Declan Murphy wrote:

> As a veteran homebrewing failure, I can vouch that its not so
> much the explosions compared to the exploding bottles that
> poses the problem.

Ah, I see what you mean. I haven't brewed beer for many years, but I was
surprised to see "Screw the caps on tightly" in the intructions on one
website (http://eartheasy.com/eat_homebrew.htm). Another website
specifically says, "Don't use twist-off because these won't work properly"
(http://www.doublesprings.com/BasicHomeBrewiing.html).

I used large cider bottles, but for the first couple of weeks I used corks
from wine bottles, which I banged down on with the palm of my hand hard
enough to be firmly in place but not too tightly wedged. Then I replaced the
corks with the screw-on caps once the fermenting process was well and truly
over. Sometimes the cork blew out, but I never had an exploding bottle.

But I was making typical English brown beer (what we call "bitter"). Lager
beer is probably a different story.

> even better if you can keep it b/w 11 and 17 for about 15.

I can't remember the exact details offhand. My figures came from an online
recipe. And I think the process may be different depending on the type of
beer. I was living in a place where there was a pottery kiln, and if I timed
my brewing to coincide with the potter firing her kiln I generally got very
good beer. That was quite a high temperature over a shorter period of time,
but the online recipes - and your recommendation - all suggest a lower
temperature for a longer time is better.

That didn't usually work so well for me, but maybe that's because of the
type of beer?

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com