12oz vs. 24oz bottles

so I have noticed a bit of a phenonmenon with my beer, that is that when I bottle in a 24 oz bottle the beer does not carbonate any faster the but he flavors seem to mature quicker. I can not really wrap my my around anything that would cause this. As I see it whether it is 1 oz of liquid or 100 oz there is the same water to ingredients ratio. Anyone else notice this with their brew or have any ideas as to what causes this?

P.S. I am not wanting to do anything thing about this, its just an excuse to drink 24oz of beer at a time instead of 12.

I don't know the science of it, but the larger containers usually require less priming sugar. So if you are priming in the bottling bucket and not accounting for that if might influence your perceived maturation. If I was to naturally carb my keg I would use less sugar than bottling the same 5 gallons.

Just guessing on all that btw.

I seem to have things happen for me the opposite way. I always bottle my beer half in 12's and the other half in 22's. It seems the 22's take longer to be up to par.

I for one plan on picking up 2 cases of 22oz bottles before bottling my next batch. If it takes longer to carb it takes longer but it will be a much shorter bottling experience

I am a big fan of the 24oz bottles over the 12oz'ers. One reason is that its a more efficient use of space. When I store my bottles either because they are not in use or they are priming I use milk crates. One milk crate holds 25 12oz bottles resulting in a total 300 oz's of liquid where as the same milk crate will hold 16 24 oz bottles or 384 oz's of liquid. When space is limited bigger bottles are the way to go. Hopefully after my cross country migration I can convince the wife that we NEED draft beer in our lives on a dailt basis.

A larger volume sized bottle usually needs more time to carb AND condition. I have some pints, 22 oz bombers and other sizes that I often use, but since I enter contests I usually also do a sixer or two of standard 12 ouncers for entering. And inevitably the 12 ouncers are done at least a week faster than the larger bottles....some times two weeks ahead of time...

Also the rule of thumb is 3 weeks at 70 degrees for a normal grav 12 ounce bottle....to carb and condition....It takes longer for the yeasties to convert the larger volume in the bigger bottles to enough co2 in the headspace to be reabsorbed back into the solution...A ration I don't know how much...

Big Kahuna gives a good explanation here...

BigKahuna said:

Simple. It's the ration of contact area just like in a keg. The c02 will need to pressurize the head space (Which takes LESS TIME) in a bigger bottle (More Yeast and sugar, roughly the same head space) but then it has to force that c02 into solution through the same contact area...thus it takes longer.

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samc said:

I don't know the science of it, but the larger containers usually require less priming sugar. So if you are priming in the bottling bucket and not accounting for that if might influence your perceived maturation. If I was to naturally carb my keg I would use less sugar than bottling the same 5 gallons.

Just guessing on all that btw.

Click to expand...

Oh? Care to explain this? I have never seen any calculator that takes container size into account, from 12 ounce bottle to keg.....

samc said:

I don't know the science of it, but the larger containers usually require less priming sugar. So if you are priming in the bottling bucket and not accounting for that if might influence your perceived maturation. If I was to naturally carb my keg I would use less sugar than bottling the same 5 gallons.

Just guessing on all that btw.

Click to expand...

Really??? Where'd you get this from???? I've never heard of this, and that's not been my experience, you don't change the amount of sugar to suit the vessel....You are still aiming for the same volume of co2 in solution, regardless of whether or not it is in a 12, 16, 22, or larger container.

I'm bottling all my beers from the same bottling bucket, and just grabbing different sized bottles. And they all carb up to the same volume of co2 eventually.

In terms of a keg, you are still putting it on the gas, so some of the co2 forced into solution is still coming from the gas bottle.....

MrMeans said:

I am a big fan of the 24oz bottles over the 12oz'ers. One reason is that its a more efficient use of space. When I store my bottles either because they are not in use or they are priming I use milk crates. One milk crate holds 25 12oz bottles resulting in a total 300 oz's of liquid where as the same milk crate will hold 16 24 oz bottles or 384 oz's of liquid. When space is limited bigger bottles are the way to go. Hopefully after my cross country migration I can convince the wife that we NEED draft beer in our lives on a dailt basis.

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Are the 24oz bottles shorter than the 22oz bottles? If I put 22oz bottles in milk crates then I can no longer stack the crates as the 22oz bottles are too tall.

shelly_belly said:

Are the 24oz bottles shorter than the 22oz bottles? If I put 22oz bottles in milk crates then I can no longer stack the crates as the 22oz bottles are too tall.

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I have had no trouble stacking milk crates with the 24oz bottles. There is not much room between the top of the bottles and the bottom of the additional crate but there is a good 3/8" gap.

Revvy said:

Really??? Where'd you get this from???? I've never heard of this, and that's not been my experience, you don't change the amount of sugar to suit the vessel....You are still aiming for the same volume of co2 in solution, regardless of whether or not it is in a 12, 16, 22, or larger container.

I'm bottling all my beers from the same bottling bucket, and just grabbing different sized bottles. And they all carb up to the same volume of co2 eventually.

In terms of a keg, you are still putting it on the gas, so some of the co2 forced into solution is still coming from the gas bottle.....

Click to expand...

The oft quoted God of home brew states it on pages 321-322 of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" 3rd Edition. 1/3 of a cup for 5 gallons in a keg.

I've never done it, but then again I said I was just guessing.

samc said:

The oft quoted God of home brew states it on pages 321-322 of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" 3rd Edition. 1/3 of a cup for 5 gallons in a keg.

I've never done it, but then again I said I was just guessing.

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At the risk of blasphemy, the oft quoted god of homebrewing is often wrong. There things in that book that have been disproven through time and experience. Though it's a great primer, don't get me wrong.

samc said:

The oft quoted God of home brew states it on pages 321-322 of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" 3rd Edition. 1/3 of a cup for 5 gallons in a keg.

I've never done it, but then again I said I was just guessing.

Click to expand...

He also said that autloysis was inevitable, and JUST started using rice hulls in his mash 2 years ago. Even "gods" can get stuff wrong on occasion.

I've never needed to nor have I ever had an issue with my those bigger bottles carbing up any differently that the 12 ouncers I bottle from the same bulk primed batch. The only difference is that the bigger ones, as I said earlier, take maybe a week or more to carb up while the 12 ounces tend to be the 3 weeks@70ish normal grav ones take.