ooh bloody hell

[brysie]

hello all

yesterday i bottled amy edme german lager and following the 80gm sugar divided by 80 half pint bottles {dont ask} i popped
80 tate and lyles famous little sugar cubes, 1 per bottle.
now. 2 questions. how come they arent cubes anymore?
and more importantly, what might happen seeing as how i cocked me calculations up completely, and after weighing a `cube` realised that they
weigh 3gms each?
apart from exploding bottles, if some survive what might happen to me brew?

[Chris The Fish]

What bottles?

Green lager type and i may be worried, Thick brown ale bottles and i think you'd be fine.

i did a elderflower wine last year and bottled in ale bottles, crown capped. The first bottle opened like a really angry curry the following day. I was covered in wine, the kitchen was covered and my missus saw the funny side and laughed her tits off, then told me to clean it up.

I reckon they can take a few extra gms of sugar.

Chris

[brysie]

thanks chris.

but...the youngs lager kit i started today said ` under no circumstances use more than 85gms of sugar in 40 pints of homebrew you bledy div`
i paraphrase of course but it got me worrying because ive used 3 times the recommended on me edme.

[brysie]

sorry. carlsberg export bottles. xmas special in sainsbrys.

[adm]

You could maybe give them a day or two, then just crack the tops a tiny bit to release the pressure a bit then seal them up again with the capper. Repeat as necessary...

(I don't really bottle, so have no experience, but it might work and would be fairly easy)

[Chris The Fish]

cant say i know them so cant really comment. If they are the same thickness as lager bottles you may be in for a few surprises.

you should be ok if they have any sort of thickness to them.

[brysie]

ok.
supposing they dont all go through the roof, what effect do you think the extra sugar will have on the final outcome
of the beer?

[Chris The Fish]

i like to up the sugar on lager and lighter beers, i go for about 1 heaped tsp per bottle.

what this equates to in gms i dont know but it gives the carbonation that you sort of expect with lagers.. ie. not flat.

i wouldnt be too worried, just dont look over the bottle when you open the first one (1 week in id say)

Also.

If you have them somewhere cold then the yeast will lay dormant and wont eat the sugars, therefore no carbonation (or little).

if youve had them in the warm for a few days then its not worth it, they'll have eaten all the sugar.

[brysie]

cheers chris

im only asking because i upped the sugar in my coopers bitter kit and that tastes lovely, although early days yet.

[stevezx7r]

A mate of mine did a lager for his brother's 21st and that was in bottles with 1 heaped tsp per bottle. Iirc, the bottles were only 330ml, not a pint too. They were seriously over carbed (for me anyway). It tasted like shandy, with a 6%+ kick to it . I don't think you'll have a problem provided that the bottles are in decent shape i.e not chipped and the tops are seated correctly. If your worried about bottle bombs, drape a heavy towel over them to stop any flying glass

EDIT - Oh, chill them for a few days to force the carbonation into the beer so that they won't fizz all over the place once opened.

[PeteH]

Chill and pour into a big glass or a jug.

[brysie]

cheers lads.
ive got them in cardboard boxes wrapped in a quilt just in case.

will pouring them into a jug allow the gas to escape, so hopefully i will be able to taste the lager?
im comparing different manufacturers lager kits to find out which one i like the best

[Benson_JV]

cheers lads.
ive got them in cardboard boxes wrapped in a quilt just in case.

will pouring them into a jug allow the gas to escape, so hopefully i will be able to taste the lager?
im comparing different manufacturers lager kits to find out which one i like the best

Decanting into a jug is just easier than trying to pour into a glass, because as soon as you reach the pint (presuming you have 1L or 2L bottls) you have to bring the bottle back to verticle, swishing the yeast around, which isn't a good thing unless its a Wheat Beer. Best bet to get the full lager taste, i find, is to bring the temperature to just below room, so its still chilled, but taste can come through.

[brysie]

i get you.
trouble is that ive used half pint bottles.

im thinking it may have been a teeny weeny mistake

[randomdave]

I wouldnt worry at all. When im making my lager kits i use 8gm of sugar per litre. So i end up with about 160-180gm of sugar for 23ltr. My lager is nice an fizzy with no bombs (so far after 4 kits/160ish bottles)