Bottle CO2 volume capacities

The great mystery of how many volumes of CO2 a bottle can handle is an annoying variable. Given how many different bottles there are there is no exact solution. However, some bottles can handle more than others and I figure the best way to know what bottles are junk and what bottles are worth risking pushing higher volumes in is by their weight. So, I compiled this list of bottle weights with the empties I have on hand. I'm also working on getting some actual numbers from manufacturers. In the meantime, if anyone has a good scale please PM me and I can edit this post to update.

Once constant so far is that manufacturers have warned that each subsequent bottling will weaken the bottles so it is advisable to track this and use bottles at lower and lower volumes as they get older.

375 ml bottles

Russian River 398 g - Rated to 4.0 volumes, maybe higher (but not advisable) according to Vinnie Cilurzo

500 ml bottles

Russian River weight unknown - Rated to 4.0 volumes according to Vinnie Cilurzo

12 ounce bottles

Deschutes 230 g (rated at 3 volumes and crown maxes at 150 psi)
New Belgium 198 g
Pacifico 220 g
Sam Adams 215 g
Sierra Nevada 200 g (no ratings given, stated one time use bottles that should be thrown away)

22 ounce bottles

Midnight Sun 372 g
Port Townsend 370 g
Stone 369 g

750ml bottles (Compare to Chateau St. Michelle Brut at 850 g)

Boulevard 661 g
Browerij Het Anker 592 g (Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw)
Brouwerij Timmermans 646 g (Bourgogne De Flandres)
Chimay 556 g
Corsendank 644 g
Liefmans 756 g (Goudenband)
Lindemans Gueuze 767 g
Lindemans Framboise 583 g
North Coast 569 g
Ommegang 569 g
Port Brewing 575 g
Russian River 569 g
Unibroue 567 g
Westmalle 656 g

Good info.

Good stuff. I have definitely broken a few NB bottles trying to cap them. I should get rid of all of them...

Most champagne-style bottles you get from a brewery/winery should be able to handle up to 12 volumes. However the champagne bottles you get at the homebrew store seem to be much thinner and I would hesitate to go more than 5 volumes in them.

What is the thinking behind the de-rating of bottles after each use?

I wanted to add that I weighed a 375ml champagne "split" in which many gueuzes are bottled. It came out to right around 450grams.

Almighty said:

What is the thinking behind the de-rating of bottles after each use?

Click to expand...

Liability concerns, provided that the bottle is in exactly the same condition as new I would think that it would hold exactly the same pressure with no issues. However any scratches in the bottle as it ages with create weak spots that could lead to failure at higher pressures.

I was curious if the reason for de-rating was practical for homebrewers. And it really isn't.

And the liability probably has to do with cracks that someone may not see and reuse a commercial bottle and then it breaks.

Thanks

Almighty said:

What is the thinking behind the de-rating of bottles after each use?

Click to expand...

The quality control folks at a few different breweries said a couple of things. First is stress cycles, you put glass under pressure, remove it, under pressure, remove it the glass becomes weaker every time. Second, they noted as have others on this thread that abuses such as getting scratched and hit causes weak points.

Bensiff said:

... First is stress cycles, you put glass under pressure, remove it, under
pressure, remove it the glass becomes weaker every time. Second, they
noted as have others on this thread that abuses such as getting scratched
and hit causes weak points.

Click to expand...

Do you suppose the stress cycles could cause long (up to 3 or 4 inches)
surface partial cracks I have been finding in about a quarter of my 750ml
bottles recently.

If you can imagine the bottle glass cross section magnified to be a foot
thick and made of jello, the cracks are like someone took a knife with
blade tilted at an angle to make long straight cuts that are about a fraction
of an inch deep.

What I'm worried about is what causes these partial fractures and whether
they create weak points in the bottles and increasing the likelihood of
bottle explosions. For now I'm just setting them aside and hopefully get
some answers. Anyone seen these type of cracks before and have an idea
aout them?

Cheers,
Tom.

They look like scratches to me, but could be cracks. You'd need better pictures for us to tell.

Those look like scratches to me as well; however, like smokinghole said, its kinda hard to tell from the picture. My thought is that if you think the bottle is compromised then recycle it, a bottle bomb can be pretty dangerous and on something like a 750ml you can't burp it to "safely" handle it.

smokinghole said:

They look like scratches to me, but could be cracks. You'd need better pictures for us to tell.

Click to expand...

I need a microscope-camera I think - did the best I could with an oldish
camera, very hard to get it to focus on the faults.

Anyways - putting on the CSI glasses - I guess some may well be scratches
but there are many that have a parabolic shape to them (like top-left of first
picture) that I can't see how they can be caused by scratching. Some of
the long ones seem to have a longitudinal flap along the fault (hence my
comment about them being like jello with an angled slice) that if you had a
small enough pin, could go in and flake it off. Whereas a scratch would just
be an open groove along the fault, if you know what I mean.

So I've clearly marked and segragated any bottles I find with this type of
fault and see if newly filled bottles without this fault do develop it eventually.
Guess I need to check if they were present when I bought from a bottle
recycling depot (when I need to buy more) or they arise from homebrew
use (I typically only prime to around 2.5 2.7 CO2 volumes). Be good if
there was a way to test how much these type of faults can weaken bottles
by.

Thanks guys, Tom.

Ok, a follow up to this - I think the flaking grooves may be caused by bumping
against something hard. Recently I was rinsing a bottle that I checked did not
have these grooves and it slipped and lightly struck the edge of a steel pot
after which these type of grooves appeared.

Anyways, I've adopted a more careful approach to handling these bottles
as well as looking at getting into using champagne bottles.

T.

So what's the highest anyone tried priming in a ommegang style bottle? I'm bottling an Orval style beer today and I don't have enough champagne bottles to finish my batch out. I think a few Grolsch bottles will serve me well considering the ratio of glass to volume is closer to 1 instead of .7 like the Ommegang style bottles.

smokinghole said:

So what's the highest anyone tried priming in a ommegang style bottle? I'm bottling an Orval style beer today and I don't have enough champagne bottles to finish my batch out. I think a few Grolsch bottles will serve me well considering the ratio of glass to volume is closer to 1 instead of .7 like the Ommegang style bottles.

Click to expand...

I'm also curious about the high end of CO2 volumes that folks have successfully achieved using these Belgian-style 750s.

And, does anyone have experience using the 1 Liter EZ Caps? I have a couple of cases of them I forgot about. They weigh in at 760 grams, for what its worth.