Belgian bottling worry...

[Fisher kel Tath]

I have a Belgian Strong Dark that I should be bottling some time next month, and wondering if I need to worry about it popping crown bottles? Gonna bottle half of it in Belgian Cork bottles, the other half in regular bottles.

[brewinhard]

What volumes are you bottling to? Shouldn't be an issue if you keep it around 3 vol.

[Fisher kel Tath]

Aiming for 3, worried about going over, any of the calculators say I'm gonna need 5oz of priming sugar which seems odd...

[Alchemywunderkid]

I've done two batches of a grisette and bottled both in 22 and 12 ounce standard crown bottles; both batches aiming for 3 volumes. I was at a bit over 6 ounces of cane sugar for both and didn't have a single issue.

Granted, I treated them like unexploded grenades with the pins missing, but I did take a couple out and about without any waterworks.

Something to consider though... I think you'd even have to use a bit more corn sugar to generate the equivalent pressure. Someone else can probably speak to that further.

[DBear]

I prime with cane sugar for 3vols and no problems to-date. Make sure your fermentation is finished and the beer attenuated. That does not mean hitting the recipe FG or you think its ready. Unless your familiar with the yeast, take gravity readings 3 days apart and if no change or only 1-2 points, it should be ready.

-Cheers

[AaronWesternNY]

Buy Brewing Classic Styles, check out the carbonation table for bottling and use it. It has never led me wrong.

[Fisher kel Tath]

I added 140gm of table sugar for carbonating it should get me around 2.5-3 volumes.

If it carbonates, Wondering if I should of pitched yeast again before bottling as I've popped a bottle to check the level after a week, no foam in the glass, and very very very very slight tingle on the tongue, to the point I'm wondering if I was just sensing things that weren't there.

Now, I have a capture of the yeast sitting in my fridge sitting under a 10% Abv mead that I made from the original yeast cake from the that I could potentially use if it comes to uncapping and redousing with yeast.

[brewinhard]

Reusing yeast from a fermentation that rendered a beer of 7% ABV or higher is not a wise idea as the yeast can become stressed, tired, and mutated from alcohol over time. Every time I get ready to bottle condition a beer above 8% ABV, I always add a bit of a packet of freshly rehydrated dry champagne yeast (EC-1118) to ensure proper carbonation with no worries. I do this simply b/c I have been burned before with a strong beers not being carbonated properly (or not at all). It is a little extra work to ensure a delicious finished product.