How commercial beer bottle?

Do they go through the same as our method, priming with sugar? When does the pasteurize process take place? Before shipping?

And, how do you think of Bud? It tastes like too much water to me and it is the reason I got into homebrew hobby Why it is so relatively popular?

Newbie,

Depends on the brewery. Big guys force carbonate the bottles because the beer has been filtered before filling the bottles. Even if they added priming sugar or unfermented wort, there would be no yeast in it to ferment. Then after bottling the beer is pasturized by quickly bringing the beer up to temperature and then chilling rapidly. Other breweries still filter their beer but add a little more yeast and unfermented wort to the bottle so it bottle conditions and carbonates naturally. Many microbrews are not pastuerized either.

brewsmith said:

Depends on the brewery. Big guys force carbonate the bottles because the beer has been filtered before filling the bottles. Even if they added priming sugar or unfermented wort, there would be no yeast in it to ferment. Then after bottling the beer is pasturized by quickly bringing the beer up to temperature and then chilling rapidly. Other breweries still filter their beer but add a little more yeast and unfermented wort to the bottle so it bottle conditions and carbonates naturally. Many microbrews are not pastuerized either.

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How do they force carbonate the bottles?

calman said:

How do they force carbonate the bottles?

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force carbonate in a steel canister (like a keg, but definitely much bigger) then move the beer into bottles under pressure (like a beer gun) -- purge with CO2 and cap.

Here is some data I found on this:

Some bottle condition by adding a predefined amount Kraeusen beer to the bottles (no problem since you have batches at various stages of fermentation at hand) (Tuckerman Bewing Company in North Conway, NH)

some partially carbonate the beer through controlled-pressure fermentation and finish off with some CO2 force carbonation. This is mostly a matter of economics for American brewers since the CO2 from the fermentation comes for free. (Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs, NC)

German brewers are not allowed to force carbonate with CO2 that has not been taken from the fermentation process (violation of the Reinheitsgebot), so most of them use a controlled pressure secondary fermentation to get the desired CO2 levels for their beer.

Kai

They claim that the beechwood aging they are so proud of is what carbonates their beer as well as aging.

"Anheuser-Busch is the only major brewer in the world that still uses the famous beechwood aging process to age and naturally carbonate its beers."

Straight from their website since I know there will lots of responses to this.

As far as popularity well everyone needs to drink plenty of water right. So why not get drunk too. The answer is tastebuds or lack thereof. Bud tastes like water bland and flavorless whereas a homebrew is exploding with flavor and complexity. And brainwashing I think too. However they do have a great marketing agency.



For a Hard-Earned Thirst, Homebrew.

I love complex brews, and micro brews, but I also love a nice Bud Light (I'm blaspheming...I know) on a hot summer day. It hits a certain spot that full bodied complex beers just don't hit on those hot days.

I love ALL beer...even the crappy stuff. Well...Milwaukee's Best is crap I guess. That stuff is poison, not beer.

I'll confess, I'm drinking a 40 of PBR right now. That's not because I don't like great beer, it's because I had 3$ of expendable income just now, and I'm running out of homebrews.

As far as a great beer to drink on a hot day, try drinking Pilsner Urquel, or Staropramen, or any number of German pilsners. Pilsners are definitely great beers for those hot days, and that's where a lot of the attraction to Bud, MGD, Miller Lite, etc. comes from. There are many, many better ones, but they're pretty expensive here in the states. It's not hot here, but my PBR is refreshing nonetheless.

on this note, I drank 2 coors light today (ya i know but they were free) and I noticed that they both tasted different, could have been because one was colder, not totaly sure but I noticed one was better tasting, id could taste hops and malt not just bitter water. anyone else had this experience and no it wasnt after 12 beers

On the subject of you drinking Bud Lite on a hot summer day, try some of the German pilseners or something from South America. I know it's not hombrew but they are better than Bud.

Lots of people drink bud light, etc because it is cheap and gets you drunk. Also less filling if you are going to be drinking all day.

sheep: Yeah I have noticed Coors light varying from can to can. Dunno why... If they were from 2 different cases, one could have come from CO and one from TN i believe.