Yep, this is about brewing and fermenting again. I have not written about this topic often, but I believe it is worth sharing a quick tip for guys who make their own beer (and other carbonated alcoholic drinks).
Today, it is all about keeping the carbon dioxide in your brew (the easy way).
My present technique is to brew my mash, let it chill down to about 24 degrees centigrade and infect it with the yeast of my choice. 4 to 6 days later, I should have my young beer. So for, so traditional, you know all about this!
The next steps from here could be either filling the young beer into bottles (glass of what have you) and add some sugar or in a keg (adding carbon dioxide from a bottle).
The cheap chap that I am, I can't be bothered with a keg and all the fuzz with bottles of CO2, regulators and stuff. Too much going on here.
I also hate to clean, prime, fill and cap 50 to 100 bottles when the primary fermentation is done.
So, this is what I came up with.
I am filling (after cleaning and priming) decently sized PVC soda containers with my young beer. Of course, a soda container will never withstand the full pressure of beer in a secondary carbonizing fermentation. Here, today's tip comes in: Pat Mack's Home Brewing Caps.
If you can ferment your brew using those caps and soda bottles in primary, secondary should not big of a deal at all.
So, rather than getting a 20 liters keg for €200 (not including the CO2-system), I use 10 of those caps on 10 pcs 2 liter bottles of soda (bought at the right super-market, are costing next to nothing).
Given advantage: when the beer in the specially capped soda bottled is matured, you can cool and open a bottle at random times, not having to care much about the remainders of the batch, contrary to an entire batch filled into a single 20 liters container.
Cheers, 17!
