Bottled my first kit but think i made a slight mistake.

[psd123]

I was waiting on a crowning kit which seems to be taking for ever to come, so went out a bought a load of 2 litre bottles of water and used them for this kit, the mistake i think i have made is not putting enough sugar in the bottle i put about 1.5 teaspoons of sugar in each 2 litre bottle, could i re-open the bottle and add more, or will this be enough. I bottled the beer about 12 hours ago.

Cheers Paul

[maxashton]

Was it fizzy water?

[psd123]

No still water.

Cheers Paul

[maxashton]

Then the mistake you've made is using bottles intended for unpressurised product. They may well burst.

[psd123]

i left 2 - 3 inchs at the top of the bottle to hopefully avoid that, but i will have to wait and see. I was not sure how long i could have left it in the fermenter as it was ready a couple of days before i bottled it as i was waiting for my crowning kit to arrive.

Cheers Paul

[alefric]

No still water.

Cheers Paul

No mate Max is right you need bottles designed to take pressure.........Start drinking sparkling water NOW.....If you need enough for 40 pints it might be as well to do this in the bathroom where the toilets handy!

[maxashton]

Generally you can leave it in the fermentor for weeks before you have a yeast autolysis problem.

Leaving a 2-3 inch headspace won't really make much of a difference to wether or not the bottles pop. You may be fortunate, but you may not.

Either way, make sure you keep the bottles away from light. Light will cause arcane chemical reactions with the alpha acids in the hops and can "skunk" your beer.

[psd123]

Best get some value sparkling water in then.

Cheers Paul

[Chris The Fish]

Best get some value sparkling water in then.

Cheers Paul

or at least check the bottles you have used are the same the company uses for their sparkling water (some producers do)

as long as its a pet bottle you may be ok.

[gazzatrone]

Since I started brewing beer I secondary ferment in the PET bottles I get the mineral water I use to brew with. At 17p per 2 litre bottle from LIDL you can't complain.

I usually add about 2tsp per bottle. Don't add more than this as I nearly took my thumb off opening a bottle that looked OK to a batch I added 4tsp to (this was a misunderstanding thinking I had to add 2tsp to every Litre) so I figure these bottles can hold pressure.

Cheap Lemonade bottle from ASDA or Tesco will do the job as well. Just dont brew your beer with the contents obviously.

[psd123]

Checked the sparkling value bottles and seem no different to the still so going to risk it and see if they can cope.

Thanks for your replies.

Paul

[Jim]

Paul, if you must leave the beer in those bottles, please handle them very carefully, and wear eye protection (and whatever other kind of protection you see fit!) while you are doing so. Keep the bottles cool.

Exploding bottles can cause very serious injuries.

[verno]

Oh and Paul, if they do explode (and you haven't injured yourself) then take some photos!

As an aside I drunk some of my first batch last night having let it condition for 2 weeks. Prior to this I had drunk some but not really left it long enough. Anyway I was very pleased. It had a good fizz, good head and great taste. I am really happy given I only used kit yeast and table sugar.

Bring on the next batch

[Ditch]

Oh and Paul, if they do explode (and you haven't injured yourself) then take some photos!

LMFAO! That is So terrible!

[psd123]

Thanks guys, will try and get some action shots for you, i think i might move them to the shed just in case.

Cheers Paul