So my wife is cursed with a habit of only drinking one type of beer, Framboise Lambic. It’s not a bad thing if you don’t mind paying $140 for a case of 700ml bottles. I just hate recycling these guys because I feel like they could be used for something. Anyone else familiar with these bottles? Figured I would reach out here before I bring one into my LHBS.
Do the bottles come with a crown or a cork? I still won’t know what to do with the bottles, but others will.
there are lot’s of framboise Lambics, most of the ones I’ve seen come in a 750 belgian bottle with a non-US standard cap diameter. I think you can get either a capper that handles that or even an adapter for whatever capper you have, then you have a great stash of heavy duty bottles for very high carbonation beers!
They probably also accept belgian style corks so you could also go that way, they make the plastic kind that you can push in (or bang in with a mallet) and wire down.
IME, the plastic corks do not quite fit Belgian bottles. The opening in the Belgian bottles is slightly larger and they are a loose fit. You can screw around and try to find some that fit, as there seems to be some variation in both the plastic corks and the bottles, but I’ve given up on plastic corks myself.
Yeah they have a cork and a cap. The cap is much bigger than the normal ones are. Didn’t really think about corking the bottles. That would actually work out wonderfully for a barley wine
Are they green bottles? If so, be sure to store any hopped beer you bottle them in in the dark. Green bottles don’t protect beer from light/skunking the same way brown bottles do.
I believe the Long Skirt 29mm Crowns will fit those bottle, but i cant be 100% Sure. Any HBS with a BSG account can get them for you, or you can find them online.
Are these the Lindemans framboise bottles? Those bottles will definitely accept a plastic champagne cork with a wire cage. They do not fit extremely tight so be careful about storing and transporting the bottles. I’ve used them a lot but I’ve never tried transporting them or laying them on their side. They will hold pressure (I have some that have been corked for over three years) and work fine if you treat the bottles gently.
They will also accept 29mm crowns, which might be the easiest and most surefire way to go. You can also cap any other 750ml bottles you get with the same crowns. Eventually I plan on getting a capper that fits the larger crowns and move away from the plastic corks but I still have a big supply of the plastic corks to get through.
You can get a 29mm “bell” to replace the standard 26mm bell on some cappers. Most of the big online homebrew shops sell the larger bell.