The Pappers Technique and PET

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Timmyg316

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Hi all,

I was directed here from the general techniques of beer making in my quest to make a purely amazing honey flavored black lager. I have done several things to make the flavour stand out, but nothing gives it the honey oomph I want. Then I got this idea, what if I add extra honey to the beer at the bottling process, more than enough to carb the beer then kill off the yeast when carbonation is right? My original idea was to use cold temperatures, but others suggest this may not be good and that you cider guys use heat to do essentially the same thing (The Pappers Technique).

What I came here to ask is if the technique is safe to used on plastic PET bottles? I did some poking around online and found that PET melts at 250C which is hotter than the pasteurization calls for. I am guessing as long as I have some insulation at the bottom of the put (like a rag) I should have any meltdowns and get the same effect?
 
I would,just add a half pound or so of honey malt. The flavor is, you guessed it, honey! It doesn't ferment out to dryness like actual honey will. I used a pound inn a honey wheat, and it was definitely I too much, but with your more substantial grain bill, a pound or maybe a little less may be good.
 
As mentioned, I'm already doing a lot for the flavor including using honey malt. I'm just here to know about pasturizing PET bottles. Has anyone tried it? I heard a theory that the soft plastic combined with the increased pressure in the bottle makes the bottles bulge, but no one seems to have actually tried this.
 
I wouldn't do it personally, PET may melt (ie becomes liquid) at 250 but I'd wager that heating it to the necessary temp to pasteurize would be enough to weaken the plastic to the point of failure.
 
Tried it and. Ended up with a horribly mutated bottle. Still didn't fail, but it ended up with a round bottom....
 
Tried it and. Ended up with a horribly mutated bottle. Still didn't fail, but it ended up with a round bottom....

same here. tried it once. it grew and swelled with the pressure, half melted, disgusting, hideous, warty, convoluted. smelled very plasticy afterwards.
in other words, i'd steer clear of that strategy
 
I tried it today with some other beer I had just bottled. The bottle bulged a bit, but not so bad it couldn't stand or look like a bottle anymore or be used again. The beer, which I chilled in the fridge stayed carbonated and tasted fine with no plastic smell. Still not sure if I want to do this in PETs or buy glass bottles and risk explosions.
 
I wouldn't do it. The bottles may "melt" at 250 degrees, but that is probably the temperature that it will liquify. The plastic will start to soften long before it gets to melting point, and the pressure from the liquid inside the bottles will not help at all.

Not to mention that the plastic "may" leave an unpleasent smell or taste if it starts to melt/distort.

Long story short, if you wouldn't do it with a wine bottle, I probably wouldn't do it with plastic. It mightn't explode, but there are other possible problems.

All said, give it a go if you want, you might get lucky. There's nothing to lose but your brew.
 
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