"Real Ale" in a Wine Bottle?

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Sky7

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I was feeling a little frisky the last time I was brewing, and decided to depart from my normal routine.

After primary, I decided to fill up a wine bottle (and then cork it!) with my beer, with the uneducated intention of making "cask ale", or "real ale".

So... 3 months have gone by, and it has cleared and settled nicely. But what exactly do I have here? I added nothing to carbonate it further than whatever lingering fermentation might have been going on after primary.

Obviously, this isn't in a "cask", although it is in a wine bottle. Is it simply a "bottle-conditioned" real ale?

It appears as though I satisfied the below, which comes from the cask homebrewing wiki. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Casks

The beer itself is a glorious 8% American Ale. I suspect that it will essentially be a flatter version of itself? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

"Natural Carbonation

The unfiltered, unpasteurised beer still contains live yeast, which continues conditioning the beer in the cask (known as 'secondary fermentation'); this process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavours to develop, resulting in a richer tasting drink with more character than standard keg ('brewery-conditioned') beers.

Real ale is always served without any extraneous gas, usually by manually pulling it up from the cellar with a handpump (also known as a 'beer engine'). This is the traditional way of brewing and serving beer; only a few decades ago did filtered, pasteurised, chilled beer served by gas become normal.

The only place in the world where cask-conditioned beer is still commonly available is Britain. "
 
Yes you pretty much have a real ale according to CAMRA. Obviously, it's not cask-conditioned because you bottled it.

For future reference you should use champagne (or beer) bottles if you're going to do this, even if you don't prime the bottles. Champagne bottles are designed to be pressurized, and wine bottles are not.


The key to getting consistent, good carbonation naturally is closely monitoring the fermentation process and packaging at the right time. And having a brewing process that produces the same starting and final gravities consistently.
 
If you bottled it after primary, it'll just be a flat beer. If it's not flat, then you aren't primarying for long enough. :cross:
 
Thanks for the responses. A couple of thoughts/questions:

As the wiki says, casks these days are steel. So, I presume that the naming distinction regarding "cask" ales likely doesn't rest on subtle overtones obtained from oak wood, but is perhaps a result of the quantity of beer being conditioned at once?

Secondly (for Dwarven), my sense is that it was pretty much done fermenting when I put it in the wine bottle. Are you implying that for true "real ale" I should have taken it out sooner?
 
Secondly (for Dwarven), my sense is that it was pretty much done fermenting when I put it in the wine bottle. Are you implying that for true "real ale" I should have taken it out sooner?

No, not at all. As remilard points out, you could have added sugar to it if you'd wanted and still had "real ale"- all that really matters is that it's on the yeast.

What I was saying is that if it wasn't flat or close to it, then you're racking from your fermenter before it's done and should let it go a while longer. :mug:
 
No, not at all. As remilard points out, you could have added sugar to it if you'd wanted and still had "real ale"- all that really matters is that it's on the yeast.

What I was saying is that if it wasn't flat or close to it, then you're racking from your fermenter before it's done and should let it go a while longer. :mug:

Huh? It's a pretty common practice to package when there's still a bit of fermentation (2-3 points) left to go so that the beer naturally carbonates.
 
Huh? It's a pretty common practice to package when there's still a bit of fermentation (2-3 points) left to go so that the beer naturally carbonates.

Commercially maybe, but you won't see advice like that very frequently among homebrewers. Which is what we are, after all.
 
SO I am kegging this weekend but will have a few gallons extra and was planning to put these in wine bottles. Hoe much sugar would you suggest for a wine bottle.
 
SO I am kegging this weekend but will have a few gallons extra and was planning to put these in wine bottles. Hoe much sugar would you suggest for a wine bottle.

None. Wine bottles (unless they're sparkling wine bottles) aren't designed to be pressurized. Putting sugar in could result in exploding bottles.
 
A standard wine bottle can take some pressure but the thing that will happen is you will most likely pop the cork out. There are some semi-sparkling wines that are bottled in standard wine bottles with regular corks. If you prime real low I think you'd be okay. Just keep them someplace safe incase one blows.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/wine-bottles-216062/
 
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