Will plastic bottles explode on seconndary fermentation

[Nolski77]

Title says it all really.

Planning on using 2litre lemonade bottles, and experimenting with different sugars, demerara, cane, honey. Will this be safe?

[floydmeddler]

Yes if you pile them with priming sugar or bottle before fermentation is complete.

To avoid: Ensure you have a steady FG reading for a few days. I'd imagine this to be around the 1010-1012 mark. Prime with no more than 1/2 tsp granulated sugar per bottle. I prime with less than a third but I detest gas in my beers. I just like enough to provide head and use speciality malts to aid it further.

Hope this helps!

[floydmeddler]

Woops, didn't read your entire msg. Can only speak for granulated sugar personally. Honey is unpredictable because they all have different sugar contents. Sure someone can comment on demerara though.

Use this to help you come up with figures: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipa ... ation.html

1.8 volumes is as high as you should go I reckon. Unless you like spewing fizz bombs!

[brewster]

Do you use normal house hold sugar for priming ? can i use it in a mini keg.

[DrWorm]

Title says it all really.

Planning on using 2litre lemonade bottles, and experimenting with different sugars, demerara, cane, honey. Will this be safe?

Plastic bottles made for fizzy lemonade will take alot more pressure than glass bottles or a keg would. The answer to "Will it be safe?" - I'd say yes it will be fine unless you pile in the priming sugar. You don't mention what you are brewing but for decent and normal fizz for a light ale say I'd add 100g-120g to 20l and give it a stir before bottling.

To be honest plastic bottles tend to bulge before they explode so if you keep an eye on it you can always release a bit of pressure if it turns out you went crazy with the sugar but in my experience you'll be fine.

[Nolski77]

Sorry , it's on the bottom of my sig. Youngs ubrew lager. Used normal white sugar with the malt extract.

I'm trying to stay close to the box instructions this time, before messing about.

[MightyMouth]

but for decent and normal fizz for a light ale say I'd add 100g-120g to 20l and give it a stir before bottling.

I'd say that is to much sugar for an ale. I would use 60g to 70g for 23 litres. 60 if you want a more traditional low carbonation ale or 70 if you like a bit of Fizz.

[floydmeddler]

I went for 47g for 23.5L when bottling my porter yesterday. Even when I buy bottled ale, I stir the fizz out of them so that they resemble cask ales. I also get very little sediment too!

[MightyMouth]

I went for 47g for 23.5L when bottling my porter yesterday. Even when I buy bottled ale, I stir the fizz out of them so that they resemble cask ales. I also get very little sediment too!

I'm with you on that, unless I am brewing a summer ale I like as little carbonation as possible.

[DrWorm]

but for decent and normal fizz for a light ale say I'd add 100g-120g to 20l and give it a stir before bottling.

I'd say that is to much sugar for an ale. I would use 60g to 70g for 23 litres. 60 if you want a more traditional low carbonation ale or 70 if you like a bit of Fizz.

In a keg I'd agree and in fact use 40-60g for an ale in a keg but I like my lighter ales with a bit more fizz and 120g is only equal to 3g per bottle. Everyone likes different levels of fizz though, thats why you experiment and brew what you like.

[MightyMouth]

In a keg I'd agree and in fact use 40-60g for an ale in a keg but I like my lighter ales with a bit more fizz and 120g is only equal to 3g per bottle. Everyone likes different levels of fizz though, thats why you experiment and brew what you like.

Definitely brew what you like but I find bottles need less priming than kegs though as they have no head space so all the co2 goes to carbonation. If I use more than 70g/23 litres in bottles it winds up fizzy like Coke. I guess different people get different results.

[thedeckking]

If you're priming in the bottles rather than bulk priming then try adding different amounts of sugar in different bottles (don't forget to mark up the bottles so you know which is which). This is the simplist way of figuring out what level of fizz is right for you. I usual go for around 85g/20l with my ales and 200g/20l with the lagers (although my summer lagers go upto 300-350g). I use sturdy glass ale bottles and have never had one go bang yet . In theory plastic should take more pressure then glass so I wouldn't worry too much.

[MightyMouth]

Wow you guys like some fizzy beer