A year ago I brewed a lambic inspired beer. I am looking to bottle it (havent bottled in 2 years at this point, not looking forward to that again!), and was wondering what I should expect the residual CO2 to be when calculating out my priming sugar additions. I am assuming that it should be close to zero after sitting for a year, when I tasted it yesterday it certainly was flat. I guess the only twist is that I just added 6 pounds fruit puree yesterday to the beer. Fermentation has not taken off yet but I assume it will soon. I plan to let it sit for about two months before I check the gravity again (and taste the beer) to see if it is ready to bottle. Will the fermentation of the fruit bring me back to the levels of residual CO2 that I would expect after a normal primary fermentation, or should I expect a lower amount? I know I will be carbing on the higher end to begin with to stick with the style, I just really want to avoid bottle bombs and gushers after putting all this time and work into this beer.
Under what conditions will it be sitting for those two months? Mainly, what kind of container and airlock (if any)?
It is still in the primary fermentor (6 gallon better bottle). Probably 5.5 or so gallons in there after the fruit addition and the yeast cake, I will get a more accurate volume measurement when I get ready to bottle. It will have an airlock on it while the fruit ferments, it has had an airlock on it the entire length of fermentation/conditioning.
Okay, with an a airlock (i.e. a way for the pressure to reach equilibrium), I'd say that your beer should pretty much reach equilibrium with the atmosphere after 2 months (so it should be safe to use standard priming calculations). Just for kicks, here's a volumes by temperature chart (assumes sea level)...
To build off of this question, does anyone know how many volumes of CO2 I can bottle at using a corked 750ml bottle, similar to Cantillon or Fantome (just cork + cap, no cage)? They seem to have pretty strong carbonation so I am thinking if I get the correct sized corks that I should be fine. I am considering bottling about half of this in 750ml Champagne style bottles to age a few and maybe actually put a label on (some fancy shit to do in my down time during the winter) and the other half in smaller bottles for more short term consumption.
champagne is bottled at about 11 vols. but those bottles will have a cage. I have used champagne bottles for hard cider, the problem is the cork will pop in the summer. the bottle can take it, any pressure you realistically use. do not underestimate the utility of a cage, its not just for show. and champagne corks are mushroom shape which is not easily accomplished with a typical bench corker. I have considered using one cork size bigger to see if it helps or even if its possible. bottles with the punt, the dimple at the bottom, will withstand a boatload of pressure. consider placing your bottles in a cold location after secondary bottle fermentation is complete. my basement temps are low to mid 60s in summer, and that is the only time a cork will ever pop. anecdotal, but hopefully useful. Cheers.
Thanks for the info/experience. Do you need a certain type of corker to use champagne corks? From the minimal reading I have been able to do on this so far, it looks as if I would need a separate one (different than a wine corker). I was willing to buy a wine one as I am going to try my hand at making some wine and I have already done some mead which I am not opposed to putting in wine bottles. I just dont think I could justify another corker only for sours. If I can use a wine corker somehow for champagne corks, then I am not opposed to going to cork and cage route at all.
yeah, I am in the same boat. can't justify buying a champagne corker for a few cider bottles each year. I just use wine corks that fit the opening and hope for the best. one solution might be to use over size 750 ml Belgian beer bottle. some of these use a cork and a cap (like le chouffe I think?) the cap is a size or two larger than the standard US crown. you can get a bottle capper with changeable cups to fit various crown caps. then cork and cap. I don't know the sizes required, but that data should be easy enough. also, champagne bottles are very nice. but there are some heavy duty 750 beer bottles around. the old Ommegang and Duvel black label bottles for example are still in service from time to time in my brewery. a 750 is decent sized, doesn't take a whole lot to bottle with. Cheers.
Do you have a feel for the carb level you are shooting for? For Christmas gifts I corked and caged 32 Belgians at 3.1 volumes: Nothing tricky here, just recycled old Chimay/StBernardus/Ommengang bottles, bottled conditioned at 3.1 and at that level not even sure a cage is required. I have opened some Liefmans sours that I estimate were in the 3.5-4.0 range . . . I would have no qualms attempting that level with my old bottles, corks, and cages. I used a Colonna Capper which is an entry level capper. It's okay, wasted about 10 corks before I got the hang of it, but that's par for me. The Colonna also does 26/29mm caps and I believe wine corks (not looked into that). Remember, beer corks are different than wine corks but not difficult to find. Search and you can find a video of this unit in operation. For practical considerations most of my gifts were 4-packs of 375ml bottles. The big boy (750) is mighty impressive, but the little guy makes more sense for its smaller portion and who doesn't like a 4-pack? Edit: La Chouffe uses a 29mm cap-only on their 750s. The only cap-over-cork I've seen is 3 Monts, and their cork is completely recessed, requires a wine screw to open. Don't be afraid to fiddle around with cages, not particularly difficult.
I was looking at something like this one: http://www.love2brew.com/750mL-Champagne-Bottles-Green-p/btl037.htm It can take a cork and a cap (hopefully sort of like Cantillon/Fantome). My hope would be that the cap can act like a cage in holding that cork in. Do you think that idea holds any merit, or am I just wasting time/cork since those bottles can simply be capped?
I am looking in the 3.0-3.5 range. What is the difference between the corks? Most of the homebrew shop sites I go to dont seem to show a difference. Ill take a look for the video when I get home. Thanks for the heads up. Awesome looking bottles btw!
Nope. Just more work. I use one of these (club owned): http://morebeer.com/products/italian-floor-corker.html?site_id=5
Beer corks are straight . . . exactly like a wine cork (except they are a different diameter). Just about all suppliers have them in inventory. The 375/750ml bottles take the same beer cork. When you set them, the mushroom effect is created by having the enclosed portion compressed. The upper portion (5/8") stays the original size. Get an old Belgian bottle that has been corked and study the heavy duty lip (ridge) under the opening. This is where the base of the cage holds on to keep the cork in place. Nothing really tricky here and if you are 3.5 volumes this is a piece of cake. Obviously do some experimenting with cheap beer or club soda before you put your good stuff at risk. So far none of my corked bottles have "leaked" (touch wood ). Oh yeah, it's six twists on the cage wire to be authentic. Veel Succes . . . Bonne Chance Edit (again): My unit is a Colonna "Capper/Corker" . . . (they make a capper-only) and according to NB it does wine bottles.
Just that it's more effort to compress the bigger corks. I used Belgian corks from morebeer in punted champagne 750s last batch
I may be taking a similar route with my bottling. Were they a real pain in the ass to get into the bottle? Did any bottles wind up breaking during the process?
No bottles were broken, but I did shred quite a few corks in the process. Practice a couple times on empty or water filled bottles. I wish I had! I did ~13 gal and by the end I still wasn't totally happy with the depth I was driving corks. Next year maybe I'll get it right. They've all come out so far, but most have needed a corkscrew to persuade 'em.
