Force carbonate in 2 liter bottles.

Today is bottling day.  It was also a 1 gallon petite saison brew day but I'll post about that later. 

I used carbonation capsules for the first time in years.   That's an easy way to carb  your beer.   Bottled 1 gallon American sour, 3.5 gallon big and wide,  and my Belgian amber. 

I also put .5 gallons of the amber and big and wide into a 2 liter and force carbonated it.  Here's how. 

Before we start.  I have been doing this for years.  It is a fun way to carbonate your beer, so that you can sample it right away.  But it will not create the vigorous fermentation of naturally carbonating beer, or keeping it under pressure for days in a keg system.   That is not the point, the point of this is that you can try your carbonated beer with in hours of bottling or kegging.    It has about the carbonation of a cask ale.

You fill the bottle to the top of the lable.  That is all.  No Higher.

 

With the cap loose, you squeeze out all of the air that you can,

You then attach your CO2 to the carbonation cap.  If you have a tank just make the hook up like a keg.  If you dont have a tank you can use a carbonation gun with a 16 g CO2 cartridge.

The bottle will fill with CO2.  Shake it vigorously.  While you shake it you will feel it shrinking.  This is because the CO2 is dissolving into solution. Hook your CO2 up again and hit it again with CO2.   shake it again.   repeat process until the CO2 doesn't dissolve into solution ( usually 2 times )

Then lay it on its side in your refrigerator.  When it is cold, it is ready to drink.

Due to the amazing responses to this method, I will add this disclaimer.   Your beer will be carbonated with this method.  It will allow you a preview of what your finished beer will be.  But the carbonation will be like a cask ale.   Lightly carbonated, light head.   It is not a substitute, at least for me, for natural conditioning.  Which I prefer for all of my beers, even kegged beers.