PET bottles have gone soft in shed

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Hainsey

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Right chaps last night I fancied a beer, had none other that my first brew which was only bottled a week ago. I know I need to wait longer but fancied trying it anyway. The bottles were kept inside for 7 days and felt hard so I moved them to the cool dark shed to condition They have been there flow 2 days.

Last night I selected the hardest one hoping for a nice fizzy beer and although there was a short hiss when I opened it the beer was flat with no head at all!

This morning I went to check on the beers and a few of the girls are now soft again, I can tell the seals are OK because the bottles are misshapen, kind of sucked in a bit if you know what I mean?

Advice please chaps and chappeses?
 
This is a guess.
You may have left too much of a space in the bottle when filling. Gas has been produced during conditioning. and filled that space. The bottles go hard. Took out into a cool spot the gas has been absorbed into the beer as it should, this has again left too big an empty space at the top. and pressure has pushed the beer into the space to fill it thereby the bottles have collapsed in a little.
As I say just a guess, I would put the bottles back into the warmth for another week or so.

Only leave a finger of space between the beer and the bottle top
 
They really need to be in the warm for a couple of weeks, get them back inside :thumb:
 
Cheers for the speedy answers. I think you might be right about the headspace, I following the kit instructions to closely and left a 5cm gap which I thought was too much at the time but being a noob I assumed the instructions knew best.

I'm going to move them all back in right now for another week as advised.

Am I right in thinking that now the beer has absorbed the co2 that it will be fizzy when poured even if the bottle is squishy because of the large headspace? Also I assume that by bringing back into the warm the yeast will automatically create more co2 and that the co2 absorbed by the beer won't just come back out?
 
give it another 2 weeks warm and then 1 week COOL.
but some might be carbonated sufficiently best to try one in a few weeks time
 
piddledribble said:
give it another 2 weeks warm and then 1 week COOL.
but some might be carbonated sufficiently best to try one in a few weeks time

I like that idea! :drink:
 
I've had the same experience with PET bottles. A batch I bottled just before Christmas showed very little carbonation a month or so after bottling. Some of the same beer I bottled in glass bottles had carbonated much better. However, a further month or so down the line and the PET bottles have carbed up nicely.

I'm not experienced enough to know why the PETs took longer to carbonate, but from my short experience, give it time...
 
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