cowain
Well-Known Member
Ok, I have about 4 more weeks of the Belgian Strong Ale in secondary to figure everything out for my bottling plan. This beer is going to be the beer for my wedding in October.
The idea is to make a Chimay Gran Reserve type beer in champagne bottles with corks and all. I suppose there's lots of questions, so if anyone has done this type of bottling before, could you post as much as you can about your experience?
1) Will a simple handheld wine corker get the mushroom corks in the champagne bottles?
2) Has anyone found brown champagne bottles? All I can find is green.
3) Do these need to age on their side to keep the cork moist or can they age vertically? Why?
4) Do I need to soak the corks prior to bottling? I've seen a site that says not to for fear that either bacteria will grow in the cork or that the solution used will impart its flavor into the wine/beer.
The idea is to make a Chimay Gran Reserve type beer in champagne bottles with corks and all. I suppose there's lots of questions, so if anyone has done this type of bottling before, could you post as much as you can about your experience?
1) Will a simple handheld wine corker get the mushroom corks in the champagne bottles?
2) Has anyone found brown champagne bottles? All I can find is green.
3) Do these need to age on their side to keep the cork moist or can they age vertically? Why?
4) Do I need to soak the corks prior to bottling? I've seen a site that says not to for fear that either bacteria will grow in the cork or that the solution used will impart its flavor into the wine/beer.