[Fat Woody]

OK, so first off, I just registered - so, hey ya'll! Been skulking around here for years, figured it was time!

I need to confess that I have bottled in growlers and wine bottles - mostly Blvd Smokestack Series bottles - without incident (for now!) a number of times.

And I know the "what" of using wine bottles, growlers, etc. to bottle condition beer; I know there's a lot of folks who caution against using such vessels.

So, My question for the Brewlluminati is this: I want to know WHY, if I use bottles that previously held a highly carbed Saison, like Dupont or Tank 7, to bottle MY highly carbed Saison, what's the issue? I'm wondering if there is a period during bottle conditioning where the pressure exceeds the final volume of CO2 in the beer? Certainly many commercially bottled (but perhaps not bottle conditioned) beers are exceeding 3 vols in these type bottles and that's as high as I'd probably go - for now

Thanks!

[dls5492]

First of all, welcome to the Forum! There are a lot of great people here who are happy to help.

I would say if you are happy with the results, then you are ok. Have you ever done a side-by-side tasting with the same beer from a wine glass and stand 12oz bottle (or just two different bottles)? I personally haven't heard of any complaints bottling in non-standard beer bottles. But, that's just me.

I think the next time I bottle, I will throw in a wine glass and do a side-by-side. So I can find out for myself. Interesting idea.

Hope this helps.

[ethinson]

If a bottle previously held beer than it's rated for pressure.  Saison Dupont and probably the Boulevard series come in champagne bottles.  (or specially designed beer bottles that mimic champagne bottles, thicker glass, bottom dimple etc).  One thing I would caution there is making sure you have the right size cap.  Most of the Belgian/champagne style bottles use a 29mm cap, while standard 12 and 22oz bottles use a slightly smaller cap (27mm? 25? I don't remember exactly).  I had a couple of those style bottles I saved for my Belgian Dark Strong for that exact reason, tested it empty and a standard cap fit. (I didn't want to buy just a handful of 29s and get them mixed in with the rest), come bottling day for whatever reason I could not get it to crimp and had to scrap that idea. 

Wine bottles that aren't for sparkling (standard red/white) I wouldn't use for beer, but you're not going to find a cap that will fit them anyway, so not really an issue.  Now, still cider or mead? Go ahead and use it (but use a cork not a cap).

My thing with the growler is I wouldn't worry about it exploding.  The weak point is the cap, not the glass.  I would expect as the pressure built the cap would deform and your CO2 (and possibly liquid beer) would leak out and you end up with flat beer, and a mess.   

[reverseapachemaster]

Champagne-style bottles like the Boulevard smokestack bottles are designed to withstand internal pressure. Use freely. Regular wine bottles are not designed to withstand internal pressure.

The glass 32 and 64 oz growlers are also not designed to withstand internal pressure of bottle carbonation. There are people who carbonate in them but you'll also find plenty of people online who had the growlers shatter or the bottom blow out. Use those at your own peril. Some of the flip top ones might be okay but I'm not sure. Metal also probably okay although they might deform.

[Joe Sr.]

Champagne-style bottles like the Boulevard smokestack bottles are designed to withstand internal pressure. Use freely. Regular wine bottles are not designed to withstand internal pressure.

The glass 32 and 64 oz growlers are also not designed to withstand internal pressure of bottle carbonation. There are people who carbonate in them but you'll also find plenty of people online who had the growlers shatter or the bottom blow out. Use those at your own peril. Some of the flip top ones might be okay but I'm not sure. Metal also probably okay although they might deform.

It's been years (like more than 10) but I've carbonated in one of the big flip-top growlers with the metal handle.  I used to be able to find Cristophel beer sold in those bottles, and we'd reuse them.  Never had an issue, but they are much sturdier than the typical screw top growler.  I would worry about using those.

Champagne-style bottles as noted above come in two sizes.  Domestic bottles, like Boulevard or California sparkling wine, will take a standard cap.  I use them all the time.

[Nathan]

Proper bottles are cheap and available one explosion can very easily cause enough loss and damage to pay for many dozens of proper pressure rated bottle for those on a budget Craigslist and Facebook garage sale group can lead to some great deals I mostly keg anymore but have some German swing top bottles that I've been using since the 1990 s have had to replace the rubber gaskets a few times but I'm sure some bottles have been use close to 100 times so it's a good long term investment


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