Panther1911

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What are the alternatives to carbonation in the bottle?

My kit right now consists of a Fermentation bucket and bottling bucket.

davesrose

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Eh....are you thinking of serving flat beer from your bottling bucket? The only options for serving beer are from bottle or from keg (well homebrew at least....breweries also have canneries). So I'd recommend getting some bottles (and caps and capper) to naturally carb from your bottling bucket.

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On Tap: Barleywine, Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout (big big beer)
Conditioning:Baltic Porter
Fermenting: Double Simcoe IPA
On the Bench: Racer 5 IPA

"One of the first things early caveman did, when he crawled out of the mudd, was to make beer. And cavemen everywhere are still making beer...and drinking beer." - Jean Sheperd

Panther1911

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I have a capper and caps. I was just wondering if there was a way to carbonate the beer before bottling.

woollybugger2

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Woolly Bugger Brewery

Consumed:#2 Hefeweizen, #3 SoHo Brown Ale, #7 Belgian Wit, #9 Belgian Amber
Bottled: #1 Trout Belgian Trippel, #4 Smoked Porter, #5 Apfelwein, #10 Bell's Brown Ale Clone, #11 Belgian Wit, #8 Wee Heavy
Secondary:#6 Trout Belgian Trippel
Secondary:
Primary 1:
Primary 2:
Primary 3: Empty
On deck: ???

eschatz

Recipes 

you can carbonate in soda bottles (2 liters or whatever). However, if you do you need to drink all of the bottle pretty quickly or it'll go flat. You cannot carbonate in a bottling bucket or anything like that. your other option is to start kegging if that's your motive. there are literally hundreds of threads on this forum on starting that up. other than that, just going with the traditional bottles is your best bet.

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play the bass, brew the beer

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ChshreCat

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I have a TAP-A-DRAFT and really like it. That said, if you have room to keg, I'd recommend that instead.

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"Science + beer = good!"
-Adam Savage

davesrose

Recipes 

+1 on that. I did try a tap a draft system right before kegging...and I found it to be more expensive then just diving into kegging. Part of it could have been the system I bought into: they supplied the "Tap-A-Draft" valve system, and then a few stainless mini-kegs. I found that automatic valve would sometimes dent the kegs (because of the pressure differences), and I'd have to go through a lot of the seltzer cartridges. But maybe it was due to the mini-kegs I was using. I notice the containers that come with the system are more like soda bottles. Maybe they hold carbination better then those mini-kegs...and maybe the automatic valves work better with them.

__________________
On Tap: Barleywine, Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout (big big beer)
Conditioning:Baltic Porter
Fermenting: Double Simcoe IPA
On the Bench: Racer 5 IPA

"One of the first things early caveman did, when he crawled out of the mudd, was to make beer. And cavemen everywhere are still making beer...and drinking beer." - Jean Sheperd

ChshreCat

Recipes 

Yeah, if I had the room, I'd have gone right into kegging. I'm in a little apartment, so that wasn't an option for me yet so the TAD system is great for what I need right now. I got three 6-liter bottles with mine. I fill one from each batch and bottle the rest. So, I have the big 6-liter to put in the fridge once it's ready and have a little over a case of bottles for giving to friends and for aging. Plus it cuts down my bottling sessions now.

__________________
"Science + beer = good!"
-Adam Savage

Panther1911

Recipes 

When kegging do you prime it like bottles and let it sit for a while, just on a bigger scale?

TipsyDragon

Recipes 

Panther1911 ... carbonation works by dissolving co2 into the beer. those nice bubbles and head you like on your beer. that is the co2 coming out of suspension. the gas is coming out of suspension because the outside air pressure is less than the pressure the co2 is exerting on the liquid. if there is nothing holding it in, like a bottle, its just going to bubble away.

so the less sarcastic answer is. unless your going to keg you can not carbonate outside the bottle.