wine bottles?

Can I use old wine bottles for bottling beer? I do have a corker, but I'm not sure if they can handle the pressure or carbonation? Thoughts?

Nope. The corks will not even come close to handling the pressure.

Wasn't there an episode on BrewTV.com where they corked a beer?
One of the earlier ones?
I'll go check...

Yeah, they used corks and then caged them like a champagne bottle.

PanuccisPizza said:

Yeah, they used corks and then caged them like a champagne bottle.

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Sure, you can cork a champagne bottle because it has the rim for holding the wire. I assumed the OP meant regular wine bottles.

PanuccisPizza said:

Wasn't there an episode on BrewTV.com where they corked a beer?
One of the earlier ones?
I'll go check...

Click to expand...

PanuccisPizza said:

Yeah, they used corks and then caged them like a champagne bottle.

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More than likely they WERE champagne bottles or Belgian. Wine bottles also won't stand up to the pressures of carbonation. That's why you don't see champagne in the same bottles you see STILL wines in.

Makes sense.

There is wine with subtle carbonation that is bottled in regular wine bottles with regular corks, but it is not enough carb for beer, even a mild.

The term for the amount of carbonation is 'frizzante' and can otherwise be thought of as "spritzy". Think Italian Moscato d'Asti.

SankePankey said:

There is wine with subtle carbonation that is bottled in regular wine bottles with regular corks, but it is not enough carb for beer, even a mild.

The term for the amount of carbonation is 'frizzante' and can otherwise be thought of as "spritzy". Think Italian Moscato d'Asti.

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The corkage looks like it's wine bottle style but the bottles look thicker, almost like champagne bottles but that take normal corks.

Revvy said:

The corkage looks like it's wine bottle style but the bottles look thicker, almost like champagne bottles but that take normal corks.

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They really aren't all that much thicker if at all. I mean, I certainly have worked with wine bottles that are cheap glass and couldn't take anything, but bottles suitable for frizzante wine are not champagne bottles at all. Having said that, there are more highly carbonated Proseccos and Moscatos on the market that come in bottles with a cap or cork, but they are beyond the designation of 'frizzante' usually.

European laws dictate that fully sparkling wines are 3 atmospheres or more. Frizzante (IT) (a.k.a. Petillante (FR) or Spritzig (GR) is 1 to 2.5 atmospheres. I think a most Moscato's and such that come in regular wine bottles are closer to 1 than 2.5 , for sure. Carbonation level is not something usually reported on tech sheets by the winery, though. Not very often.

Some are using composite or plastic corks cause they offer a little more pressure than the natural cork- also with regular bottles.

Yeah the bottles of "semi-sparkling" wine I've seen are just plain wine bottles. I sort of figured they force carbonated in a keg and then bottle and cork from there.

Tell you guys what. When I bottle my next RIS it'll be low carbonation. I will pop some in a plain wine bottle and cork it. I'll see what happens. If the cork pops out no biggie. Maybe I'll set it up side down to put more pressure on the cork to see if the bottle blows...

smokinghole said:

I sort of figured they force carbonated in a keg and then bottle and cork from there.

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Called Charmat method (not in kegs, per se, but in bulk)... as opposed to Method Champenoise or bottle conditioned.

smokinghole said:

Tell you guys what. When I bottle my next RIS it'll be low carbonation. I will pop some in a plain wine bottle and cork it. I'll see what happens. If the cork pops out no biggie. Maybe I'll set it up side down to put more pressure on the cork to see if the bottle blows...

Click to expand...

I would try a screw cap bottle.