Hi all,
I've done a batch of beer in plastic bottles for the 2nd time, and quite a few of the beers turned out quite flat.
I re-used the bottle tops (since they screw on to the plastic bottles). Is this a no-no? I assumed that you didn't need to replace plastic bottle caps each time.
Or is there another possible reason for the falt beer?
TIA,
JOe
I've seen the same thing with beer kept for a time in plastic. It doesn't make sense that the beer should go flat - soda pop is carbonated with CO2, contains sugar, etc.. Unless the alcohol is able to go through the plastic?
My best theory is that I just neglected to torque down the caps well enough. I'm reusing the caps. I have several batches in plastic right now and they all look good.
If you do the entire batch in plastic - prime with two cups of sugar per 5 gallon batch (the plastic bottles are able to take overpressure without breaking), fill the bottle with a normal head space, then squeeze the bottle until the beer is at the top, put the cap on. Gets rid of oxygen in the bottle.
If you shake the bottles the CO2 that is already in solution in the beer will come out and the bottle will have its head space again and stiffen with pressure. (not necessary, just something I like to do)
How long before the beer went flat? My flat batches were several months old.
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