Bottle Shape Vs Carbonation Speed

bobofet

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Hey guys, I have been trying my first home brew, a chocolate coffee stout and I used the majority of virgin bottles form LHBS and had 3 bottles sanitized and reused from founders beers. The bottles from founders are at my derided co2 level, they are short and fat and the other bottles are tall and thin and the tall bottles are not yet fully carbed and when i cracked a short and fat bottle i noticed it was perfectly carbed. this is after 3.5 weeks with an 1.08 OG beer.
 
Wow, lots of variables at work here.... Bottle shape makes a difference in oxidation for sure - bigger bottles have less oxidation potential, less air in the headspace. I've also noticed that bombers condition differently than regular 12-ouncers. Shape and size make a difference but not much. What I'd be curious to know is which bottles did you fill first? Can it be that your priming sugar wasn't well-mixed? That's more likely to have an impact than bottle size or shape, particularly after 3.5 weeks (everything should be carbed by that point).

Second issue, bigger bottles have more gas in them. That's why we measure in "Volumes of CO2": That takes the size factor out of the equation. But the pressure should be the same.
 
the bottles were all 12 oz. I put in order in the cases from first bottled to last chronologically and I used founders bottles for the last 3 of the run, I tried the 4th to the last bottle which was one bought from the LHBS and it was the same carbonation as all the others from the LHBS. I guess its possible that the caps could fit more snug on the founders bottles allowing less gas to escape, I do know that opening these bottles takes MUCH less force than any commercially bought beer. and I notice barleywine beers (which get better with age) are on really tight. So maybe either the caps I used or my caper arent capable of getting a seal as good as a commercially brewery.
 
The bottle itself could be the culprit, if the caps are leaking. You’re not using twist off type bottles, are you?
 
I'm going to guess the uncarbed bottles are a bad run.... Maybe just ever so slightly undersized so they don't hold the cap right. Or its a problem with your capper. Maybe a new capper would seal them better. But if it was your capper the founders should have the same problem.
 
alright thanks for the ideas. Maybe ill just all a little more priming sugar whenever I use those bottles. And no I am not using twist offs.
If I wanted the cap on there super tight like a barleywine, because I might make one eventually and age some for over a year, is there a special cap or caper to use to make it super tight?
 
Do you have a local homebrew store you can talk to, or a club? I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to put the cap on “super tight.” It’s either sealed or it’s not. I think there’s something amiss here that would be tough to discover without seeing it.
 
I'm guessing oen of those ones with the wire wrapped around it? No idea if that is necessary just for show with a beer.
 
my thought with super tight is specifically for barley wines. I always open my beers with a lighter, an i definitely notice how hard it is to open some styles. But i must add that I think the bottles from my Home brew store just carbed slower. It has been 4 weeks and now my bottles from the homebrew store are equally carbed as the founders bottles. I guess i cant rule out mixing the sugar for priming incompletely as a culprit because i did add it last and stir a minute or two, but all the bottles from first bottled to last do seem about even in co2
 

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