Does anyone have a good bottle wax recipe using crayons? I have a nice Burton Ale that I want to wax.
I did the crayon/wax stick thing and it came out great. I think my ratio was 20 glue sticks and 12 regular crayons or 6 jumbos.
The linked site suggests that it’s NOT an effective barrier, and is purely for aesthetic purposes. Why is it not an effective barrier? I’m interested in sealing up some RIS bottles for longer-term storage, but if the wax does nothing for the beer, itself, I may reconsider.
I don’t know why it wouldn’t help out in long term storage. Maybe there are other types of wax that do a better job?
I know when I did mine, it was just for aesthetics on Christmas gift bottles.
Just curious, why would you not just use the bottle wax from, say, our sponsor?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bottle-wax-silver-1-lb.html
Soem people seem to have issues getting that wax to give them the dripping look (think Makers Mark). You have to get it really hot and work very fast.
I already have 144 different color crayons and glue sticks at my house.
[quote=“fightdman”]Just curious, why would you not just use the bottle wax from, say, our sponsor?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bottle-wax-silver-1-lb.html
[/quote]
Says it’s out of stock.
don’t you want some oxidation in beers that you are storing for an extended period? I know its counterintuitive, but my understanding is that the alcohols themselves benefit from the oxidation, and harsh, hot, solventy fusels round out and become more sherry-like or fruity.
That being said, I have a 1.5yo tripel saison that has been cellaring with O-2-absorbing crowns, and its FANTASTIC!
[quote=“fightdman”]Just curious, why would you not just use the bottle wax from, say, our sponsor?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bottle-wax-silver-1-lb.html
[/quote]
I got some white wax from NB Milwaukee on the discount table. It was way easier than mixing crayons and glue. I used a 28oz tomato can as a boiler and a 16 oz can for the wax on a gas range. The initial melt took some time and when i had to add more beads. But that wax worked just fine, not as plastic as makers, but looks good. The only thing with wax, when the drips dry they seem to pull off from the bottle, so I broke most of the drips off since they looked weird.
In the future I will only wax bottles I’ll give away. The wax is a pain for the beer I kept. I would really rather have foil tops on gifts bottles, but I am not prepared to buy wholesale quantities. 
These look great. I cant wait for the beer to finish conditioning. I was thinking I might do orange or yellow!!!
I cheated and used the wax from NB. I found that historically English Strong Ales and Barleywines that were stored for aged were waxed to prevent oxidation. I did it because I thought it dressed up my Christmas presents.
Decided to use this idea for a coated beer glass.
Turned out awesome.
Time to go buy more glue sticks and crayons. :mrgreen:
[attachment=0]IMAG2394 (Large).jpg[/attachment]
Makes for a neat effect on the glass.
