Plastic bottles

[Journeyman]

15 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

Um... stouts at 35 - 38 PSI? Is beer gas that different from CO2?

[BlackSands]

2 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Um... stouts at 35 - 38 PSI? Is beer gas that different from CO2?

Yes...   mostly nitrogen, with some CO2.  Used for pouring those nice creamy Guinness-like heads. 

Edited June 30, 2020 by BlackSands

[Malter White]

On 6/22/2020 at 4:22 PM, thebeerpig said:

Sometime ago a mate of mine who had taken up home brewing asked me if I wanted all of his Coopers pet bottles as he was moving entirely to glass. Reckoned he was consistently pouring the odd pet bottle that was flat or nearly flat in each brew he had bottled with them. I took them off his hands thinking he may not have been tightening the lids properly as the lids looked to be in good condition. I’ve been reading on the forum that others were having the same problem so I thought I would mark his bottles, and bottle 6 of them at a time, along with my bottles in case his actually were a bit dodgy. I did a brew along with 6 of his and took all the bottles out of secondary yesterday. All the bottles were nice and tight, except for one of the marked ones, which felt squishy. I opened it up to see if I could spot a cause and found the bottle had a hard to spot moulding flaw in the bottles smooth sealing surface that was letting the gas escape.

Put the bottle upside down on my printer’s scanner to get a picture of the flaw. If anyone is still have trouble with flat pet’s it may be worth checking the tops of their bottles in case the flaw is not a one off.

I recently had a soft PET bottle. So I reprimed it with sugar and used a new lid and left it a few days. It was soft again. I inspected the bottle more closely and discovered a little nick, as in your photo. So far it's the only one I've detected but it could explain the odd soft bottle I've experienced.

[Boozadog]

On 6/7/2020 at 8:52 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

1 teaspoon in a 750 mL bottle sound like much. What is muscavado? Never heard of it. 

These fancy little sugars I brought some the other day.

was going to ask if anyone has ever used them the muscovado says (malases, bittersweet toffee robust notes) I was thinking they might darken up a beer about if it was added to the boil in place of say

(like the midnight mosaic amber recipe ) 

calls for 100g of midnight wheat etc mainly for colouring id say 

I looked for it have to buy 1kg I'm not much of a stout,dark ale drinker 

So 1kg would last me forever lol.

[Lab Cat]

6 hours ago, Boozadog said:

was going to ask if anyone has ever used them the muscovado says (malases, bittersweet toffee robust notes) I was thinking they might darken up a beer about if it was added to the boil in place of say

I used raw Molasses in a bitter. Never again. Beer had a metallic iron taste that time won't fix. I have used Demerara, which has some molasses in it, but not enough to compare with the real thing. Both those sugar are unrefined and contain molasses, so best taste them and see if that's what you want in your beer, some of that flavour will get into it. A little molasses can give a toffee or treacly flavour. Too much is ... way too much.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I doubt it would have the same effect on colour as a dark roasted grain. Certainly won't give the same flavour either. 

[BlackSands]

11 hours ago, Lab Cat said:

I used raw Molasses in a bitter. Never again. Beer had a metallic iron taste that time won't fix.

Theakstons "Old Peculier" is one of the most popular beers brewed in the UK.  One of it's 'secret' ingredients is molasses.   I brewed a beer inspired by "Old Peculier" some months ago based on the best info I could obtain about the beer at the time.  I used 500g of molasses in my recipe.   You can certainly taste it!  I actually thought it was one of the nicest darker beers I'd ever brewed - initially, but must admit some months later and somewhat ironically now that it's aged I'm a little less enthused about it.  It's still good to drink and I'll get through the rest of the batch this winter.  It doesn't exhibit anything that'd I'd describe as metallic or iron though.  It might be that not all mollasses is created equal and with that thought in mind -  I found this info which may be relevant: 

Quote

It comes in colors ranging from light to dark, depending on when the molasses was collected during production. All molasses tends to have strong flavor and aroma, but generally the darker the molasses the bolder the characteristics. Avoid molasses that has been sulfured, and always do a taste test before using it in a beer. If there are prominent metallic notes, continue the search.

Molasses is usually added during boil, but be sure to not to let it scorch. Start with small quantities as not to overpower other flavor components of the beer. Generally, lighter molasses will add subtle complexity, while the darker types are much richer and full flavored. Avoid dark molasses in lighter beers as it can overpower the beer’s overall flavor profile and add a lot of dark color.

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by BlackSands

[Coopers DIY Beer Team]

If you have a faulty bottle straight out of the box, let customerservice@coopers.com.au know about it and they'll replace it. Don't forget to include your name and address.  

[James Lao]

I use 1 flat teaspoon per 740ml PET, which is about 6g from memory.

I used to weigh them but but now just do a flat teaspoon and have no issues with carbonation.
 

As suggested above probably a dodgy seal on the bottle/lid.

Cheers

James

[Yen]

Thanks a lo

On 6/30/2020 at 1:50 AM, BlackSands said:

I routinely prime 750ml bottles with 1 teaspoon/1 sugar cube (4.5g).   That works out to be around 2.5 volsCO² or 6g/litre - that's perhaps not super fizzy but certainly quite appropriate for a majority of styles and I certainly find it to be more than adequate generally.   

I do however get the impression that many folks here prefer megaswill-levels of fizz in their beer.  I'm not sure what a carbonation drop actually weighs (I'm sure they vary) but if you did the following calculation:

Coopers 250g pkt / 60 drops = 4.16g/drop.   2 drops per 750ml = 8.32g/bottle = 11g / litre = 255g/23litre batch = 3.7 volsCO²        (Using Beersmith Calc @18ºC )

That's an explosive amount of carbonation and surely can't be right!  I read elsewhere however that the target weight of the drops are in fact supposed to be around 3.2g -  which would mean the packet weight should actually be around 195g.    Anyway, a couple of 3.2g drops equates to around 2.8volsCO2 - that's still getting up there on the fizz scale so I'm a little surprised when I read accounts like the following:

 

As for the OP query - It seems some 'specialty' sugars aren't quite as fermentable as the sucrose (table sugar).  Not sure if Muscavado is one of them?   But either way, 1 teaspoon in 500ml bottle really should be more than enough.  If it is directly equivalent to sucrose then that's 3.1volCO² - that's a lot!  If however it's fermentability is more like that of molasses then it's gonna be around 2.5volsCO^{2  -} which is the number I usually work to as mentioned above. 

 

Thanks a lot mate. I will consider that next time.

[Yen]

On 6/30/2020 at 5:51 AM, Boozadog said:

These fancy little sugars I brought some the other day.

was going to ask if anyone has ever used them the muscovado says (malases, bittersweet toffee robust notes) I was thinking they might darken up a beer about if it was added to the boil in place of say

(like the midnight mosaic amber recipe ) 

calls for 100g of midnight wheat etc mainly for colouring id say 

I looked for it have to buy 1kg I'm not much of a stout,dark ale drinker 

So 1kg would last me forever lol.

Yes it will mate, I like using them in stouts.

[Yen]

On 7/1/2020 at 1:04 AM, Coopers DIY Beer Team said:

If you have a faulty bottle straight out of the box, let customerservice@coopers.com.au know about it and they'll replace it. Don't forget to include your name and address.  

I will do but reconditioning seems working so far unless other bottles are faulty. Thanks again.