CO2 Bottling Question

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IwanaBrich

IwanaBrich

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Is there any anyway to bottle beer using CO2 instead of priming sugar without spending $300+? I've seen a bottling system but it seems to rely upon a CO2 Keg system. I was wondering if I could skip the keg and just use bottle with CO?
 
You could buy a whole bunch of carbonater caps and force carb in 2L soda bottles.
 
Iwanabrich,
I've never done this but I imagine that you could rack your beer into those 2ltr plastic soda bottles (sparkling water, tonic water, etc.) and use a CO2 injector to force carbonate. morebeer.com has the injectors for $19 and the cartridges I don't know what their cost is. The other possibilty is to use those same bottles and force carbonate with the paint ball co2 injectors. In either case, you need to get the injector cap for the bottles and in the case of the paint ball injector, some misc parts. I think that would be the cheapest way. Like I said, I've never done this so take this with a grain of salt.
mark taylor
Beer Diary...
 
You would still need a vessel to carbonate the beer in before you move it to the bottles, which is where the keg comes in. Then you need to move the carbonated beer to the bottles without loss of carbonation. Without a kegging system, it's much easier just to naturally carbonate your beer.
 
Sure I figured that I'd need a CO canister and regulator, etc. I know it sounds crazy but I just don't want to put /store my beer in a keg. I saw a device that has stem you put in the bottle. Push a button and it fills the bottle with CO2, then push another and it adds beer. I wasn't sure if the beer had to carbonated first, like from a keg.

I have nothing against priming sugar, I people who aren't familiar with Home brew don't like seeing sediment on the bottom of bottle. Some think its bad.
 
I think with enough ingenuity it could be done but it would not be efficient, cost effective, or reliable probably. But here's my crazy idea anyways.

Parts
2 - 2 liter bottles
2 - carbonator caps
2 - keg fittings for carbonator caps
1 - line to go between the 2
1 - package Turbo yeast

Process
Fill the first 2 liter bottle with sugar water. Add a proportional amount of "turbo yeast". Put carbonator cap on. Fill second 2 liter bottle with uncarbed beer. Put carbonator cap on. Connect the 2 carbonator caps. Check the pressure periodically to make sure you don't get an explosion but with the sugarwater/turbo yeast you will have 14% alcohol in 24-48 hours and thats going to create a lot of co2 to carbonate your 2 liters of beer.

Actually this could probably be done with 2 kegs to carb 5 gallons of beer but I warn you, turbo yeast is just that. You don't put an airlock on 5 gallons of sugarwater with turbo yeast because there is very positive pressure coming out when its active. Making this could very well cause a 2 liter bottle or keg to explode and its just a theory I don't know what would actually happen, might be fun to see if this is actually possible though.

:drunk:
 
Yunus said:
I think with enough ingenuity it could be done but it would not be efficient, cost effective, or reliable probably. But here's my crazy idea anyways.

Parts
2 - 2 liter bottles
2 - carbonator caps
2 - keg fittings for carbonator caps
1 - line to go between the 2
1 - package Turbo yeast

Process
Fill the first 2 liter bottle with sugar water. Add a proportional amount of "turbo yeast". Put carbonator cap on. Fill second 2 liter bottle with uncarbed beer. Put carbonator cap on. Connect the 2 carbonator caps. Check the pressure periodically to make sure you don't get an explosion but with the sugarwater/turbo yeast you will have 14% alcohol in 24-48 hours and thats going to create a lot of co2 to carbonate your 2 liters of beer.

Actually this could probably be done with 2 kegs to carb 5 gallons of beer but I warn you, turbo yeast is just that. You don't put an airlock on 5 gallons of sugarwater with turbo yeast because there is very positive pressure coming out when its active. Making this could very well cause a 2 liter bottle or keg to explode and its just a theory I don't know what would actually happen, might be fun to see if this is actually possible though.

:drunk:
Click to expand...

