Bottling Sour Beers

This probably should be in the general beer section, but I thought I might get more knowledgeable input in this forum. Some questions about using bottles:

- I have a number of Jolly Pumpkin bottles. I've not tried to use them yet. Do they take normal bottles caps, and will standard cappers work. Since the bottle gets bigger below the cap, I'm thinking there may be a problem.

- Do the small Duvel and Chimay type bottles take higher pressures than regular bottles, and do they take standard caps?

- Large Belgian bottles (and champagne bottles) needing corks and cages. Cages are re-usable, are corks? What are the best corks to use. Anything to know about the difference between Belgian bottles and Champagne bottles. I'm starting to collect a lot of these bottles and would like to use them for high carbonation beers, but want to know what I am getting in to.

Calder said:

- Do the small Duvel and Chimay type bottles take higher pressures than regular bottles, and do they take standard caps?

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They take higher pressure since they are thicker glass. The smaller 11 oz bottles take regular caps. I think the larger Chimay bottles are corked and don't take caps, but I haven't bought one in awhile.

Calder said:

- Large Belgian bottles (and champagne bottles) needing corks and cages. Cages are re-usable, are corks? What are the best corks to use.

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I wouldn't reuse cages. There is a lot of stress on the metal in twisting and untwisting them. Plastic corks are re-useable, but I wouldn't reuse other corks.

Calder said:

Anything to know about the difference between Belgian bottles and Champagne bottles. I'm starting to collect a lot of these bottles and would like to use them for high carbonation beers, but want to know what I am getting in to.

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A couple of differences - champagne bottles are typically green, which isn't as good for beer. I've seen some belgian beer bottles that are brown, but are shaped just like champagne bottles. For those the only difference is color. In either case you can cork/cage or cap, but some will take 29mm caps instead of they typical 26mm size. For belgian bottles that are sort of straight with a thick neck (like Lost Abbey bottles) those can't be capped.

edit: double post

I have found plastic corks normally fit in the big Belgian bottles, but every once in a while one doesn't create a good seal and you end up with flat beer. I have used them in regular champagne bottles with no problem.

If you buy champagne bottles from a HBS they typically are thinner glass but will take the normal bottle cap without needing to use a smaller cap -- like most European bottles do -- or a larger cap -- like most champagne bottles. Plastic corks do not fit in that kind of bottle.

If you have the smaller Belgian bottles they will take greater pressure, although I am unsure how high they go. Probably up to 4-5 volumes.

Ive used jolly pumpkin bottles without a problem.

nofootbreak said:

Ive used jolly pumpkin bottles without a problem.

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ditto. The JP bottles are great, but I don't think you can use the wing-style Emily capper. I recall needing to use a bench capper because they are more bulbous just below the rim (that's what she said)

You will likely need a bench capper for the crown cap belgian bottles as used by JP. You can also fit a cork and cage on there if I'm not mistaken. I believe I have done that in the recent past with no problems.

The chimay and duvel bottles will certainly take higher pressures. Just weigh the bottles they have much more glass compared to standard longnecks. They take standard 26mm caps. In fact I have only had one beer ever that came in a long neck beer bottle with 29mm caps. It was some sort of German beer I think. It seems most beers around the world get 26mm caps.

Champagne bottles whether green or brown are fine for beer. You can likely cap them. As mentioned some take 26mm caps and some take 29mm caps. You can also easily cork/cage them. The belgian bottles that Chimay and Ommegang use I call bullnose bottles. Also as said they only take cages and corks. They take the larger 25.5mm corks where most champagne bottles can take the 23.5mm corks. I bought a ton of 25.5mm corks and use them interchangeably between my bullnose bottles and my champagne bottles. I have zero reservations about bottling in green bottles because I don't keep my beer stored in sunlight. I keep my beer boxed up in a closet or in the fridge. The green/brown debate is valid for store shelves but I don't think it holds much importance in my dark closet.

A red emily capper WILL work if you use the reverse the metal sheet that holds the neck to the 29mm side. I know this is hard to imagine.... but the part of the capper that holds the neck.... can be reversed! Pull it out with needlenose pliers and swap it.

If you want to use 29mm caps you need a larger bell. But a lot of US champange style bottles take 26mm caps but the neck is as large as the european bottles. If you don't do this you can shatter the neck.

I've used my emily capper for JP bottles but it's a pain. Even with the metal piece reversed the shape of the jp neck makes getting a grip difficult. A bench capper would be much easier.

The capper works great for champagne bottles though.

Wahoo said:

Pull it out with needlenose pliers and swap it.

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HAH! I always used a screwdriver from the back to force the plate out, and always thought there had to be an easier way. Needle-nose pliers make way too much sense.

DFH 750 ml bottles can be recapped.

Do not forget Orval bottles.... They deff can hold high pressure. Also the Sierra 30th anniv/ Life& Limb bottles that are corked are almost identical to JP bottles.

Schafly 750mL bottles can be recapped with standard caps as well

No prob whatsoever capping the JP bottles with a red winged capper. I just did 10 yesterday. Just go slow and it works perfect everytime.

No prob whatsoever capping the JP bottles with a red winged capper. I just did 10 yesterday. Just go slow and it works perfect everytime.

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Agreed, I bottle w/ JP bottles and haven't had a capping issue.

Just wanted to reiterate that champagne bottles and Belgian bottles take different size corks. I used the plastic champagne corks to bottle a sour beer and discovered that they were much to small for the Belgian bottles I had been stockpiling. They fit fine in the few champagne bottles I had.

They do but if you use corks you can just buy the larger sized 25.5mm corks for the Ommegang-style bottles and bottle in both champagne and belgian bottles. If you buy only 23.5mm you won't be able to bottle in the Ommegang-style bottles. The champagne bottles are tighter but not to the point that I can't get the cork out. Plus I only tend to bottle my 3ish volume and higher beers in the heavier bottles. The carbonation will greatly assist in cork removal.