How to carbonate 20%+ ABV beer in bottle

Have a 14.5% RIS that is currently barrel aging. I wan to take 1 gallon and freeze concentrate it and expect over 20%. How would I go about carbing this in the bottle. I have no kegging equipment. I don't need alot of carbonation but I figured it needed some?

Maybe a champagne yeast?

Carbonater cap?

Good question! Try to find a yeast strain that is tolerant to those levels.

WL099 Super high gravity yeast claims up to 25% ABV but only if you step up your beer properly. Another issue is 099 would probably find some sugars that my other yeast couldn't get to so I think it would drop the gravity a few more points...that would make it hard to calculate and could get bottle bombs...unless I let it ferment in carboy first then added some priming sugar. I was really hoping there was some device that would let me force c02 directly into the bottle with some kind of airlock cap. That just got me thinking about something else...why don't they make growlers with automatic pressure relief valves in them.

Go get some dry ice. It's readily available and cheap. Siphon 2 liters of beer into an empty 2-liter pop bottle, filling it almost completely. Weigh out 7 grams of the dry ice. Get your cap ready, drop the dry ice into the bottle, slap the cap on quickly, shake the heck out of the 2-liter bottle until the dry ice has completely sublimed. You'll feel the pressure go up in the bottle almost immediately. (when you drop the dry ice in, it'll bubble vigorously, thus clearing the headspace of any Oxygen.)

INSTANT carbonation!

There's only one drawback to this method. I had a 2-liter bottle explode on me once. It cut my hand pretty deeply when the bottle fractured. If you try this, make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you can put the cap on quickly enough to be able to shake the bottle so that the dry ice doesn't sink to the bottom and freeze there. If that happens, it will make the plastic VERY brittle from the extremely cold temperature, and it could rupture. Not a pleasant thing, I assure you!

Wear gloves and eye protection! Also, I suggest ONLY using Pepsi-product bottles. Apparently, they're a bit stronger than other manufacturers'.

HonestJon said:

Go get some dry ice. It's readily available and cheap. Siphon 2 liters of beer into an empty 2-liter pop bottle, filling it almost completely. Weigh out 7 grams of the dry ice. Get your cap ready, drop the dry ice into the bottle, slap the cap on quickly, shake the heck out of the 2-liter bottle until the dry ice has completely sublimed. You'll feel the pressure go up in the bottle almost immediately. (when you drop the dry ice in, it'll bubble vigorously, thus clearing the headspace of any Oxygen.)

INSTANT carbonation!

There's only one drawback to this method. I had a 2-liter bottle explode on me once. It cut my hand pretty deeply when the bottle fractured. If you try this, make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you can put the cap on quickly enough to be able to shake the bottle so that the dry ice doesn't sink to the bottom and freeze there. If that happens, it will make the plastic VERY brittle from the extremely cold temperature, and it could rupture. Not a pleasant thing, I assure you!

Wear gloves and eye protection! Also, I suggest ONLY using Pepsi-product bottles. Apparently, they're a bit stronger than other manufacturers'.

Click to expand...

This can be extremely dangerous, and you could lose a hand or kill someone. No one should do this.

HonestJon said:

Go get some dry ice. It's readily available and cheap. Siphon 2 liters of beer into an empty 2-liter pop bottle, filling it almost completely. Weigh out 7 grams of the dry ice. Get your cap ready, drop the dry ice into the bottle, slap the cap on quickly, shake the heck out of the 2-liter bottle until the dry ice has completely sublimed. You'll feel the pressure go up in the bottle almost immediately. (when you drop the dry ice in, it'll bubble vigorously, thus clearing the headspace of any Oxygen.)

INSTANT carbonation!

There's only one drawback to this method. I had a 2-liter bottle explode on me once. It cut my hand pretty deeply when the bottle fractured. If you try this, make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you can put the cap on quickly enough to be able to shake the bottle so that the dry ice doesn't sink to the bottom and freeze there. If that happens, it will make the plastic VERY brittle from the extremely cold temperature, and it could rupture. Not a pleasant thing, I assure you!

Wear gloves and eye protection! Also, I suggest ONLY using Pepsi-product bottles. Apparently, they're a bit stronger than other manufacturers'.

Click to expand...

Beyond the obvious Retardedness of this, go get some dry ice and let it melt in a bucket. I wouldn't want the result in my beer.

strongarm said:

I was really hoping there was some device that would let me force c02 directly into the bottle with some kind of airlock cap.

Click to expand...

Carbonater cap. May not be what you're looking for, but it is basically exactly what you just defined. Go to any of the homebrew supply websites and type in carbonator cap.

Chandlerbang: It's not "retarded" at all. I've used dry ice to carbonate beer for years. You can get medical-grade dry ice, if you're worried about contamination. Using this method was extensively discussed in this thread:

>>> https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/using-2-liter-bottles-bottling-dry-ice-carbonation-325481/ <<<

Don't knock it before you try it!

nevermind

HonestJon said:

Go get some dry ice. It's readily available and cheap. Siphon 2 liters of beer into an empty 2-liter pop bottle, filling it almost completely. Weigh out 7 grams of the dry ice. Get your cap ready, drop the dry ice into the bottle, slap the cap on quickly, shake the heck out of the 2-liter bottle until the dry ice has completely sublimed. You'll feel the pressure go up in the bottle almost immediately. (when you drop the dry ice in, it'll bubble vigorously, thus clearing the headspace of any Oxygen.)

