Bottle Conditioning a Big Belgian

[kjung]

Does anyone have any experience with bottle conditioning a Belgian Dark Strong (aka a Quadruple)?
I have a one that is in the secondary right now (at about 10 1/2% ABV), and I'm going to bottle condition for at least 3-6 months. It'll be in the secondary for a month by bottling time.
I read somewhere (I think it was BYO) that you should use champagne bottles for something like this, as regular beer bottles aren't strong enough to handle the pressure. I would REALLY like to avoid having to buy special bottles just for this, if possible.

 

[smokinghole]

The bottle will depend on how much carbonation you want your beer to have. If you want over 3 volumes you risk blown bottles with standard long necks. You probably won't have any bombs but the possibility exists. I carbed mine to 3.2volumes which seemed to work well for me. I had it in grolsch bottles, champagne bottles, and the taller belgian crowns. The shorter fat belgian bottles that Duvel and others come in are even stronger than the tall crown cap bottles.

 

[kjung]

Yeah, I'm shooting for about 3.2+ vols. The only bottles I have at present are standard 12 & 22 oz. beer bottles.

 

[smokinghole]

Start force feeding your woman sparking wine. Sure it's more expensive to buy bottles that way but you get a drunk woman in the end! I actually occasionally bring home sparking wine for my wife. She likes it and I use the bottles. It's a symbiotic relationship.