brehm21

Recipes 

Okay, so I got some nice "cobalt" blue flip-top bottles and put them to use.
Some of them didn't carbonate.
Is there a certain way to cap them properly? I just flipped them shut and set them back to age, but so far I've had 3 out of the 10 turn out flat. Not spoiled...they taste great....just flat.
The o-rings, caps, and bottles were new.
The 7 out of 10 I've opened were carbonated nicely. 2 still left unopened.
None of the other standard bottles from this batch have been flat.
I racked these in the middle of the batch, since I stired up some yeast when I started racking, and I knew I'd stir some up at the end.....is there a way to get them too "clear" and not have enough yeast to carbonate?

Any ideas?

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"A little drunk is better than dead."

david_42

Recipes 

About the only real trick is to make certain the cap is dead-center before you flip the clip down. In theory, the curve of the underside of the cap will give a good seal regardless of the alignment, but... If certain bottles are consistantly flat, I'd replace the rings. No telling how old the "new" bottles are. Some people use keg lube on the rings.

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Walker

Recipes 

that would be very difficult without EXCESSIVE aging of the beer. even crystal clear, spent-2-months-in-the-secondary beer will have millions and millions of yeasties floating around in it and will carbonate in the bottle. They might take a little longer to get the job done, but they will definately be able to condition your brew.

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the_bird

Recipes 

As a side note, I saw some bottles just like that in one of the HBSs, really nice looking cobalt flip-tops. What I wasn't sure about, though, was if the blue glass will do as good a job blocking out light as the brown bottles do. I'm not sure if the blue glass won't block out certain wavelengths that might prove damaging to the beer. Probably a non-issue since I store all the beer out of the light, but I would hate to buy a couple cases of bottles and have them damage the goods.

Lou

Recipes 

how long has it been since you bottled?

Walker

Recipes 

the blue does not block the light like the brown/amber bottles. You can lump the blue ones right in with the green and clear bottles.

-walker

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Ground Fault Brewing Co.

the_bird

Recipes 

That's what I was afraid of, and why I didn'y buy any. Thanks!

mysterio

Recipes 

I use green Grolsch bottles and I've never had any light problems.

Walker

Recipes 

well.... ANY color of bottle will work if you keep it out of the UV light.

I'm just saying that if you do expose the bottles to UV, the brown will protect the beer better than green/blue will.

-walker

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Ground Fault Brewing Co.

brehm21

Recipes 

It's sneaking up on two months since these were bottled.

I'm thinking they just didn't seal some how and most of my CO2 leaked out. There's sediment in each one, and they don't taste any sweeter than the carbonated bottles.

Perhaps I should polish off the last two sooner than later to avoid any excess leak time.

__________________
"A little drunk is better than dead."