2 Liter Bottling Questions

[mykrausenhurts]

Ok so I am doing my first batch of beer this weekend and am starting to gather some information for the future bottling phase. I am wanting to bottle my hefeweizen in 2 liter bottles due to the cost and my infrequent consumption of the beer.

Please tell me if I am planning to do something wrong here. I plan to get club soda in 2 liter bottles and then empty them. I will be sanitizing the bottles and original caps fully and then priming them with about 1.5 teaspoons of corn sugar. I will put the hefeweizen in, squeeze out all remaining air and then just screw on the same original lid. I will then place the bottles in a dark place to store. Is there a problem storing these bottles in my cabinet refrigerated for several months (no more than 6)?

As I understand these bottles should stay carbonated and then when I want to drink one I just should throw them into my refrigerator to chill before opening. I believe that I need to drink them in one sitting as they will lose their carbonation. How soon after opening do I need to consume them before they are noticeably flat?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mike-teslia]

dont reuse the caps most homebrew suppliers have new pet caps but they need to be the old style 2l bottles not the new ones like what coke uses because they wont seal

instead of adding your priming sugar directly to each bottle look up a carbonation calculator (i use the one on beer smith) and add that amount of sugar to a pot with some water and boil it and add to bottling bucket and stir gently it will provde a much more even carbonation to the beer and prevent bottle bombs other than that the rest of your method is sound

 

[ba-brewer]

I would be curious to hear how your beer turns out. I have been thinking about using 2litre soda bottles for doing mini cask/real beers with them.

It seems as long you have the caps properly sealed they should hold carbonation. You might need to swirl the yeast back into suspension after a few months if you want a cloudy hefeweizen or just drink them crystalweizen style. I would think beer would seem or appear to loose its carbonation faster than soda as it would have a lower starting carbonation level compared to soda. Careful pouring and keeping them cold once opening might help hold carbonation.


If you are going to bottle the whole batch I would do as mike said and prime the whole batch at once. If you are only doing a few and have a accurate scale you can measure a per bottle amount of sugar and add it to the bottles. I have done this many time without trouble, just be careful filling so it does not over flow as that might compromise the actually amount of sugar left to provide carbonation. You can also use carbonation drops if you dont have a accurate scale.

 

[z-bob]

I use 1 liter pop bottles all the time, with the original caps. Two C&H sugar cubes per bottle is about the right amount for priming, and they are premeasured.

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Honestly, not sure about your LHBS but mine carries multiple sizes of bottle (even swing tops) that would be as cheap or moreso then buying 2L bottles of pop or seltzer. Might wanna check that out.

 

[mike-teslia]

in regards to the real ale/ mini cask it is as close to getting cask ale without having a cask or modifying a corny keg dip tube

if you want to have cask ale through a beer engine type apparatus check this out it dose work i have tryed it [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWDgQqD38iA[/ame]

 

[mike-teslia]

the reason that i used plastic 2L bottles when i was bottling was because they were readily available in my normal recycling and the dont break like glass will if dropped or bumped and its always nice to slowly unscrew the top as opposed to opening a pry off cap or flip top and having the bottle go off like old faithful in the kitchen although that makes for a rather eventful night of drinking

 

[brew_darrymore]

Ok so I am doing my first batch of beer this weekend and am starting to gather some information for the future bottling phase. I am wanting to bottle my hefeweizen in 2 liter bottles due to the cost and my infrequent consumption of the beer.

Please tell me if I am planning to do something wrong here. I plan to get club soda in 2 liter bottles and then empty them. I will be sanitizing the bottles and original caps fully and then priming them with about 1.5 teaspoons of corn sugar.

I have also used 2L pop bottles and reused the original caps. No problem at all.

However, I just ran an online priming sugar calculator and came up with 13 grams of corn sugar per 2L bottle to get 2.5 CO2 volume. I think a teaspoon of sugar is 4-4.5 grams, so you may be underpriming just using 1.5 teaspoons per bottle. Double check your math. I think you need to use 3 teaspoons.

I will put the hefeweizen in, squeeze out all remaining air and then just screw on the same original lid. I will then place the bottles in a dark place to store. Is there a problem storing these bottles in my cabinet refrigerated for several months (no more than 6)?

I do the same - fill the bottle, squeeze the air. Keep them warm for 2-3 weeks until carbonation is done. I keep mine at room temperature, 68-74F for a few weeks. You can then move them to your refrigerated cabinet.

As I understand these bottles should stay carbonated and then when I want to drink one I just should throw them into my refrigerator to chill before opening. I believe that I need to drink them in one sitting as they will lose their carbonation. How soon after opening do I need to consume them before they are noticeably flat?

Once you open a 2L bottle and re-cap it, it will stay fairly carbonated for a few more days. The lower the level of beer in the bottle, the flatter the beer will get. You can drink half the bottle, and then the other half in a few days without losing much of the carbonation.

 

[mykrausenhurts]

I have also used 2L pop bottles and reused the original caps. No problem at all.

However, I just ran an online priming sugar calculator and came up with 13 grams of corn sugar per 2L bottle to get 2.5 CO2 volume. I think a teaspoon of sugar is 4-4.5 grams, so you may be underpriming just using 1.5 teaspoons per bottle. Double check your math. I think you need to use 3 teaspoons.







I do the same - fill the bottle, squeeze the air. Keep them warm for 2-3 weeks until carbonation is done. I keep mine at room temperature, 68-74F for a few weeks. You can then move them to your refrigerated cabinet.






Once you open a 2L bottle and re-cap it, it will stay fairly carbonated for a few more days. The lower the level of beer in the bottle, the flatter the beer will get. You can drink half the bottle, and then the other half in a few days without losing much of the carbonation.

Thanks so much. You saved me a significant amount of time and money. Hopefully my first batch turns out ok and I can move on to see if bottleing goes ok.