I have a Saison that I will be brewing shortly and instead of taking up keg space, I’m thinking of packaging it in 750ml crown-cap bottles (2.5gal batch - approximately 12 bottles). For those that have used these bottles before, any tips or tricks?
When I bottle, I use a piece of tubing that reaches from fermenter spigot to the bottom of the bottle. No bottling bucket. I add sugar in the form of carbonation drops. For 750ml bottles, I plan on using 2 per bottle (as opposed to one for a typical 12oz bottle). For a Saison, this may leave me a bit short carbonation-wise. I could measure and add table sugar instead, though I’d prefer not to.
I also intend on using green bottles (for style points ). The bottles will remain in a box in a dark closet until pulled for refrigeration. I doubt the 12 bottles will last more than a few months.
I think it should work OK. I guess my only question is…are you absolutely sure you want to open and finish a 750 mL bottle at a time? This is really a personal preference question. My club did a barrel project with something in this size range (they might have been the 22 oz. bottles), and it was fine but only if you planned to share with someone. You have a fairly small batch, so I guess you’re not out anything either way…
Otherwise, I think this sounds like a fine enough plan. Do you have a sense of how many volumes of CO2 this should hit?
Well, 750ml is about 25oz. The Saison I intend to make should be around 6% so I don’t think it would be a big stretch to finish one myself. That said, I probably will end up sharing most of them.
It’s a guess, but I’d say 2 carbonation drops would get me just short of 3 volumes. Not ideal for a Saison, but not that far off. Again, it wouldn’t kill me to measure sugar for 12 bottles, but then again…it might. ;D
I think that would be too many and I’m not willing to risk it. 2-1/2 is probably best case. Maybe I’ll chop a few in half. Or just stick with two.
Which I suppose leads to another question. If I start to ferment a Saison in the mid 60’s and then raise the temp to the mid 70’s, then let it fall back to 70 or so…what temperature am I calculating my bottle sugar at? I would assume the highest temp, but maybe it should be more of an average?? This idea always seemed nebulous to me.
I do saisons & sours in 750s frequently just because I like the aesthetics of the presentation.
If you’re using actual champagne bottles, I’ve seen ratings as high as 7 volumes atm on those. So I wouldn’t worry about bottle bombs even with 3 carb drops. That said, I usually use two carb lozenges in a 750 bottle because I like my saisons a little less carbed than the style guide.
I’ve heard (I think it was from Denny) that you should use the highest temp.
Edit: Oh, and I fill them with regular bottling wand just like a 12oz except, you know, bigger. If your wand is one of the spring loaded ones and your bottles have a full punt, it can be a little fiddly keeping the wand centered on the high point of the punt to keep the beer flowing.
Edit 2: The bottles were rated to 7 atmospheres of pressure … I’m now trying to convert that to volumes.
With yours and Denny’s responses, I believe 2 tablets should get me right in the neighborhood of 3 volumes. Like you, I feel that is plenty good enough. I’m sure any 750ml champagne style bottle sold at a homebrew outlet can handle that.
When I bottle, I just use the valve on the bottom of the fermenter. Turn it on, fill bottle, turn it off. It can get a little tricky towards the end when I have to start tipping the fermenter since I haven’t as of yet Darwinized a third arm, but it’s otherwise very simple. And all I have to clean is a short piece of hose.
I believe one carb drop in a 12oz bottle gets to around 2 vol. They’re designed to carb up beers to typical volumes. Doubling the beer and drops should produce the same carbonation, not more. Between a warmer fermentation peak and a typically more carbonated style, I would personally consider using more than two drops per 750.
Hopefully you’ll be using a bench capper. Lots of bottles, even ones that beer came in, aren’t compatible with butterfly type cappers. If you plan on using a butterfly capper, make sure the bottom of the ridge the capper holds on to is the same distance from the top of your bottles as it is on bottles you’ve been capping successfully.
Part of it goes to the assumption that 1 tablet will give me 2 volumes in 12 oz. I need to dig into the brand of tablets I have and see if I can figure out exactly how much sugar they contain. Beer is getting brewed tomorrow and I still have 2 weeks to make a decision. To be continued.
If a question remains concerning the drops, why not just eliminate the variable and dose each bottle with a measured amount of sugar? There are several online calculators that will give you the dosing rate for whatever liquid and carbonation volume you’re looking for. Corn sugar dissolves so easily that shouldn’t be a concern. This approach seems to take the guesswork out of it IMO.
Since I have the drops and they are far easier to use, I would just prefer using them.
But… If I’m not satisfied that either 2 or 3 tablets is the correct dose (I won’t be cutting them in half) then I will certainly just use sugar.
Edit….
Well, I researched and weighed my drops, did the math and then using both More Beer’s and Brewer’s Friend’s calculators, i found that 2 drops will work just fine. I should be in the 3-3.5 vol range, given all the uncertainties in fermentation temperature, exact weight of each and every drop, and the exact number of ml I’ll be bottling. Good enough for me to leave the measuring spoons in the drawer.
2 carbonation drops in 750ml bottles worked just fine. I got a wonderful, pillowy head and some great lacing. Nice fizz throughout. A small dry hop of Citra sent this Lemon Farmhouse to another level. I’m quite flushed.
). The bottles will remain in a box in a dark closet until pulled for refrigeration. I doubt the 12 bottles will last more than a few months.
