Champagne bottles only or you are asking for trouble.
even the traditional method results in broken bottles and popped corks......just too dangerous to even think about
Elderflower Champagne Picture
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lockwood1956
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NickL
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GTOrichie
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Frenchie Laurence
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lockwood1956
If you bottle something that is going to sparkle (carbonate) in anything that isn't designed for the purpose, its very simple, you are creating glass hand grenades, and you wouldn't believe the damage that it will cause if it explodes in your hand when you pick it up......if you use wild yeasts you have no idea where the ferment will stop, you are right, it wont ferment as far as a commercial yeast, but there is no way of knowing how much pressure you will end up with. didn't you say one of your bottles exploded on you also?
some common sense needs to prevail here, yes that may well be how things were done before, but did you know, how champagne makers were recognisable in years of old?.....they were the ones with eyes and fingers missing.
Bottles for sparkling wine need to weigh 1.6 kilos when filled with water, that way you know you have the right strength of bottle, at wine shows they refuse entry to bottles that weigh less, because they are dangerous, and it isn't health and safety craziness, (dont start me on that)......they explode....(fact) at least pet bottles would just burst and cover you with fizzy stuff, but an exploding bottle "could" actually remove and eye, or scar you for life.
Ignore this advice at your peril, I can't believe how cavalier you guys are being with something so dangerous, I am qualified to speak on this matter, please take the advice.
Newbie winemakers read these threads and it makes me worry when bad advice is given....anything sparkling needs to be in a bottle that can take the pressure, without danger of explosion. When fermenting on wild yeasts you have no way of predicting the level of carbonation, and whilst you are correct it wont produce as much fizz, it still ends up pressurising the bottle from the inside, causing a potential hazard.
Champagne bottles are easy to obtain, go ask you local wine bar or restaurant to let you have their empties...it saves them a trip to the bottle bank. It also gives you the nicer cork popping ceremony when opening the bottle
regards
Bob
National Guild of Wine and Beer Judges (wine)
some common sense needs to prevail here, yes that may well be how things were done before, but did you know, how champagne makers were recognisable in years of old?.....they were the ones with eyes and fingers missing.
Bottles for sparkling wine need to weigh 1.6 kilos when filled with water, that way you know you have the right strength of bottle, at wine shows they refuse entry to bottles that weigh less, because they are dangerous, and it isn't health and safety craziness, (dont start me on that)......they explode....(fact) at least pet bottles would just burst and cover you with fizzy stuff, but an exploding bottle "could" actually remove and eye, or scar you for life.
Ignore this advice at your peril, I can't believe how cavalier you guys are being with something so dangerous, I am qualified to speak on this matter, please take the advice.
Newbie winemakers read these threads and it makes me worry when bad advice is given....anything sparkling needs to be in a bottle that can take the pressure, without danger of explosion. When fermenting on wild yeasts you have no way of predicting the level of carbonation, and whilst you are correct it wont produce as much fizz, it still ends up pressurising the bottle from the inside, causing a potential hazard.
Champagne bottles are easy to obtain, go ask you local wine bar or restaurant to let you have their empties...it saves them a trip to the bottle bank. It also gives you the nicer cork popping ceremony when opening the bottle
regards
Bob
National Guild of Wine and Beer Judges (wine)
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NickL
NickL wrote:I use cava bottles cos I'm cheap!lockwood1956 wrote: Champagne bottles only or you are asking for trouble.
I wasn't being cavalier! As far as I am aware cava bottles are exactly the same as champagne bottles except clear in colour and with cheaper contents. I stand to be corrected though, I haven't got one handy to weigh.Lockwood1956 wrote:Ignore this advice at your peril, I can't believe how cavalier you guys are being with something so dangerous, I am qualified to speak on this matter, please take the advice.
Incidentally, I think (I dont know) that PET bottles can handle quite high pressures, probably higher than beer bottles although I don't know about champagne bottles. When they do explode though they can be quite dangerous. Coming from a rural community, blowing things up in fields was something we did to entertain ourselves when we were kids and I can certainly say I wouldn't want to be near one when it goes. You could certainly lose an eye!
Found this on you tube (glad to see kids keeping up the old traditions
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lockwood1956
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Frenchie Laurence
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GTOrichie
We had a party last night as it's my 30th tomorrow and the elderflower fizz went down a bomb everyone liked it and had high praise for it. I vented most of the bottles every other day to be safe but left one untouched and the PET bottle didn't even break a sweat, the best bottles I have found are the Budget carbonated water bottles from most supermarkets as they seem to have the fizziest contents of the lot and the plastic seems a little thicker.
I found THIS some time ago and the section called "Priming your beer (i.e. putting the fizz into it)" explains my choice of using PET bottles for anything experimental and I store these in my old fridge in the garage just to make sure if there is a problem it's at least contained a little, even if I do loose the door of the fridge the force is directional lol.
I found THIS some time ago and the section called "Priming your beer (i.e. putting the fizz into it)" explains my choice of using PET bottles for anything experimental and I store these in my old fridge in the garage just to make sure if there is a problem it's at least contained a little, even if I do loose the door of the fridge the force is directional lol.
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Frenchie Laurence
Excellent! my nettle beer went down really well too last year ! and i had it in plastic bottle too. In fact that was my first brew ever! one has to start somewhere, perhaps that is not the most obvious one! but that was mine! people like the fact that this drink sounds so crazy, and yet when they try it they find it very drinkable! it is still made commercially somewhere eastern europe, Poland i think?...
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TC2642
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I think Badger did a commercial version of Nettle beer aswell, a tie in with Mr Hugh Fernley Whittingstall!Frenchie Laurence wrote:Excellent! my nettle beer went down really well too last year ! and i had it in plastic bottle too. In fact that was my first brew ever! one has to start somewhere, perhaps that is not the most obvious one! but that was mine! people like the fact that this drink sounds so crazy, and yet when they try it they find it very drinkable! it is still made commercially somewhere eastern europe, Poland i think?...
Fermenting -!
Maturing - Lenin's Revenge RIS
Drinking - !
Next brew - PA
Brew after next brew - IPA
Maturing - Lenin's Revenge RIS
Drinking - !
Next brew - PA
Brew after next brew - IPA
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Wooderson
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richard_senior