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Junkbrew · 10-18-2012, 05:24 PM

Is there a way to use the bigger bottles that have a cork and wire. I love the way they look but not sure if its a good idea to try or not

**manoaction** · 10-18-2012, 05:46 PM

Are you bottling from already carbed beer in a keg? It's sort of a pain to buy the corker and cages, but you can do it easily enough.

Unless you're using a really thick bottle like a champagne bottle, you should avoid trying to carb in the bigger still wine bottles.

As the volume of the bottle increases, the force on the glass wall increases as well during the carb process. You can shatter the bigger bottles doing this. I'm told this is a sure fire way to shatter a growler.

**bchurch** · 10-18-2012, 05:46 PM

I reuse my commercially bought Belgian bottles a lot. I just bought a hand corker for about 20 bucks and use Belgian corks. Not the champagne type mushroom corks but the fat wine looking corks. It's a little tough as they are a tight squeeze and I think I will invest in a floor corker soon.

Junkbrew · 10-18-2012, 11:01 PM

Thanks for the insight. So manoaction are the bucket you also saying that growlers wont work. I've been wondering if they would.. oh and no keg here. Straight outta the bucket

**manoaction** · 10-19-2012, 05:27 PM

Yes I'm saying ordinary growlers won't work, although I've seen some thick walled growlers that might (they've got the swing top and are made from thicker glass).

There is a pressure curve that spikes during the bottling process. Fermentation in the first few days causes a build up of high pressure that is then absorbed into the beer to form an even carbonation. The force of this pressure is greater on larger vessels. When you've got a regular thin walled growler the pressure can shatter it easily because it's a larger vessel.

Take a look at the thickness of champagne bottle or bottle conditioned Belgian bottles and you'll notice they are thicker with a deep bell at the bottom compared with ordinary wine or beer bottles. You can bottle in these if you cage the cork, but trying to bottle in an ordinary thin walled wine bottle or growler will break the glass.

**manoaction** · 10-19-2012, 05:33 PM

The exact pressure force equation has something to this equation pA = p((pi)r2) where as the radius increases the force felt on the cylinder wall increases as well.

Put more simply, you don't need to know the math to observe the effect in the pressure rating for SCH40 PVC. Even though the pipe is the same thickness, the pressure rating drops as the pipe diameter increases.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pvc-cpvc-pipes-pressures-d_796.html

Uziyahu · 10-19-2012, 05:49 PM

I bought belgian bottles from my LHBS and corked them for my Belgian Tripel. It's pretty cool looking, but was a lot more work than just capping.

Hopper5000 · 10-19-2012, 06:06 PM

If you are using bottles that had corks in them before and had a carbonated beverage in them then you should be fine using them again. I have an had no problems so far.

I have only used the plastic champagne corks you can get at the LHBS and then the sunsequent cages.

Hopper5000 · 10-19-2012, 06:07 PM

If you are using bottles that had corks in them before and had a carbonated beverage in them then you should be fine using them again. I have an had no problems so far.

I have only used the plastic champagne corks you can get at the LHBS and then the sunsequent cages.

**bchurch** · 10-19-2012, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopper5000

If you are using bottles that had corks in them before and had a carbonated beverage in them then you should be fine using them again. I have an had no problems so far.

I have only used the plastic champagne corks you can get at the LHBS and then the sunsequent cages.

I did that originally but found that my used la fin du monde bottles would lose pressure because their opening was just a smidge larger than others. Just something to watch out for if you go that route.