10 votes
Accepted

Swing-top bottles leaking carbonation

Replace the seals. Buying 100 seals from eBay should cost you something like US$10. I also use swing-top bottles, and my protocol is to replace a seal immediately after opening a bottle that turned ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
9 votes

Life expectancy of swing-top bottles

It is a mechanical cap, as long as the mecanism and rubber is good, the bottle will be good. Changing the rubber seal is one way to expand the life of these bottles, however you should inspect the ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
7 votes

how do you add yeast during bottling stage and ensure it won't burst?

I can't imagine anyone suggesting bottling at a FG of 1.042 I would return them to the fermenter and allow fermintation to complete. Those are bottle bombs. Be careful. Many yeasts don't survive at ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
7 votes

Reduce sediment in bottle for IPA

You'll never remove the sediment at the bottom when bottle conditioning. 5-6mm is not a terribly large amount of sediment either. Here are a few methods that can reduce the sediment: Use a ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 411
7 votes
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Can I over-filter my beer?

If you are worried about the yeast getting through that bag, you have nothing to worry about. When we talk about sterile filtration, the generally accepted size of the filter is .45u (micron). 1000 ...
farmersteve's user avatar
  • 3,012
7 votes
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Carbonation process - Using the carboy

You do not want to do this. Carboys are not meant to hold pressure and will break. If you want clearer beer, aging it longer in a carboy and/or using something like gelatin or whirlfloc will greatly ...
farmersteve's user avatar
  • 3,012
6 votes

Best way to avoid stirring up trub while bottling/kegging from the primary?

Just becasue you don't use secondary doesn't mean you can't rack to a bottling bucket and bottle from that. That's what I do. So, to answer the question directly, the best way to bottle from a ...
Denny Conn's user avatar
  • 33.4k
6 votes

Can I store beer in wine bottles

I agree with JesseB1234 and Mr_road. I did it myself a few times and results may vary. I had one cork poping up out of 5 bottles. It is not ideal, but if you have no other option, here are a few ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
6 votes
Accepted

Filter paper pre bottling

Oi! No it would not be ok. You risk infecting and oxidising your beer. Just use one of {finings, cold crash, gelatine} or a combination of these to get all haze settled, then rack the clear beer from ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
6 votes
Accepted

How to over carbonate?

Bottle bombs are usually beers that are about 10 gravity points above terminal gravity for standard 12oz bottles, then hit TG in the bottles. So 1.020 SG when 1.010 is TG. For typical normal ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

Bottle Bombs or Paranoia

According to this calculator, adding 1.4oz of sugar to 2gal at 35°F is equivalent to adding 5.4oz at 68°F. At 35°F the disolved CO2 is around 1.61vol whereas at 68°F it is 0.86vol. In your case the ...
JeanMi's user avatar
  • 799
6 votes

How to avoid homebrew-cider to explode out of the bottle when opening?

The problem is that the cider is still under active fermentation - even if it does not look it. The yeast is consuming sugar, producing CO2, alcohol and flavours. The CO2 gas is over-pressurising ...
Kingsley's user avatar
  • 2,060
6 votes

Re-using Caps in new Batches

I never considered reusing caps, in my opinion, they probably have suffered some sort of flaw in their ability to reseal a bottle and be able to retain pressure. If you want to try a few caps after ...
Tony's user avatar
  • 502
6 votes

Life expectancy of swing-top bottles

If it's a quality Grolsch bottle, it will serve you for years. If it's a generic swing-top bottle from LHBS, don't expect much. Get a large pack of replacement seals off eBay and replace a seal on a ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
5 votes
Accepted

How to use priming sugar

Based upon what you said, namely that you only have the one container and it is currently filled with your cider, here are what I see for the pros/cons: Adding it directly to the bucket will give you ...
Dave's user avatar
  • 608
5 votes
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Oxidation during bottling

It really shouldn't be an issue for oxidation. I wouldn't worry about it. When racked properly only the surface area is exposed. At worse maybe the last couple bottles may have an issue. The beer is ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes

Bottling Bucket - really necessary?

Most of the equipment is not really necessary. It may just make it much easier. When you use a bottling bucket, you rack from fermenter to bottling bucket, leaving a layer of dead yeast cells and ...
Robert's user avatar
  • 1,266
5 votes
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PET Bottle shelf life

IMHO PET bottles will keep beer very well for up to 6 months. Beer can be kept longer than that but I have noticed that "fizzy drinks" PET bottles can lose pressure after a year or so. Apparently the ...
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,631
5 votes
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Is head space really necessary when bottling still mead?

Yes the head space is important. At the very least, you need the head space to cushion fluid volume expansion & contraction from temp change.
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes
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Sealing flip-top bottles with wax

Wax dip gives an added layer of protection and look great too. The most functional part of a wax dip is to prevent crimp caps from rust from environment. Especially for beverages that will age in the ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes

Foam is gone after fridging, Should not I fridge?

If your beer really is stale, that would mean that you have a problem with the caps on your bottles because of the low temperature, and that somehow your CO2 escapes and oxygen enters. However, at ...
chthon's user avatar
  • 3,655
5 votes
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Why are lambic and other sours/wilds bottled in green bottles?

There are very little hops in a lambic so it's much less susceptible to being light struck. They also tend to use aged hops and full duration additions. Basically there is very little alpha-acid if ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes

How to avoid homebrew-cider to explode out of the bottle when opening?

I think you need to wait for fermentation to stop before you bottle it, as co2 is being produced in the bottle and builds up the gas inside. Once fermentation has stopped you can filter it and you ...
Stuput's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes

what happens if the first fermentation hasn't ended and I go ahead and prime and bottle my beer?

Normally, when we are bottling we wait for fermentation to complete and then add a defined amount of sugar that (by calculation or experience) will result in the desired level of carbonation in the ...
Rob's user avatar
  • 386
5 votes
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Priming solution or add sugar to individual bottles?

You do have the answer in your question. When brewing my first kit, I put the sugar in each bottle and here is my experience: Have to measure sugar for each bottle, difficult and time consuming when ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
5 votes
Accepted

Is my final gravity too high for bottling?

In general, you can consider you fermentation completed when you get the same gravity reading for 3 days in a row. It is either completed or stuck (I won't go on the details here, but do a search on '...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
5 votes
Accepted

Can beer become oxidized in the bottle?

Yes- it can. Chasing down oxidation after you've covered the basics is hard. Oxidation is typically perceived as starting once the beer is fermented... but that's not entirely true. However the ...
rob's user avatar
  • 1,773
4 votes
Accepted

Best way to avoid stirring up trub while bottling/kegging from the primary?

Cold crash to help sediment and compact yeast. Safely tip the carboy 10-15° so you can maximize beer extraction at the end of racking (I use a couple of paperbacks). Do any movement or tipping of your ...
jsled's user avatar
  • 10.1k
4 votes
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Bottles lost pressure, can I rebottle?

Yes you can. Oxidation doesn't skunk beer, light does that. Oxidation gives a cardboard / wet paper aroma & taste. Oxidation can be minimized by using a funnel with a tube that reaches the ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Gently stir fermenter before bottling?

No, the alcohol is dispersed throughout the beer. Indeed, the entire thing is homogenous.
Denny Conn's user avatar
  • 33.4k

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