Plastic bottles

I heard many people say how wonderful it is to use plastic bottle as you can know when its ready... but how? I just tried, been sitting in 20*C for 2 days now and cant notice the different, maybe very slightly but still.

I did fill right to the top, less than 1cm air inside, should I have left more air space? Or should I have slightly squeezed the bottle before sealing?

To use plastic bottles for what?

For bottling you wouldn't notice anything after only two days, of course.

And for fermenting you wouldn't fill to the top, of course.

So I'm a bit confused.

Carbonation will take 2-3 weeks in most cases, possibly more for higher gravity beers. Plastic bottles allow you to feel the amount of pressure in the bottle, nothing else. And you should leave headspace, 1-2 inches in a glass bottle. Around that same amount for a plastic bottle, depending on the shape of the neck.

How much priming sugar did you add, and what is your batch size?

ahh sorry guess i didnt give enough info. I'm bottling beer and cider, in .5, 1 and 2.5 litre bottles. The last beer kit I got said "leave the bottles in a warm place for 2 days, then in a cool place for 2 weeks until beer is clear" but it didnt say how warm, or how cool. I assumed 2 days at fermentation temperature then 2 weeks in the fridge?

I'm glad i asked on here though, might have ruined my beer otherwise! I used 1 teaspoon for the cider, and planning to use half tsp for the ale. So how should I get them to carbonate? My room is 22*C, my fridge is around 5*C.

22C is fine. for carbing & conditioning,3 weeks at 70F here is the norm. Longer for bigger beers,also for bigger containers. 1/2tsp isn't going to be enough for a 2.5L bottle. Using a bottling wand would've left the right head space in any size bottle by volume displacement. Bulk priming would elliminate guess work as to how much to prime each bottle with.
Not to mention,going too cheap just makes your job harder when it doesn't need to be.

I think the "plastic lets you tell when it's carbonated" is a really stupid "advantage" because first of all, it's not really a mystery...it's gonna take 2-3 weeks at least. What's the rush? Manage your pipeline better.

Second of all, just because the bottle is firm, doesn't mean the CO2 in the headspace has actually absorbed into the beer. The pressure is expected to spike to a high value then actually go down as the CO2 absorbs into the beer. So feeling if the bottles are hard tells you nothing, except that your beer is carbonating; but guess what--if you put sugar in it, it tends to do that.

And third, bottled beer is seldom at it's best the instant it becomes carbonated anyway. I like to let bottle-carbonated beer age for at least a month or two before judging it. 3 months is better. Unless it's a wheat beer or other fast recipe.

I bottled a few batches in plastic soda bottles when I had a big pipeline bubble and severe bottle shortage. Plastic soda bottles work great for beer with the following limitations:

If they held cola or root beer, the flavor will leech into your beer (I confirmed this). Some people say that bleach can get rid of the taste, but to me it's not worth it the effort. I never noticed any taste-leeching from Sprite bottles, but just because I can't taste it, I still think it's there so it's the principle of the thing.

Also, the beer loses carbonation eventually. I found a stray bottle that was probably at least 9 months old and it was pretty much flat.

Other than that, I love them because they are much lighter, easier to cap, and don't break.

That last couple lines is the other thing about using PET bottles. Even Cooper's says on their forums that their PET bottles are good for about 8 months before o2 leaching gets it,or they start going flat.
And the screw on caps need to be ungodly tight to seal well. so after filling & caping the PET bottles,go back & crank'em again. you'll get about another 1/4 turn on average in my experiences.
The co2 in the head space puts pressure on the liquid. Since water can't be compressed,the bottle gets harder.

Ahh crap I was well off... I bottled a large amount of cider to be carbonated and drank by this weekend ready to reuse the bottles for my beer on monday haha....

Why does my beer kit say 2 days in the warm and then 2 weeks in the "cool" then? What does it mean by that?

No idea. 2 days will definitely not carbonate beer if bottle conditioning. It's not a bad idea to store them in the fridge for a bit before drinking, but that also depends on the style (for beer, if more hop aroma is desired, drink fresher).

