Priming with Schnapps...?

[Sven6]

Last year Minor-Dieity told me about reading somewhere that you could prime with schnapps... (unfortunately, he couldnt remember where it was or how much schnapps to use for a 5gal batch)...

I got the (not so) bright idea of doing an experimental batch of Hefeweizen and priming with Strawberry schnapps... kinda shooting for a Pete's Strawberry Blonde...

Soooo, not knowing how much to use, I just added the whole 750ml bottle - bad idea... I ended up with wayyyy too much carbonation... You'd pop the swing-top and 1/3 of the bottle would spray out...

I found this out by totally hosing my wife's kitchen... Beer started spraying out, and my reaction was to try and stop it - by putting my thumb over the top of the bottle... the effect was similar to putting your thumb over the end of a garden hose... Not Good.

So anyway, I take to opening the bottles outside, pouring it into a glass, then stirring the hell out of the remaining beer to release the extra carbonation... It really wasn't too bad, when you consider it was an experimental batch...

I had given a couple of bottles to friends (before I knew they were gushers)... A couple of weeks ago I'm at a friends house playing poker and see one of my bottles in the back of his 'fridge... Sure enough its the Strawberry Blonde, we take it outside to open and... suprise, No Gusher... It pours without foaming, and tastes Wonderful... My friend says it one of the best beers he's ever tasted...

My question is... what happened that would cause the carbonation to decrease and the beer to taste sooo much better?... Leaking seal on the bottle? extended conditioning?

Any ideas... Just curious...

Sven

[toneyc]

It is possible that the schnapps didn't get mixed in well and made it into the bottles in varying amounts.

:)
Toney.

[Sven6]

I guess it's possible... but I'm pretty sure I mixed it really well...

It was an interesting experiment... however I wouldn't try it again with bottles unless I could find out Exactly how much schnapps to use...

Now that I'm kegging, I guess it would be easier to release any extra carbonation...

[botay]

"homebrewing for dummies" says one fith for a five gallon batch
________
smoking kills (http://smokekills.net/)

[fretlessman71]

Sierra Nevada has made a BierSchnapps that you might use in this regard sometime... I saw a bottle in Gnashville, but never bought it....

[Tom C]

I would have to think what Toni said may ring true but also a proper seal, or improper in this case, may have allowed for some CO2 to escape. Further You said his was in the back end of his fridge...I guess since you gave it to him. How long did you have it bottled before you tried opening it? How long did he have it in the fridge? What temp is his fridge? Co2 ingests into beer at cooler temps so it may be that the beer ingested the co2 at a lower temp for a longer period of time in his fridge than on your wife's kitchen ceiling.

Just my initial thoughts,

Tom C

p.s. to stray from the topic I have added a 750 ml bottle of lambic kriek to a larger brown and have made a wonderful combo. I plan on adding a lambic kriek to any beer that I say "eh, nothing great, nothing bad." This is one way Belgian Brewers make their triples or quadruples.

[Sven6]

I'm guessing it was about 6-8 months that he had it, (long enough for me to drink all the others, and for it to be the last bottle in existance)...

As for the temp of the fridge, I dunno, but it wasn't freezing or anything... the beer that ended up on the ceiling had just been put in my fridge a couple of hours earlier, so it certainly wasn't as cold as it could've been...

I usually put 4 bottles at a time in the fridge, and the others, even after cooling for a day or two, were just as carbonated...

You guys are right, it probably was just a bad seal.:rolleyes: