So I am getting back into brewing and I'm wanting to go to larger batches because, well, my beer seems to disappear. (My friends drink it...)
Everything is good except that bottling is getting to be a pain. Storing, washing, sanitizing, rinsing, filling. I also make wine and I've noticed that its much faster to bottle wine compared to beer, mainly due to the size of the container.
I've kegged before. I have mixed feelings about it. While on one hand its much more convenient at bottling time, they have their drawbacks. First of all, you pretty much need a dedicated fridge for storing them. And taking a keg somewhere and serving it is a pain.
I'm beginning to think that storing carbonated and maybe non carbonated beverages in 2 and 3L plastic bottles might be ideal for everything except esthetics. Who wants to drink beer from a 2L pop bottle ? On the other hand when one primes with corn sugar you never drink from the bottle either - its always poured into a glass. So what is the difference ?
And while we are at it, one could set up a small fridge with taps and feed them from 2 and 3 L pop bottles. In such a situation one doesn't see the "transportation" container anyway. Imagine having 6 or 8 different brews on tap from a small fridge !
I'm thinking that one could rack all the finished product into 2 and 3L pop bottles. Clear, green, whatever is needed. I've built pop bottle caps that have a shraeder valve in them. Just like filling up a car tire. After bottling, one could pressurize each bottle with CO2 to carbonate it. Much easier than counter pressure bottling ! After the CO2 has been absorbed, one could change caps to a regular bottle cap.
At serving time, one could either pour directly from the bottle if its going to be consumed quickly or swap on a serving cap that has a pickup line and pressure line. Store it in a fridge, connect it to a tap, wala, beer on tap.
For serving away from home, one could easily take a bottle to wherever one is going. One 2L bottle is the same as a six pack. If one wanted to get fancy, one could put taps on a small cooler, throw in 2,3,6... bottles, throw in some ice and wala a tailgate party tap fridge.
I know people are going to say that the beer will oxidize but I don't think that plastic is nearly as porous as people think.
Am I wrong ? Has anyone stored beer or wine in a pop bottle for a long time ?
Everything is good except that bottling is getting to be a pain. Storing, washing, sanitizing, rinsing, filling. I also make wine and I've noticed that its much faster to bottle wine compared to beer, mainly due to the size of the container.
I've kegged before. I have mixed feelings about it. While on one hand its much more convenient at bottling time, they have their drawbacks. First of all, you pretty much need a dedicated fridge for storing them. And taking a keg somewhere and serving it is a pain.
I'm beginning to think that storing carbonated and maybe non carbonated beverages in 2 and 3L plastic bottles might be ideal for everything except esthetics. Who wants to drink beer from a 2L pop bottle ? On the other hand when one primes with corn sugar you never drink from the bottle either - its always poured into a glass. So what is the difference ?
And while we are at it, one could set up a small fridge with taps and feed them from 2 and 3 L pop bottles. In such a situation one doesn't see the "transportation" container anyway. Imagine having 6 or 8 different brews on tap from a small fridge !
I'm thinking that one could rack all the finished product into 2 and 3L pop bottles. Clear, green, whatever is needed. I've built pop bottle caps that have a shraeder valve in them. Just like filling up a car tire. After bottling, one could pressurize each bottle with CO2 to carbonate it. Much easier than counter pressure bottling ! After the CO2 has been absorbed, one could change caps to a regular bottle cap.
At serving time, one could either pour directly from the bottle if its going to be consumed quickly or swap on a serving cap that has a pickup line and pressure line. Store it in a fridge, connect it to a tap, wala, beer on tap.
For serving away from home, one could easily take a bottle to wherever one is going. One 2L bottle is the same as a six pack. If one wanted to get fancy, one could put taps on a small cooler, throw in 2,3,6... bottles, throw in some ice and wala a tailgate party tap fridge.
I know people are going to say that the beer will oxidize but I don't think that plastic is nearly as porous as people think.
Am I wrong ? Has anyone stored beer or wine in a pop bottle for a long time ?