Bottling and conditioning queries

[DavidP17]

just got a diy kit for xmas and have been reading up a fair bit. have my first brew of coopers lager fermenting at the moment and has been sitting at about 26 degrees.

Just wondering, when bottling is it best to put the carbonation drops in before or after i fill the bottle with beer? and also does it make alot of difference storing and conditioning in glass bottles compared to the PET supplied in the kit?

any advice would be greatly appreciated,

dave

[DennisM4]

Hey! U should put the drops in befor u tap, might overflow otherwise. And i would suggest not to use drops for glass bottles, cause mostly glass are 50cl or 33cl bottles and drops are for 74 or 37 cl so u might get overpressured or a to flat beer

[Muddy Waters]

I think it is much easier to add the carb drops first but some people do it after.

 

Plastic bottles may take a little longer to reach carbonation than glass (not by much though) and I think they are just as good as glass. Glass bottles of course are better for lon term storage though (I'm talking years). As long as you are pouring the beer into a glass to drink you wont taste any difference between the two.

 

Carb drops are perfectly fine to use in standard glass bottles (375ml/750ml) but if you are using irregularly sized bottles it is best to look at bulk priming.

[Andris]

add carbonation drops before you fill bottles, will foam over if you do other way around. I actually used 2 for 0.5l PET bottles and I think its really good carbonation level for pale ales and lagers alike.

 

P.S.

my 0.5l glass bottle survived 2 carbonation drops, but then again local bottles are pretty thick and can hold 4 atmospheres of positive pressure.

[DavidP17]

ok thanks i will add them first when bottling!

have also noticed that although the instructions say 21 - 27 degrees, everyone in the forums is suggesting fermenting their beer at around 21 degrees mine has been on a pretty steady 25 - 26, does this give greater chance of it turning out badly? also, is the krausen collars sole purpose to collect the scum left behind from the foam?

[Kearnage]

You will get the best results fermenting at the lower end of the suggested range. I have a temp controlled fridge and set the temp to hover between 19 and 20 degrees for ale yeast. You will still get good beer at 26 degrees but you may get a few funny flavours that take a while to settle down after bottling.

The krausen collar gives more headspace and allows you to remove scum early and clean up easily.

 

I add the carb drops after bottling, simply as I am sure to miss bottles if I do it first. It's pretty much a personal choice.

 

Dan

 

[PB2]

have also noticed that although the instructions say 21 - 27 degrees,

 

You should find, on the "Handy Hints" section of the DIY Beer instructional DVDROM, a hint suggesting to keep the fermentation temperature at the lower end of the range. [whistling

 

If you haven't looked at the handy hints section - it leaves me wondering whether we didn't get the DVD menu setup right [pinched] [pinched]

[DavidP17]

thanks for all the advice guys very helpful

would it be worth trying to get it down to a steady 21-ish degrees for the rest of fermentation after having it at 25 for the past 3 - 4 days or would the change it temperature affect it ?