Noz03 said:

Why does my beer kit say 2 days in the warm and then 2 weeks in the "cool" then? What does it mean by that?

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Well, that explains why you were expecting to see some results in two days. Sorry if I was rude.

Don't know why they said that unless they were afraid you were going to stick them under a radiator or in a shed that gets to be in the mid- 30s C.

Hmm, maybe they meant a noticeably warm place (higher than average room temperature) for the first 2 days to unequivicably "kick off" the carbonation process and then to a "cool" (average room temperature) for the rest. But I'm just guessing. (what do the experienced folks say; could 2 days in the high 20s C substitute for a week in the low 20s C for the start of carbonation?)

Still, warm and cool are relative terms and it said "cool", not "cold" so no to the refridgerator (and 30 degree sheds). [For the carbonation period, that is; a definite yes to the fridge for a post-carbonation pre-consumption conditioning period.]

3 weeks at 70F (about 21C) is the norm for carbonating & conditioning 12oz bottles of beer. I say just find a spot that's 21-22C & leave them there for 3 weeks covered to keep the light out.

I'd also like to point out that re-using plastic bottles is horrible for any reason is horrible for your health. Whether you're refilling it with beer, water, or whatever. There is definitely harmful stuff being leaked out over time, which ends up in your body.

True,if you're using store bought water bottles & the like. Plastic soda bottles less so. PET bottles for beer are safe.

You can also tell that there are off-flavors when the water warms up in reused plastic bottles. I can even taste off-flavors when reusing BPA free cups. I try to stick to glass (or paper) whenever possible. I get my milk, water, juice, and my beer that way so I'm set.

This is speculation, but I think there's a link between cancer and people who drink and eat out of a lot of plastic, especially recycled plastic and poor grades of plastic.

I have 45 of the Cooper's PET bottles I haven't used in a while. I save them just in case I need some bottles. The rest of the couple hundred bottles are 12oz brown glass.

+ 1 I can attest that caps not tightly crewed on will cause you to loose co2 and result in flat beer. I found that 2tsb of corn sugar per liter works out well. I like corn sugar (usually labeled as priming sugar at your LHBS) because it dissolves quickly and completely.

I know the standard is '3 weeks at 70F and if it isn't carbonated then, ask questions'... but I guess I can understand a 2 day warm and 2 week cold. I mean you put 1/2 tsp of sugar in 16oz of beer (ok 16.9)... How long does our beer take to go from OG to FG? 3 or 4 days? And that is a move of like 30+points, in the carbonation, it is generall thought to be insignifigant amount to bother with an AVB variation. So by the end of 2 days I can see that all the sugar is eaten. Now from other posts on carbonation, there is talk about letting the CO2 get into the beer (again, this doesn't make sense to me, but since the experience/epseirimentation backs this up.... - one bows to collected wisdom until experince proves it different).... So then keeping it in a cooler place alowing the CO2 to get disovled into the beer/preventing gushers kinda makes sense.

As for plastic, I like 1 plastic bottle during, and I've had them hard in 1 week - leading to perhaps back to the 'give it at least 3 weeks before you ask quesitons' doesn't mean it takes 3 weeks to carbonate, but could, so RDWHAHB... er CB (because the homebrew is still in the uncarbed bottle). I've found that at 1 week I can sometimes drink the beer with what I think is proper carbonation - I admit that I might not have proper carb, but it is yummy to me, and the rest of you aren't sampling so no problem.

OP, I think my plastic standard has been average of atleast 4 days. I can't think of one done sooner than that.

Beer will def not carb in two days,least of all in a 2.5L plastic jug. Irregardless of temp,since the same rules of fermentation as in primary do not apply to bottled beer,save for the temp getting to low to support the yeasts' metabolism. Mine take the better part of three weeks to get near the carb level I've primed to. Sometimes less,sometimes more. Each beer is different. I've had pale ales carb in 11 days flat,but conditioning (of the flavors/aromas) take an average of a week longer to meld.

unionrdr said:

Beer will def not carb in two days,...

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I don't think *anyone* was saying that.

Btw how about cider? Sorry I know this thread was in the beer forum but is cider the same speed/method to carb?