Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
Will there be a difference in carbonation from bottle conditioning?
16 or 22 ounce bottles vs 12 Oz for bottling
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AkTom
Well-Known Member
Not in my experience. I have even bottled in 2 liter bottles. Same, same.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Only difference is the amount of priming sugar, obviously, since the volume of beer is greater. I bottle my one gallon test batches in ~7 x 500 mL flip-tops.
Special Hops
Well-Known Member
Minimal if at all. Haven't bottle in years. But back when I did, I always preferred to bottle into bombers. Didn't notice an impact.
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
Yes there will be. Theoretically you need to use less priming sugar. The reason for this that even though the beer to sugar solution ratio will be proportionally equivalent per oz of volume of beer, the headspace left in all the bottles regardless of their size will be equivalent (example 12oz and 22oz bottles will have the same headspace volume). Because of this, bigger sized bottles have a greater proportional amount of priming sugar to headspace and have an increased level of carbonation.
What? So your saying if I want to bottle my 5 gallon batch and have it 2.5 volumes and it calls for 4.5 oz of priming sugar I should use less then what the calculator calls for if I'm using a bigger bottle then 12oz? The calculator I use doesnt have a box for bottle sizes.
All due respect to @Dgallo I think you can disregard any theoretical difference. Obviously that only applies if you are adding the priming sugar to the beer before putting the beer into bottles. If you are using carbonation drops or domino dots or otherwise individually dosing the bottles the amounts will be different.
The variables that matter for determining priming sugar in every calculator I have seen are:
The size of bottles you are using does not appear in typical priming sugar calculators.
The variables that matter for determining priming sugar in every calculator I have seen are:
- Volume of the beer being primed
- Type of priming sugar used
- Highest temperature the beer was held at for any length of time following end of fermentation
- Carbonation level desired
The size of bottles you are using does not appear in typical priming sugar calculators.
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
The calculators may not calculate for that. Think about it this way (I’m using simple numbers to make it clearer) say you have a 12 oz bottle and a 22oz bottle. Each fluid oz of liquid has proportionally equal amount of priming sugar to beer volumes regardless of the size of a bottle. However if you fill each bottle properly, both bottles regardless of size will have 1 oz of headspace volume. So for the smaller bottle it’s 1:12 and for the bigger it’s 1:22. The bigger volume has more actual sugar since there is more volume of liquid m but it has the same head space as the smaller bottle, so it will have a higher level of carb than it.
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
Try this as an experiment then. Fill a 12 oz bottle to the bottom of the neck and then fill another 12oz bottle properly. Each beer will have an proportionally equal amount of sugar per fl oz but they will now have disproportionally amount of headspace(same thing happening in the 12oz vs 22oz ) wait 3 weeks and then do a side by side. The one with more proportional headspace will be less carbed than the one with less proportional headspace.
madscientist451
Well-Known Member
Ok, but will the difference be noticable? Are we talking the difference is 2.6 vol instead of 2.5?
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
It was noticeable for me when I was bottling. I would batch prime before filling bottles and bottled multiple of each size 16,22, and 32oz swing top bottles every batch. Wasn’t much difference between the 16 oz and 22oz. But there were very noticeable differences between 16 to 32 and even 22 to 32 oz. so the greater the difference between the two bottle sizes, the greater the impact is
What if the headspace was the same in the 12oz bottle as a 22oz ? The bigger bottle will be higher carb because more sugar produced more co2 ?
Hence not filling up all the way will cause less carbonation due to the co2 having more area to fill in headspace
Hence not filling up all the way will cause less carbonation due to the co2 having more area to fill in headspace
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
That’s what the issue is. They have the same headspace amounts but different volumes. You would need they to have proportionally the same volume of headspace for them to truly have the same carb level
Dgallo
Instagram: bantam_brews
That's crazy . I never even thought about that . Its science for sure . Interesting thread guys .
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Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the responses. I was thinking of getting some bigger bottles for my next brew for 2 reasons, I usually like more than 12oz of beer at a time but don’t always want 2 bottles and speeding bottling. Right now I am using extract kits and plan to for at least the next 4 to 5 brews since I’m jut starting out.
coonmanx
Well-Known Member
I have always used a mix of various bottles. The Fosters bottles are like Grolsch with the flip top but brown instead of green. I never used green bottles. Something about them that reminds me of a certain animal. LOL. I have used clear bottles but they are always stored out of the light. Had some bigger Newcastle Brown bottles but apparently now they are using brown bottles. Oh well. I also used 1 and 1/4 C. of light dry malt extract for priming in place of the corn sugar. Why even put that stuff in your beer, even if it is just a little bit. Now I am kegging and priming my kegs with 5/8 cup of the same light extract.
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Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
So you leave about an inch in a 12 Oz. How much for 22? I plan to follow kit instructions exactly if possible
coonmanx
Well-Known Member
No idea. I simply used a bottle filler and filled until the beer came out over the top of the bottle. I also used the bottle filler without the spring because it fills faster. I put the bottle in some sort of small pan to catch anything that overflows. I may waste a small amount of beer that way but it is no big deal.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Alternately, use a bottle filler as is, and try to fill until the liquid is just at the rim (not overflowing). Remove the bottle filler, and there you go. It leaves just the right amount of space. If you leave a little more space by filling slightly more conservatively, that's fine too.
coonmanx
Well-Known Member
I don't do bottles anymore but when I did I simply let it overflow only the slightest amount. Either way you will be fine. It's not super critical. Just depends on how you want to do it and with some practice you will know.
Man, I used to have so many bottles... I always rinsed them out immediately and stored them upside down in a cardboard box covered with newspaper. That way they would be fairly clean when I had to go back and resanitize all of them. I do not miss that at all. I still have a couple of boxes of bottles, mainly bigger ones with flip tops but a few 12 ozers as well.
Bigger the bottle= less overall amount of bottles to clean, store, sanitize, fill, etc.
This to me is the #1 reason to use bombers!!
Neat science up above about carbing sugar, but i bet anybody bottling with a bucket and or wand has other variables that affect it more.
Bombers (22 ounce) are basically 2 beers. So like 50% less work cleaning.
Thicker glass too- they can sometimes survive a fall better than a 12 ounce.
Plus.... you can have "one beer" and it's all good.... or share with a friend if you need to drive. +1 to the comment on swing tops, but i personally hate drinking beer thats been open a few hours.
This to me is the #1 reason to use bombers!!
Neat science up above about carbing sugar, but i bet anybody bottling with a bucket and or wand has other variables that affect it more.
Bombers (22 ounce) are basically 2 beers. So like 50% less work cleaning.
Thicker glass too- they can sometimes survive a fall better than a 12 ounce.
Plus.... you can have "one beer" and it's all good.... or share with a friend if you need to drive. +1 to the comment on swing tops, but i personally hate drinking beer thats been open a few hours.
