How to keep bottled beer from going flat?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I was dismayed the other night when I found my previously opened bottle of Chimay ale was flat.  I used a closure that was designed for Champagne bottles, but the closure didn't help with the Chimay bottle to any great extent.  What kind of closure could keep beer from going flat?  Consuming the entire bottle in one sitting would not be the best suggestion.

 

[FrogPrincesse]

I like this kind of stopper (the general design, not that brand specifically).

 

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-open-kitchen-champagne-stopper/

 

However, this design isn't compatible with all bottle designs and I cannot remember if it works with Chimay. If it isn't compatible, you can transfer the content to a flip-top bottle or any other bottle that you can close easily.

[FrogPrincesse]

And enjoy your Chimay! (I am a fan of the blue, personally).

[weinoo]

Well, I was gonna say (in response to the title of this thread) ... drink it!.

 

Maybe using a Vacu-Vin, (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) which I use with success on those occasions when we don't finish a full bottle of wine...

 

But I really don't think a bottle of beer, once opened, is meant to be consumed in more than one sitting.

 

 

Edited June 25 by weinoo (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

I like this kind of stopper (the general design, not that brand specifically).

 

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-open-kitchen-champagne-stopper/

 

However, this design isn't compatible with all bottle designs and I cannot remember if it works with Chimay. If it isn't compatible, you can transfer the content to a flip-top bottle or any other bottle that you can close easily.

 

I have one of that style stoppers too!  I'll try it next bottle.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

Well, I was gonna say )in response to the title of this thread) ... drink it!.

 

Maybe using a Vacu-Vin, (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) which I use with success on those occasions when we don't finish a full bottle of wine...

 

But I really don't think a bottle of beer, once opened, is meant to be consumed in more than one sitting.

 

 

 

My vacuum stoppers work for sealing still wine.  But a vacuum stopper would just pull the bubbles out of a carbonated beverage.

 

Perhaps I should consider buying smaller bottles in the future.

 

[cdh]

Bubbles last longer when it stays cold.  A bottle of fizzy wine lasts at least 2 days when kept in the fridge before opening, and kept in the fridge after pouring what you want to consume.  If keeping it longer than overnight and desirous of keeping the bubbles bubbly, you're going to need to decant it into a not-glass bottle and apply CO2 pressure to it, while keeping it as cold as you can.  Perhaps the Methode Rotuts device... or one of the other zillion non-standardized technologies that let you inject gaseous CO2 into a liquid... OR, if you _really_ want to put it away for a while and come back to it fizzy, you could employ the yeast left in the beer to recarb it... dose a little sugar in there and seal it up (keeping it warm enough for the yeast to function, then cooling it down before opening it...)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, cdh said:

Bubbles last longer when it stays cold.  A bottle of fizzy wine lasts at least 2 days when kept in the fridge before opening, and kept in the fridge after pouring what you want to consume.  If keeping it longer than overnight and desirous of keeping the bubbles bubbly, you're going to need to decant it into a not-glass bottle and apply CO2 pressure to it, while keeping it as cold as you can.  Perhaps the Methode Rotuts device... or one of the other zillion non-standardized technologies that let you inject gaseous CO2 into a liquid... OR, if you _really_ want to put it away for a while and come back to it fizzy, you could employ the yeast left in the beer to recarb it... dose a little sugar in there and seal it up (keeping it warm enough for the yeast to function, then cooling it down before opening it...)

 

I thought about decanting the remains of the opened bottle into an iSi.

 

[Mjx]

Could you fill the bottle with something like the glass beans that are used (or at least, used to be used) to top up photo chemicals before closing the bottle? They're chemically inert, so they should be safe and not affect on the flavour, and with the bottle filled to the top, there would be little room for the CO2 to leave the beer, so it'd stay in solution (and the glass beans are easy to clean, and reusable; I think the ones that florists use would also be an option).

[Duvel]

Just re-carbonate it in the soda maker ....

