stubbies v tallies carbonation

[squirrell]

i am drinking another batch of home brew. for a while I have been wondering why the carbonation from my reused stubbies are better than my pet tallies. I have come to the conclusion that its a volume thing ie a tallie is 740 mls a stubbie is 330 to 350. 1 drop goes further in a stubbie than 2 in a tallie. do others find that 2 drops don quite cut it in a tallie? I know bulk priming would sort this, but so would using heaped portions of sugar for my tallies. I often find there is residue sugar at the bottom of the carb drops packet so this implies the drops are shedding some sugar.

 

[wynnum1]

pet tallies. is that plastic

 

[squirrell]

Yes, they are plastic

 

[wynnum1]

Plastic can expand under pressure and glass is more rigid and do you expel the air from the plastic bottles when closing .

 

[squirrell]

Wynnum1, I tried the expel of air on bottles on last lot, still not a massive improvement. I also use the odd flip top glass bottle which also tend to give disappointing carbonation. So basically my stubbies are always good, tallies of all types are indifferent. There is more sugar relative to volume in stubbies so I think that may be it. Or maybe I should just wait longer, its only been 3 weeks.

 

[yum beer]

Giving it time will help, 2 carb drops in a longie is plenty.
Yes the stubbie will carb more due to the volume differential...more sugar per litre in a a stubbie.
I personally find that 1 drop per stubbie is way to much and that over time you may find your bottles too carbed, while there a bit younger you might get away with it...
If using drops I use 1/2 to 2/3 per stubbie at most.
PET won't help with getting consistent results, they leak CO2 and oxygen over time, get glass as soon as you can if you want longies.

 

[geneabovill]

Research bulk priming. It'll give you across the board carbonation, no matter the size of the bottle.

Also greater control over the carbonation level of the beer - some beers are supposed to have more carbonation than others.

 

[pat86]

I thought quite a bit of the time that my stubbies with one carb drop were too carbonated, but that's probably just personal taste

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Bulk priming. Allows for changes in style (high co2 vols for an APA or continental lager vs low c02 for english beers).

Also allows for difference in sizing - especially as I have to take what I get, so craft tallies (640-660ml), pint bottles, 500ml,800ml and 750ml bottles all can be used for the same batch.

 

[Nizmoose]

No offence to anyone here but the whole "you can change co2 levels with bulk prime" thing sort of bugs me, you can adjust carbonation by changing the amount of sugar you put in each bottle with a scoop or two, it's not as easy to be as accurate but I think it's less effort than bulk priming and gives near enough to perfect results.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

No offence to anyone here but the whole "you can change co2 levels with bulk prime" thing sort of bugs me, you can adjust carbonation by changing the amount of sugar you put in each bottle with a scoop or two, it's not as easy to be as accurate but I think it's less effort than bulk priming and gives near enough to perfect results.

Possibly - but if you get it wrong, then you run the risk of a bottle bomb or two.

I'm not sure how you think it's easier than bulk priming though. I run my beer from its yeast cake at any rate into a bottling bucket. To me, boiling a kettle and whacking one lot of sugar into a bottling bucket is far easier than measuring an amount of sugar x 30 (or 60 if it's stubbies). Even drops aren't as easy as this (and I used some recently to prove the point to myself).

I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to even out carbonation on a British Pale over 800/750/660/640/568/500 ml bottles and have to measure each scoop out individually, even if I could have.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

How is bulk primming more difficult...its actually easier...you just need a spare cube/fermenter.

You dont have to muck around primming each bottle.

 

[JaseH]

.....but I think it's less effort than bulk priming and gives near enough to perfect results.

..said no one ever who has tried bulk priming! h34r:

I bulk prime and would never consider going back to priming individual bottles. It's much simpler, more accurate and consistent. I can and do fill all different sized bottles(from 300, 330, 375, 500, 700, 750... ), all carb up consistently with no added thought to how much sugar to add.

 

[Bribie G]

Bulk priming is great for dealing with an array of bottle sizes. However if you bottle exclusively in 740 / 750 ml PET home brew bottles then a very good standard dose of priming sugars that are not only completely identical (edit: in size) but a third of the price of carb drops is:



Currently I'm brewing for the competition season, which is the only time I bottle beer, and I have never used anything other than da cubez when bottling PET longies. Time to trot off to BiLo for a new box of CSR's finest. :beerbang:

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Where do you get bottles with square necks?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just push them in with a large hammer.

 

[warra48]

Where do you get bottles with square necks?

Never realised we have members with square necks.....

Back on topic, the sugar cubes are small enough to fit through the neck of a beer bottle.

 

[Bribie G]

God has decreed that sugaz cubez will fit through the neck of any PET bottle.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

But what if God bulk primes.....

 

[Parks]

I never had success bulk priming. Some bottles would be great others would not carbonated at all. Couldn't get the sugar to dissolve consistently.

Because I rarely bottle and when I do I use either 750 or 330ml bottles, I find it much easier to individually prime rather than sanitise another fermenter. I have drug scales so can accurately prime each bottle the right amount.