INSTANT carbonation!

There's only one drawback to this method. I had a 2-liter bottle explode on me once. It cut my hand pretty deeply when the bottle fractured. If you try this, make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you can put the cap on quickly enough to be able to shake the bottle so that the dry ice doesn't sink to the bottom and freeze there. If that happens, it will make the plastic VERY brittle from the extremely cold temperature, and it could rupture. Not a pleasant thing, I assure you!

Wear gloves and eye protection! Also, I suggest ONLY using Pepsi-product bottles. Apparently, they're a bit stronger than other manufacturers'.

Click to expand...

We used to do this on purpose as kids to blow up the bottles. Dont do this...not because of risk of injury(though possible), because WHEN it explodes your going to lose 2L of sweet beer. Its not the dry ice freezing the plastic that causes it to rupture....the excessive amount of built up pressure will literally stretch the plastic till BANG!!! Try it sometime it can be fun, just dont use your liquid gold.

ChandlerBang said:

Beyond the obvious Retardedness of this, go get some dry ice and let it melt in a bucket. I wouldn't want the result in my beer.

Click to expand...

If you let dry ice melt it sublimates leaving behind no liquid. Thats why its called "dry" ice.

KeyWestBrewing said:

If you let dry ice melt it sublimates leaving behind no liquid. Thats why its called "dry" ice.

Click to expand...

Correct. I didn't make that clear. It leaves no liquid but it will leave some black flecks of who knows what. Even the medical grade stuff. But to each their own.

KeyWestBrewing said:

We used to do this on purpose as kids to blow up the bottles. Dont do this...not because of risk of injury(though possible), because WHEN it explodes your going to lose 2L of sweet beer. Its not the dry ice freezing the plastic that causes it to rupture....the excessive amount of built up pressure will literally stretch the plastic till BANG!!! Try it sometime it can be fun, just dont use your liquid gold.

Click to expand...

Which is exactly why I wouldn't want to he holding it when it blows.

strumke said:

nevermind

Click to expand...

Good call.

HonestJon said:

Chandlerbang: It's not "retarded" at all. I've used dry ice to carbonate beer for years. You can get medical-grade dry ice, if you're worried about contamination. Using this method was extensively discussed in this thread:

>>> https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/using-2-liter-bottles-bottling-dry-ice-carbonation-325481/ <<<

Don't knock it before you try it!

Click to expand...

The part that I meant as retarded was the part where the bottle exploded cutting your hand "petty deeply" and that being an acceptable risk. Not the general theory.

"Its not the dry ice freezing the plastic that causes it to rupture...."

Dry ice is EXCEEDINGLY cold. It DOES make plastic far more brittle than it normally is. (The one that exploded on me was an off-brand {Citrus Drop, IIRC}, and it was one of those new-fangled bottles, too.) That resulting brittleness plus the pressure is what caused that bottle to blow. I'm completely convinced of that. That sort of thing has NEVER happened to me before, and I've bottled with dry ice and 2-liter bottles literally dozens of times. Like I said, just to be on the safe side, if you do decide to try this, wear some good leather gloves and a pair of safety glasses. Anyway, it's a workable solution for those who are brave enough to try it...

Also, as you shake the ever-loving heck out of the bottle, the dry ice goes into solution, thus reducing the pressure. As the pressure builds, while the dry ice is subliming, it goes into solution faster...

"...the excessive amount of built up pressure will literally stretch the plastic till BANG!!!"

These 2-liter bottles can take A LOT of pressure (well, the Pepsi product ones, anyway). Folks use them to make "bottle rockets" using compressed air and water....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_rocket

The Pepsi-product bottles apparently can take up to 100 PSI before rupturing...

Sorry if I highjacked the thread. It wasn't my intention at all...

"It leaves no liquid but it will leave some black flecks of who knows what. "

My bet would be that the black flecks are dust, dirt, lint, etc. from where the extreme cold of the dry ice condenses water vapor (and all that's in the air) from the air as it's subliming. I could be wrong.

We used to use plastic bottles(20 oz and 2 L) and combine water with dry ice. They didnt make rockets they would explode. Strong enough to blow up mail boxes. Im not saying carbing this way is impossible, but Murpheys Law will eventually happen.

KeyWestBrewing: How much dry ice did you put in them to make them explode? I only put about 7 grams or so for carbonation.

I've done this for years, and it works if properly executed. Caution is a must, though.

We werent weighing it, but a few pebbles that we would chip off a block.

7 grams is closer to one pebble than a few (dry ice is pretty dense stuff). Again, this works. I've done it for years and have had only one bottle fail in all that time.

I have 6 scrumpdeliicious gallons of a porter I brewed that's going to be bottled using dry ice and 2-liter bottles tomorrow or the next day. I'll let you know if I lose a hand or an eyeball!

Using glass bottles so probably won't be trying the dry ice method even though it is an interesting option I haven't thought of.