If you are going to use this route I would recommend watching a video on dranol bombs. There is a ton of them on you-tube. I'm not going to recommend trying one simply because this this is a public area and they can be very dangerous. You will be amazed at how much pressure a pop bottle can handle!

You could always make your own carbonator cap as well. I made one using some plastic irigation fittings. I drilled a hole in the top of a pop bottle lid and screwed in a 1/2" plastic fitting. I then found a washer that fit in the cap and put that in there. I drilled a hole in a pipe cap and screwed in a barbed brass fitting. That was then connected to my CO2 regulator. The cheapest cap I've seen so far commercially was $25 on ebay. I'm not willing to pay that much :D
 
Sure I figured that I'd need a CO canister and regulator, etc. I know it sounds crazy but I just don't want to put /store my beer in a keg. I saw a device that has stem you put in the bottle. Push a button and it fills the bottle with CO2, then push another and it adds beer. I wasn't sure if the beer had to carbonated first, like from a keg.

I have nothing against priming sugar, I people who aren't familiar with Home brew don't like seeing sediment on the bottom of bottle. Some think its bad.


Not putting the beer in a keg pretty much makes this a dead deal.

Option 1 - Pony the cash for a keg system
Option 2 - tell your friends to poor it into a glass or pony up for a keg system

Option 3 -

Buy 1 Keg (you have to have this) use the priming sugar to carb the keg. Put the keg on ice and get it cold to fully absorb the CO2, then use a make shift beer gun and CO2 cartridge to fill the bottles. This would get you in business for 20-30 for a keg, 20 bucks for the cartridge deal, and 10 bucks in fittings??? But you would need at least one keg to make this workable...

Good luck!!
 
I have been thinking of doing this for fun.

1. Go get some dry ice.
2. Fill a bottle with beer.
3. Place a small amount of dry ice in the bottle. DO NOT CAP YET! If you cap it now it WILL explode almost right away. (Not sure of the amount of dry ice.)
4. Wait til you do not see and dry ice solids. Then maybe wait longer for safety.
5. Put on one of those suit the bomb disposal people wear.
6. Cap.

I know this will work in theory. I have heard of chemistry teachers throwing dry ice in buckets of un-carbonated homemade root beer in order to carbonate it.

I have been wanting to try this in a sealed keg. They have pressure relief valves, but if the valve fails then you may end up dead.
 
Iwanabrich,

You said...
"I saw a device that has stem you put in the bottle. Push a button and it fills the bottle with CO2, then push another and it adds beer. I wasn't sure if the beer had to carbonated first, like from a keg."

Your talking about a counter pressure bottle filler. Yes, the beer needs to be carbonated first. This devise is not going to help you.

Again, your best option is the soda bottles and co2 injector set up. Total cost would be under $50.

mark
Beer Diary...
 
All you need to do is work on your technique. With the correct amount of cold crashing and use of clarifiers like irish moss and gelatin you can minimize the amount of sediment significantly.
 
Trenchant said:
If you are going to use this route I would recommend watching a video on dranol bombs. There is a ton of them on you-tube. I'm not going to recommend trying one simply because this this is a public area and they can be very dangerous. You will be amazed at how much pressure a pop bottle can handle!

You could always make your own carbonator cap as well. I made one using some plastic irigation fittings. I drilled a hole in the top of a pop bottle lid and screwed in a 1/2" plastic fitting. I then found a washer that fit in the cap and put that in there. I drilled a hole in a pipe cap and screwed in a barbed brass fitting. That was then connected to my CO2 regulator. The cheapest cap I've seen so far commercially was $25 on ebay. I'm not willing to pay that much :D
Click to expand...

Ive had a dry ice bomb blow up in my hand before - yes it sucked and I am VERY lucky to have all of my fingers still. I think that it would be a bit difficult to attain through those little cartridges you use for the carb tops. This was dry ice and water added. I shook the **** out of it for like 2-3 seconds before it exploded. Ive never seen the top of a 2 liter consumed with the rest of the bottle in such a short time... Crazy times as a young idiot...
-Me
 

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