Bottling question

Crilly4069

Hi all,

I'm a couple of days away from bottling my first batch of homebrew, Nelsons Revenge.

I have hopefully two quick questions, firstly how many carbonation drops would you use for a ale, and secondly I'm using 500 ml plastic bottles, the caps have a plastic collar attached which breaks off when you open it, can these caps be re used once the collar is broken.

Hope that's not a stupid question

Thanks

HBO_Staff

Hi Crilly4069, thanks for your question, you can adjust the amount of drops to get the level of carbonation you prefer, but as a guide use 1 x Crafty Fox carbonation drop per 500ml bottle for light carbonation in beers, and then you can use 2 for lagers and ciders - up to a maximum of 3 drops per 500ml bottle.

If you wanted to do a test, use just one drop for most of them, then use 2 in a few bottles and label them so you know which is which, then once you open them to drink you can compare and see which you prefer.

With the bottles there is the tamper evident ring, and as you say this will snap off after first opened just to show it has been opened. The lids can however be re-used again, and will seal the bottles. The snapped off ring can be left in place on the neck of the bottle or removed. If you preferred there are also new caps available on their own:

https://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/home-brew-online-black-plastic-screw-caps-48-pack-p1728

Crilly4069

Thanks for the quick reply.

Spend ages trying to work out what the ring on the bottle lid was for, so obvious when you know.

Cheers

Desmond

Wow that is news. I haven't used bottles in years. I used to put a level tea spoon of sugar in. Must look into this.