Bottling a Belgian

I'm listening to the Jamil Podcast right now on Belgian Tripels and he just talked about not bottling them in standard bottles because they can't handle the 3-4 volumes needed for the style.

I had no idea about this and I'm glad that I'm listening to this podcast. So what experiences have people had and what should I use to bottle??

I could keg but I would rather bottle so that I can age some and bottle condition. I have a bunch of the large swing top bottles. Would those be stronger and better to use?? They seem like a lot thicker glass.

What do you think?

Belgian bottles are specifically designed for this but the issue arrises with having to buy the corker, corks and wire hoods. I personally just carb to about 2.8 or so and haven't had problems in competitions for CO2.

I regularly carb to about 3.0 volumes using New Belgium bottles (which aren't exactly heavy duty compared to others). No problems at all in my experience.

I've always had capping issues with NB bottles. What is your secret? Do you have a floor capper?

Catch-22 said:

I've always had capping issues with NB bottles. What is your secret? Do you have a floor capper?

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I have a Colonna capper and have never had a problem. Before I got the Colonna I had an old school red wing capper and that one worked just fine, too.

I use 3.2 in the guiness 12oz bottle and never get a bottle bomb. I think they are strong bottle too.

So are there people here that have carbed to 3.0 volumes with fresh yeast and actually had bottle bombs??

My other brewing buddy said that he's bottled hundreds of beers carbed between
3-3.3 volumes in regular old bottles (eg. Sam Adams) and he's never had a problem.

I don't want bottle bombs obviously, but I also don't want to go spend money on bottles if I don't need to when I have hundreds of regular ones in my basement.

Are the larger swing top bottles stronger? I do have several of those and they seem like thicker glass.

I have a similar question. I just cleaned up 30 Ommegang bottles (mostly donated by friends) and I bought corks and cages and have a friend coming over to loan me the champagne corker.

I've had my Belgian Strong Dark in secondary for 6 weeks but don't know how much sugar to go for and/or if I should use fresh yeast.

Radical Brewing suggests bottling strong beers with 1/2 cup of sugar... but I'd hate to give away Christmas Belgian beers that were lightly carbonated.

and I have had bottle bombs (not exploding glass but geysering) when I bottled American barleywine with fresh yeast and 5 oz corn sugar (but I do realize now that I should've added 2.5 oz instead)...

I guess it's all about knowing if you've reached your FG, right?

leoglenwood said:

I have a similar question. I just cleaned up 30 Ommegang bottles (mostly donated by friends) and I bought corks and cages and have a friend coming over to loan me the champagne corker.

I've had my Belgian Strong Dark in secondary for 6 weeks but don't know how much sugar to go for and/or if I should use fresh yeast.

Radical Brewing suggests bottling strong beers with 1/2 cup of sugar... but I'd hate to give away Christmas Belgian beers that were lightly carbonated.

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First, measuring priming sugar by weight will give you much more accurate results than measuring by volume. Second, use a priming calculator like this one - priming calculator to determine the correct amount for your desired carbonation level.

I've bottled a couple batches at 3+ volumes of CO2 in standard bottles without issue. When my temp sensor fell out of my fermentation chamber and the temperature rose to over 110F, one of the bombers that was conditioning in there exploded and took out the one next to it. They were carbed to about 2.8 volumes.

And yes, I think the heavier walled swing top bottles are probably safer than regular bottles for highly carbed beers.

You will not have any issues. I bottle my hefe's all the time in whatever pry top bottles I have laying around and I carbonate to 3.3 to 3.5. just weight your corn sugar out and definitely use a calculator to figure it out.

marcelo said:

I use 3.2 in the guiness 12oz bottle and never get a bottle bomb. I think they are strong bottle too.

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+1 On thickness.

Plus they've got a darn sweet silhouette to them.

Lodovico said:

Are the larger swing top bottles stronger? I do have several of those and they seem like thicker glass.

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i came here to post this very same question. i was curious if i could take advantage of some liter EZ caps i already own or if i really need to start investing in some belgian bottles and a corker.