Priming in a keg for bottle conditioning

**944play** · 12-11-2008, 10:02 PM

I'm listening to The Brewing Network Sunday Show with Mike Mraz, talking about using a keg basically as a bottling bucket. Procedure, in a nutshell:

Purge a clean, sanitized keg with CO2
Rack beer into keg
Add boiled priming solution
Close keg, hit with CO2 to seal
Roll keg to mix
Relieve pressure from keg
Apply ~2psi from regulator
Shove sanitized bottling wand into sanitized picnic tap
Open picnic tap to locked-open
Fill and cap bottles!

Apparent advantages are more even mixing, less oxidation potential, and convenience. I just bottled my 3-gallon extract batch this way, and I am completely sold on it, as long as the batch can fit in a keg.

**ChshreCat** · 12-11-2008, 10:06 PM

Sounds kinda like the BMBF to me...

**Yunus** · 12-11-2008, 10:12 PM

My guess would be this is not that popular because most people who have a keg and Co2 bottle, primarily use the keg and just bottle what they need out of the keg.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

**944play** · 12-11-2008, 11:06 PM

I do use a BMBF to bottle my kegged beer, but I wanted to bottle-condition this small batch. Filling bottles with flat, warm beer was much easier, the keg was only occupied for an hour, and I probably saved a bit of CO2.

gxm · 01-07-2009, 06:49 PM

Great idea 944play.
I've only kegged, but I want to bottle my strong beers that need aging. Using a keg to bottle with priming sugar means I don't need to buy a bottling bucket, just a wand.

**Opherman47** · 01-07-2009, 07:03 PM

well force carb then bottle, but i would worry about not having enough carbonation, for long term aging, its a pain in the rear to bottle, but i bottle my imperial stout for aging (i age it for 8 months to a year) i tried kegging but im drinking it too fast to know if it will taste the same in a year (heh), does anybody wanna weigh in on aging counterpressure filled bottles

wreckinball9 · 01-07-2009, 07:11 PM

in the "we dont need no stinking beer gun" sticky, Biermuncher said his bottles filled from his BMBF that are still carbed after 8 months or more.

gxm · 01-08-2009, 04:28 AM

I have no doubt that once the CO2 is in the bottle, it stays there.
However, my personal use of the BMBF has not been as successful as Biermuncher's.
If I'm going to let a beer sit for a year, might as well give it some sugar and not mess about with force carbing.

**944play** · 01-08-2009, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gxm

I have no doubt that once the CO2 is in the bottle, it stays there.
However, my personal use of the BMBF has not been as successful as Biermuncher's.

So, was it oxidation, contamination, or... other?

**jgardner6** · 01-08-2009, 03:14 PM

I have a kegging system and bottle beer every now and then from it. The problem I get is to much foam in the bottle even with no psi from the co2 tank. Nitrogen might work better because it's not as heavy as co2.