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It would be great if I didn't have to ruin a bottle of beer by opening it to test to see if it carbonated. Is there any way to tell?

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had this problem myself once. Bought crappy bottles with grolsch style caps and some of them leaked. It would be great to be able to figure out if a particular bottle had leaked so I could recarbonate it and exchange the cap to something better. – Laserallan Dec 13 '10 at 1:08
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Ah the famous Schroedinger's Cap question :) – Tim Holt Dec 17 '10 at 2:27

5 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

A time test is your best bet.

Bottle carbonation should be pretty mechanical unless you're experimenting with conditioning yeasts. If you're not doing anything fancy with the carbonation, it should be safe to assume that your beer is done carbonating after two weeks.

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yeah, but I don't want to wait that long... – CLJ Dec 12 '10 at 23:53
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@CLJ -- then homebrewing might not be the best hobby for you; patience is key – STW Dec 12 '10 at 23:54
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@CLJ- Start kegging if you can't wait for bottle conditioning. – brewchez Dec 13 '10 at 12:25
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@CLJ: brew more. Then when you're waiting for one batch to carb up you can drink your older batches. They key is to keep yourself waist deep in delicious beer! – JackSmith Dec 13 '10 at 13:36
up vote 10 down vote

No.
If you are that dire for things to happen quickly fill one plastic bottle each time you bottle. It will be firm once the beer is carbed. You can simply re-use 16-20oz soda bottles for this, or buy plastic beer bottles with screw on caps.

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I had no clue that it was possible just to use plastic soda bottles. That is a good idea. My local home brew store does not carry plastic bottles, so this a good way to go. I'll definitely try this. – CLJ Dec 13 '10 at 21:45
@CLJ: It really isn't an option for ALL of your homebrew. Everything I've read has said to avoid plastic as much as possible, let alone for the bottling/conditioning process. This is for two reasons: (1) plastic tends to scratch, leaving places for unwanted microbes to live and survive your sanitizing step, (2) the slow ramp up of pressure would likely cause the bottles to explode. My initial feeling is that the bottles would simply be impossible to sanitize the the degree required for an unspoiled beer, thus the "fill one" bottle statement. – EDWF Dec 15 '10 at 17:27
brewchez may correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the point of the suggestion to fill one plastic bottle is to treat that bottle only as a gauge of carbonation, and to throw away the contents once you are satisfied that the batch is carbonated. – Ryan Dec 20 '10 at 1:27
up vote 2 down vote

I usually wait a couple weeks then look for trub in the bottom of the bottle. If it's there, the yeast finished the job.

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Wait a couple weeks - yes. But sediment at the bottom of the bottle only indicates that yeast have fallen out of suspension, and doesn't necessarily say anything about the carbonation. An uncarbonated bottle could have trub, and vice-versa. – Brandon Dec 13 '10 at 21:34
However, no trub means you aren't bottle conditioning and should be able to know explicitly how much CO2 you put in. :) – EDWF Dec 15 '10 at 17:33
up vote 2 down vote

I often open one after a few days, and then I'll often open one every day or two after that. I find it interesting to see how it changes in the 2-3 weeks while it's carbonating. How many bottles are in the batch? Is it a big deal if you lose a few before they were completely ready?

Another thing you can do is determine the carbonation level roughly by the noise and feel of removing the cap. If it seems under-carbonated, just immediately put on a new cap. That bottle will end up slightly less carbonated than it would have been if you'd left it alone, but the difference will be tiny.

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I'm doing 5 gallon batches, so loosing one is not a big deal, but if I could prevent it, I would. – CLJ Dec 13 '10 at 21:43
up vote 0 down vote

When I brew, I usually will do a number of mini bottles. Like the OP, I'm not one for patience. :) This allows me to have test bottles with minimal waste.

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