[weinoo]

Beer Advocate - Defending Vacu Vin

 

Quote

Giving a bottle a few pumps to pull the oxygen out isn’t going to suddenly strip the carbonation from the beer. That’s not how it works. It simply pulls the oxygen out of the airspace in the bottle, thus curbing oxidation for a short period of time. And as a result, if a Vacu Vin seal is applied soon after opening the bottle, the bottle will still yield plenty of carbonation upon opening it the following day and often, beyond.

 

Edited June 25 by weinoo (log)

[AlaMoi]

the 75cl & 1.5L bottles come with a wire bail stopper - that's a good start.

not sure why an opened 33cl = 12 fluid oz needs storage tho . . .

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 hours ago, Duvel said:

Just re-carbonate it in the soda maker ....

 

At the cost of CO2 cartridges I might as well buy more beer.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, AlaMoi said:

the 75cl & 1.5L bottles come with a wire bail stopper - that's a good start.

not sure why an opened 33cl = 12 fluid oz needs storage tho . . .

 

I don't have the technology to get the wire ball stopper back in the bottle.

 

[Duvel]

6 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

At the cost of CO2 cartridges I might as well buy more beer.

 

I do drink a lot of Chimay and I do have a soda maker. Unless your economy works very different than mine, two or three button punches of CO2 on a SodaStream(tm) will be significantly cheaper than a 0.75L bottle of Chimay Blue …

Edited June 25 by Duvel (log)

[AlaMoi]

the wire bail type stopper is integral to the bottle itself. 

was absolutely standard for German beer bottles in the 60's - 70's before the "bottle cap" took over.

it's a ceramic plug, with a rubber gasket, the wire bail rotates and clamps/seals it firmly back on the opening.

 

SOP for just about all liquid stuff (except wine..) - all the glass bottles were re-used.  washed/etc, rubber gasket replaced, re-used.  "one way bottles" and "cans" were near-non-existent.

 

here's a wire bail bottle I bought some months back.  the vodka was terrible, but I kept the bottle....

pushing the loop down (at the front in the pix) "reseals" the bottle -

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

At the cost of CO2 cartridges I might as well buy more beer.

 

 

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

I do drink a lot of Chimay and I do have a soda maker. Unless your economy works very different than mine, two or three button punches of CO2 on a SodaStream(tm) will be significantly cheaper than a 0.75L bottle of Chimay Blue …

 

The 8 g CO2 cartridges (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) I buy have gone up to around 55 cents each. 

A 750 ml bottle of Chimay Blue is $14.99 at my local Total Wine so if you were to enjoy three 250 ml servings, it would only add around 10 % to the cost of that bottle. That seems reasonable. 

 

 

Edited June 25 by blue_dolphin
linked to wrong cartridges (log)

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

A 750 ml bottle of Chimay Blue is $14.99 at my local Total Wine so if you were to enjoy three 250 ml servings

Thanks for supporting with the maths … I was reluctant to post, as 750 mL in my household is only half a serving 🫢

[gfweb]

21 hours ago, weinoo said:

Well, I was gonna say (in response to the title of this thread) ... drink it!.

 

Maybe using a Vacu-Vin, (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) which I use with success on those occasions when we don't finish a full bottle of wine...

 

But I really don't think a bottle of beer, once opened, is meant to be consumed in more than one sitting.

 

 

Vacu vin would accelerate flattening

[rotuts]

pop the remains in an MR container.

 

get it very cold.

 

use one co2 cartridge   give it some time , cold

 

the use as you would an MR'd wine or other 'clear liquid '

 

there might be problems w this approach :

 

beer has ingredients that foam 

 

foam-ing agents and MR//CO2 cartridge's might not get along too well.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Duvel said:

Thanks for supporting with the maths … I was reluctant to post, as 750 mL in my household is only half a serving 🫢

 

There is a reason Chimay sells 1.5 liter bottles.