I'm kicking off my hobby with Brewferm ales and a lot of these beers are fairly potent, and have decided to bottle in a mixture of glass and PET bottles. However, for some of these beers a 1 litre bottle can be almost the equivalent of four standard drinks, alcohol-wise. I have decided to bottle my beer into a mixture of 1litre, 500ml ex-coke bottles and smaller 250ml bottles. Will these smaller bottle sizes have an adverse effect on the secondary fermentation? The 250ml gives me just under a half pint and also gives me a chance to regularly check on the development of the beer in the secondary fermentation stage without a lot of waste. The thumb test is fine, but it's much more fun - and enlightening - to taste the beer developing on a weekly basis.
The reason I'm asking is that I have perceived there to be a noticeable difference between commercial Belgian beers that come in 750ml wine bottles as opposed to the 330ml standard botttles. Chimay Blue and Westmalle Triple are especially different - and better - animals in larger bottles. However, I use the word perceived because I realise that time plays an important role in the development of beer, the larger bottles have corks and I'm certainly no expert on the subject!
Any advice or views gratefully received.
