Bottling a belgian in a regular beer bottle?

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eddie884

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Can non-Belgian beer bottles handle the pressure of a Belgian Ale? While I have a few champagne and Belgian bottles, I don't have enough for my 5 gallon batch. My dubbel will have 2.6 volumes of CO2 and will be bottle conditioned with fresh yeast.
 
2.6 volumes doesn't seem that much to me. I see 5 ounces of priming sugar in many other recipes that should put you in the same range.
 
I think that's fine. I remember reading somewhere that typical beer bottles can handle upwards of 3 volumes (3.2?). They can definitely handle 2.5 volumes since that's what the average homebrewer does, so I don't think 0.1 more volume will make it explode.
 
chimay comes in regular bottles and caps.

A lot of Belgian beers and other highly carbonated commercial beer come in bottles smaller than the 750 ml and with caps, but they're not "regular". They're rated for higher pressure.
 
Although it may not be scientific, last night I weighed a Chimay bottle vs a Lambic bottle of the same volume and the Chimay bottle was just over half the weight (9oz vs 16oz) so there was a big difference. I'm sure there are design differences beyond bottle thickness but that has to be a major component. Forgot to weigh a regular homebrew bottle but I'm betting the Chimay is no heavier than other 11.2 oz Euro bottles. I'll try to remember to check tonight when I get home but I'm not sure what I have in 11.2oz that isn't Belgian...
 
I bottled root beer a few months back in plastic soda bottles and in German .5L bottles. I know this is ill-advised but I kept them in a rubbermaid bomb shelter and deployed due diligence safety gear. *

The pressure was eventually so great that that soda bottle bottoms bowed out (so they rocked when standing up) but none of the .5L failed.




FM
* I tried this because when I started in the 80s there wern't no steenking "don't bottle in glass" warnings and I didn't blow up then.
 
A lot of Belgian beers and other highly carbonated commercial beer come in bottles smaller than the 750 ml and with caps, but they're not "regular". They're rated for higher pressure.

didnt realize that. they dont feel any difference between the bottles. good info
 
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