Brew in the bottle

[WanderingNunican]

Has anyone tried using a 1 liter glass bottle as a fermentation vessel and simply cap it early for natural carbonation? Chill, pour and enjoy…

yes, I’m talking about 1L test batches….


Seems like I could whip out a dozen different bews in no time with minimal equipment. Then I can brew 5 gallon batches of what I like the most.

Brewing 5 gallons at a time has me drinking like a fish so i can get to my next beer!!!

 

[Abhishek Dewan]

Yes, regularly make hard ginger lemonade in coke 1L PET bottles. I keep the cap lightly on top when fermentation is vigorous and after 4 days, tighten and burp them 4 times a day and finally close the top after 6 days or so. Works like a charm. Similarly, I do juice ciders regularly.

 

[Drewch]

I haven't tried it . . . but I've wondered the same thing many times. It is effectively very small batch cask conditioned ale...although CAMRA will send their hitmen out to get me for that comment

I have scaled my normal batch size down from 5 gallons to 4 liters --- which easily fits in a 2-gallon food-safe bucket for primary and into 8-10 bottles for conditioning.

Edit: If I were going to try it, I'd do PET bottles like Abhishek suggested.

 

[AlexKay]

I've made 12-oz batches in 22-oz mason jars with a hole on the lid to mount an airlock. Then bottled to transfer off the trub. I've also done a 1L batch in a 64-oz mason jar.

I BIAB with a hop sock in an asparagus steamer for small batches. (Tall, narrow pot means less boil-off.)

 

[hamachi]

Has anyone tried using a 1 liter glass bottle as a fermentation vessel and simply cap it early for natural carbonation? Chill, pour and enjoy…

Probably not a good idea with glass. Too big a risk of bottle bombs because you never know exactly where the FG will end up. If your estimate is off by a few points, BOOM! Or at the other extreme, if you reach terminal gravity sooner than expected, you end up with flat beer.

I agree with the others who suggested PET as a better alternative to glass.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

If you plan to make many of these over time, investing in some carbonator caps and spunding valves might make it more reliable. I have thought about giving this a try, but the cost starts to add up quite fast (though I do have one spunding valve and a couple carb caps around).

I also agree with the PET recommendation.

Brewing 5 gallons at a time has me drinking like a fish so i can get to my next beer!!!

You could also just mix in 1 gallon or 2 or 2.5 gallon batches. If you keg and only have room for one beer, I have a few of the 2.5 gallon Torpedo kegs and I really like that batch size. Bottling small batches is much easier than a full 5 gallon batch.

 

[mashpaddled]

I think your idea is fine as long as you let fermentation wind down and then add priming sugar to the bottle and cap. That way you avoid the risk that you blow up the bottles. Even when kegs are naturally carbonated in the process you suggest it is done with a spunding valve that allows you to control the pressure level so it doesn't overcarbonate.

 

[WanderingNunican]

I think your idea is fine as long as you let fermentation wind down and then add priming sugar to the bottle and cap. That way you avoid the risk that you blow up the bottles. Even when kegs are naturally carbonated in the process you suggest it is done with a spunding valve that allows you to control the pressure level so it doesn't overcarbonate.

that is exactly what i was thinking of doing. I also have some carb caps so I could carb in a 2 liter or 20oz if i wanted.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Probably not a good idea with glass. Too big a risk of bottle bombs because you never know exactly where the FG will end up. If your estimate is off by a few points, BOOM! Or at the other extreme, if you reach terminal gravity sooner than expected, you end up with flat beer.

I agree with the others who suggested PET as a better alternative to glass.

I believe flip-top bottles like Grolsch will self-vent if the pressure reaches dangerous levels. They also make it easy to 'burp off' a bit of pressure if you're unsure where its at.

 

[WanderingNunican]

Well, the idea of all that work for a few sips of beer pushed me into 1 gallon batches. I decided to use growlers as fermentation vessels and split my batch between two. For this batch I brewed “make america amber again” with wlp-008 east coast ale, and wyeast London ale 3. I will likely bottle and natural carb these.