Brewing Master » Homebrew Beer » Champagne Bottles
Champagne Bottles
Question:
Hello Homebrewers, Does anyone have any advice for bottling beer in champagne bottles? I have a limited amount of space to transport some homebrew back for Christmas. Are there any special considerations for carbonation? Can I reuse the plastic stoppers (after sanitation of course). Is a bench-style capper suffucient to cap these bottles. Thanks Fred
Response:
Champagne bottles can make fine beer containers. Champagne is usually more highly carbonated than beer, so the bottles will have no trouble at all handling the pressure. Some champagne bottles will take a standard cap, and I have had no problem using a bench capper on them. Some champagne bottles will NOT take a standard cap, so you need to be sure what kind of bottles you have. Also, I can imagine you might have trouble capping with a hand-held capper, but I’m not sure about that.
Response:
Hello Homebrewers, Does anyone have any advice for bottling beer in champagne bottles? I have a limited amount of space to transport some homebrew back for Christmas. Are there any special considerations for carbonation? Can I reuse the plastic stoppers (after sanitation of course). Is a bench-style capper suffucient to cap these bottles. Thanks Fred
I use them all the time. Most shops sell the wire cages and new stoppers. I just use a rubber mallet and carefully tap the stoppers back in.
Response:
Hello Homebrewers, Does anyone have any advice for bottling beer in champagne bottles? I have a limited amount of space to transport some homebrew back for Christmas. Are there any special considerations for carbonation? Can I reuse the plastic stoppers (after sanitation of course). Is a bench-style capper suffucient to cap these bottles.
I’ve used champagne bottles for years. My advice: a) use American champagne bottles. The European ones require a different sized cap. Sparkling cider bottles work well, too. b) use a bench capper: the two handled cappers sometimes don’t fit well around the champagne bottle neck. I’ve never tried reusing the plastic stoppers. c) I like to use a yeast like Wyeast 1056 that gives a good yeast pack at the bottom of the bottle. d) don’t worry. I’ve never had a champagne bottle break, even when the beer inside was so over carbonated that it sprayed the whole contents out when opened. Delano DuGarm Arlington, VA
Response:
b) use a bench capper: the two handled cappers sometimes don’t fit well around the champagne bottle neck. I’ve never tried reusing the plastic stoppers.
Actually, that red two-handled capper that most homebrew supply stores sell *does* work on champagne bottles. There are two plates at the base that you can pivot in or out to accommodate either beer or champagne bottles. At first glance, you don’t realize that the capper is designed this way, the plates just look like some kind of reinforcements. * "Don’t turn around bitch, or I’ll turn you into a pillar of salt." * * -God, final instructions to Lot’s wife as * * she fled the destruction of the cities of * * Sodom and Gomorrah (Book of Genesis). *