What to bottle condition wild brew in

[beansnbrews]

So I'm looking at embarking on my own sour brewing experience this upcoming spring (not this spring). As I'm getting prepped I was wondering what I should begin hoarding for bottling in. I read in Wild Brews most Belgian sour brewers condition in champagne bottles. That said would the sturdier cork and caged glass beer bottles in the 12 oz variety work as well? Would these stand up to having a wild brew bottle condition in them? (Assuming I don't do something stupid and over prime or blend in way too much of a young brew)

Also if I can use those smaller cork and cage style bottles do I need to get a special corker for these smaller bottles too?

Thanks guys I don't do any wine brewing so I'm kind of in the dark when it comes to corks and bottles and doing it myself.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

You mean the 375ml Vinny bottles that Russian river, crooked stave, lost Abbey and several others use? Those work just fine.

 

[dcHokie]

If you want to cork/cage different sized bottles, I'd highly recommend the Super Colonna Corker. Comes with a larger capping bell as well.

 

[beansnbrews]

Thanks for the input guys. That's really helpful, especially the Colonna Corker dcHokie. I was more thinking Troeg's La Grave bottles (I live in Hershey, PA so Troeg's are pretty easy to come by. It's only a 5 minute drive to the brewery)

 

[dcHokie]

Thanks for the input guys. That's really helpful, especially the Colonna Corker dcHokie. I was more thinking Troeg's La Grave bottles (I live in Hershey, PA so Troeg's are pretty easy to come by. It's only a 5 minute drive to the brewery)

Those LaGrave bottles are standard 375mL (used by Russian River, Lost Abbey, etc), they take the same size corks/cages as 750mL belgian bottles.

 

[40watt]

The nice thing about the Colonna is it's versatility.
Seems you can cap or cork just about anything with it.

 

[Calder]

You can use regular bottles for most sours.

Start the beer now so you are ready to bottle next spring.

 

[beansnbrews]

Excellent thanks guys. We're actually moving in a few weeks Calder so that's why I decided to put it off til next year. Starting back in the winter I brewed my last few brews and at this point have everything bottled. I didn't feel like putting any carboys onto the U-haul for a summertime 8 hour drive. (However my father-in-law just did with his carboys of wine though)

 

[sweetcell]

You can use regular bottles for most sours.

Start the beer now so you are ready to bottle next spring.

indeed, you can bottle sours like any other beer, assuming you've waited long enough for gravity to stabilize. waiting a year to bottle should get you to FG.

 

[Coff]

You can use regular bottles for most sours.

Start the beer now so you are ready to bottle next spring.

indeed, you can bottle sours like any other beer, assuming you've waited long enough for gravity to stabilize. waiting a year to bottle should get you to FG.

This. With the caveat of not going for +4.0vol of co2, probably much less than that actually for regular long necks.

 

[sweetcell]

yeah, i'd keep regular long-necks to under 3 vols, in fact i wouldn't do more than 2.5 just in case the bugs in the sour continue to work away.

i'm a high-pressure bottle hoarder, so i have enough around to always bottle in thick glass. i put all my sours in thick glass because i generally like them highly carbonated (3 vols or higher).