Ibrew / bottling 40 pint kits using ibrew system

[wxmexile]

Hi folks, noob here so be gentle! have only done a few ibrew lager kits using the ibrew system and i can already see i'm going to love this hobby. So a few questions;

I haven't been that happy with the carbonation levels using the ibrew carbonating system, beer still a bit flat for my liking so was wondering about priming aswell as using the carbonating bulbs (ibrew kits don't use any sugar at any stage if you follow it to the letter), will this work? and if so should i just stick to half teaspoon of sugar per pint? (the ibrew bottles hold 10 pints so i make that 5 teaspoons per bottle. . am doing an ibrew stout kit next and heard that its best to prime bottles anyway to get the best from this kit and will then be using nitrogen bulbs aswell. .what do you think?

Also once i've used up the ibrew kits i've bought i want to move on and do 40 pint kits, am going to try coopers aussie lager first, then a few other coopers kits to get me going, i plan to bottle most of these in conventional 500ml bottles, but was wondering if i could utilise the ibrew bottles and carbonating system with these kits too? and if so shall i just prime as above ie 5 spoons of sugar per 10 pint bottle?

Hope that makes sense! thanks in advance for any advice!

[Geezah]

I dont have the ibrew system, but I do have some 10l bottles and taps very similar.
For a lager, you wont ever get the right level of carbination using this system, I would only suggest corny kegs or glass bottles to get the right level of co2 on the brew.
If your doing a stout / real ale i'd suggest a 80-100gram sugar prime to your brew - so thats 20-25g per 10l bottle.
for lager, you need to double that ammount, hence the plastic kegs not being good enought to do the job.

[wxmexile]

Had a feelimg the ibrew system might be too good to be true! can i ask what you use your 10pt bottles for?, what do you find them best for dispensing? i'm gonna keep using the ibrew bottles until i can bulid up a decent collection of 500ml bottles, i've ordered some 500ml pet bottles, was suprsied at the price tbh! i presume these are just as good as glass, its only going to be poured out anyway?!

[mrmojorisin]

i don't use plastic bottles for my beer but if you've bought the brewing 500ml bottles they'll be fine. alternatively, if you want to save a few quid, you can use tesco value lemonade 2l bottles, currently 18p each, i used them for a very lively elderflower champagne and they were fine....don't use squash bottles!
my current choice for growing my bottle stock is to go have a regular pint at my local and pick up all his empty magners bottles (i also take his empty rioja bottles) currently have >100 in 6-8 weeks and he loves it as it saves him paying to bin them.

[Geezah]

I use mine for my turbo cider, although I have used them for a Coopers Cerveza larger once before.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39038&p=413788#p413788

They will work for larger, but you might find that the pressure release valve will give off the co2 before you get a larger style carbonation

[wxmexile]

Thanks for the replys folk. Am steadily buliding up my bottle collection already, have bought 24 of the 500ml coopers pet bottles, also have 24 glass 500ml brown bottles, plus i've got my landlord putting aside newcastle brown bottles for me, so should have enough to bottle and keep a couple of brews soon.

A hoping to utilise the 10pt ibrew bottles aswell though really as its quite a handy dispensing system, esp if you only want a half pint or quick glug. So to prime a 10pint bottle for ale / stout i shoud use 25grms sugar and 50grms for a lager? does this sound right? and priming it plus then using the gas bulbs in the dispensing unit should give me better carbonation?

[Geezah]

sugar will give you enough priming with thoses values... 25g ale - 50g lager.

Only add co2 if you run out of pressure when serving... as I said, the release valve will let any excess co2 escape if pressure is too high.