Bottling Belgians for Competition

[Bprind01]

Newbie question...Since most competitions specify the use of a 12oz bottle does everyone carb their Belgians for competition to 3.0vol, and reside with the fact that their beer is under carbonated? Or are there heavy duty 12oz bottles (3.5-4vol) that you can use for comps that I am not aware of? If so, please post some links.Thanks.

[Mills]

I have always bought Duvel or Orval and drank them and bottled from there for beers 3+ volumes.

Mills

[brewinhard]

There have been other threads on this one before with a lot of controversy. I have not had problems bottling saisons/tripels to 3.4 vol before with my beer gun or priming sugar. Now, whether or not my calculations are perfectly accurate, who knows? With that being said others will tell you that typical brown bottles are not capable of holding more than 3 vol or so of CO2.

[HedgehogBC]

I have always bought Duvel or Orval and drank them and bottled from there for beers 3+ volumes.

Mills

Problem is, are those bottles free of any imprints or other markings? If they are, then I think you've got a solution. If not, then...um... no ideas.

[Mills]

Just their distinctive shape, but I have never been bounced from competition for that. Chimay bottles, the 330ml, have raised lettering.

Mills

[Maarten]

I don't know about american glassware, but if you use european bottles they will hold 3-4 volumes. Most european brewers (for Duvel I know for sure) only use new bottles for export, because they have to endure more during their travels to the new world. So that's a safe bet!

[Elbone]

If you have an Aldi grocery store near you, they exclusively import a German Pils called Wernesgruner. It's around $7 a six pack, nearly always fresh, and decent to drink, and the bottles are very heavy. I save those for high-volume beers. The labels fall right off in hot water, too.

[dags]

I bottled a batch of tripple to 3.5 vol last night, same as I have before and dont expect any troubles. I didnt use special bottles. I am planning on entering this beer in a comp so is there something in the shipping process (all the shaking and jolting?) that might encourage them to go bang?

That could make things interesting