience with them.

If you don't have a champagne corker, call your LHBS. Most will rent you one for a few days. I did this twice (once for my first Belgian and once for my first wine) before I broke down and bought my Ferrari Corker.

-Todd