Naturally carbonate in keg and then bottle.

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tinytowers

tinytowers

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Has anyone tried naturally carbonating in the keg and the filling bottles with a counter pressure filler?

I'd like to avoid the unsightly deposit at the bottom of the bottle as well as the adverse flavors the yeast deposits can cause when agitated. In other words, I'd like to be able to drink straight from the bottle as well as not having to tell someone they have to pour the beer out slowly as to not disturb the yeast.

To preempt any comments that suggest force carbonation in the keg and simply follow up with a beer gun, I prefer carbonation that is produced naturally much more than artificially. In my opinion, natural carbonation produces a much tighter and more stable Co2 bubble, where as force carbonation seems more frothy with larger, less stable Co2 bubbles.
 
I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work. You may want to watch the first pulls from the keg, I would think that there would be some sediment that you'll be pulling at the beginning. You could naturally carbonate @ room temperature, then crash cool to try and compact everything at the bottom. Then pull some from the keg with a picnic tap or something until you're getting clear pours. Turn your pressure down to whatever your counter pressure filler likes to run at and you'd be good to go.

I have to say though, I find it interesting that you are touting natural carbonation vs. forced, yet you want to take the beer off the yeast - which, in my opinion, helps the product remain stable in the bottle and helps with shelf life. What is your reasoning for wanting to drink out of the bottle - convenience? Less dishes to wash? ;)
 
I have to admit that I was also confused by your reasoning on the finer points between the bubble produced by natural or forced carbonation while, in the same post, saying you wanted to drink right out of the bottle. I drink out of the bottle when a friend offers me something that manners requires me to accept, but doesn't require me to actually taste. But that is the nice thing about home brew, "There's my way and there's your way, but it's very hard to find a wrong way."
 
I'd like to take bottles with me when I go camping and I don't really want to bring along a pint glass.

Are you sure the yeast sediment maintains the Co2 levels?

Thanks for responding, btw.
 
Have you ever tried force carbonating with a 75/25 nitrogen/co2 "beer gas?"

That may be the answer to your problems. Check your local welding supplier... They should be able to blend it for you if they don't carry it.
 
the last batch my buddy and I made was a cream ale that we carbed with priming sugar in a 5 gallon keg. We ended up just burning off the first couple pints because they were mostly sediment. The keg is about half gone now and we have drank multiple glasses and filled growlers and bottles simply using the bottling cane that is used to attached to the faucet on the bottling bucket. The dispensing faucet on our keg has the same fitting so the bottling cane fits perfectly and I have successfully filled multiple bottles with minimum spillage using this technique. I will say that it is better to have the bottling cane all the way down at the bottom and open ready to dispense before you flip the faucet, otherwise the pressure will just shoot the cane out of the faucet and you'll be stuck cleaning up a mess.
 
My only issue with this is that there seems to be a lot of conflicting comments about carbing in a keg with sugar. Some people say use half the amount, others say to use the whole amount.

Also, you will need to hook this up to CO2 to dispense, otherwise after each bottle you fill, you will have less carbonation in the keg.

It is something that is totally doable, but you may have issues getting the desired carbonation. Kegging sure is easier, but filling bottles from a keg is A LOT slower than filling them from a bottling bucket. There are some trade offs here.
 
bknifefight said:
My only issue with this is that there seems to be a lot of conflicting comments about carbing in a keg with sugar. Some people say use half the amount, others say to use the whole amount.

Also, you will need to hook this up to CO2 to dispense, otherwise after each bottle you fill, you will have less carbonation in the keg.

It is something that is totally doable, but you may have issues getting the desired carbonation. Kegging sure is easier, but filling bottles from a keg is A LOT slower than filling them from a bottling bucket. There are some trade offs here.
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we used all 5 oz of priming sugar, the same amount for bottling, and it turned out great, I would suggest always using 5 oz when carbonating with sugar in a keg.

The bottling process from a keg isn't that much slower than from a bottling bucket for me. The best part is I don't have to bottle as many as I would for the whole batch, I will gladly drink off the keg when at home but it does come in handy to bottle a few to take to a friends place or anywhere else. I would actually recommend filling a growler(s) if you are planning on drinking more than a few because its obviously easier to fill a growler than a bunch of bottles.:mug:
 
HaveADrinkOnMe said:
the last batch my buddy and I made was a cream ale that we carbed with priming sugar in a 5 gallon keg. We ended up just burning off the first couple pints because they were mostly sediment. The keg is about half gone now and we have drank multiple glasses and filled growlers and bottles simply using the bottling cane that is used to attached to the faucet on the bottling bucket. The dispensing faucet on our keg has the same fitting so the bottling cane fits perfectly and I have successfully filled multiple bottles with minimum spillage using this technique. I will say that it is better to have the bottling cane all the way down at the bottom and open ready to dispense before you flip the faucet, otherwise the pressure will just shoot the cane out of the faucet and you'll be stuck cleaning up a mess.
Click to expand...

Please elaborate on your technique. What type of faucet are you connecting a bottling wand to? A picnic tap or a perlic type faucet? Do you have to mess with the co2 regulator pressure due to foaming issues?
 
jrb03 said:
Please elaborate on your technique. What type of faucet are you connecting a bottling wand to? A picnic tap or a perlic type faucet? Do you have to mess with the co2 regulator pressure due to foaming issues?
Click to expand...

we have a picnic faucet tap, and I usually set the psi to around 5-7 when bottling, usually adjusting it back to around 10-11 when dispensing into a glass if the pour is real slow and barely any head, it just helps with foam control when filling bottles or growlers to have down around the 5-7.
 
bknifefight said:
Also, you will need to hook this up to CO2 to dispense, otherwise after each bottle you fill, you will have less carbonation in the keg.
Click to expand...

^^This

The OP never really said, but I'm hoping he's still planning on using a CO2 tank to dispense the (naturally carbonated) beer. Otherwise, I don't believe a naturally-carbed keg of beer will have enough pressure to even dispense itself. Of course, initially, the small headspace combined with 5 gallons of primed beer will produce plenty of pressure to push the beer up the dip tube. However, towards the end of the keg, when 75% of the keg is empty space and only 25% of the beer remains, carbonation will be coming out of solution, making your beer flatter, and even then it might not produce enough pressure to continue pushing itself up the dip tube.

If you're doing this because you like the quality of the naturally-produced CO2 bubbles, then that's fine, no problem. But if you're doing this because you don't want to spend the money on a CO2 tank, regulator, and hoses, then I'm afraid it won't work. You'll still need the tank and accessories.
 
kombat said:
^^This

The OP never really said, but I'm hoping he's still planning on using a CO2 tank to dispense the (naturally carbonated) beer. Otherwise, I don't believe a naturally-carbed keg of beer will have enough pressure to even dispense itself. Of course, initially, the small headspace combined with 5 gallons of primed beer will produce plenty of pressure to push the beer up the dip tube. However, towards the end of the keg, when 75% of the keg is empty space and only 25% of the beer remains, carbonation will be coming out of solution, making your beer flatter, and even then it might not produce enough pressure to continue pushing itself up the dip tube.

If you're doing this because you like the quality of the naturally-produced CO2 bubbles, then that's fine, no problem. But if you're doing this because you don't want to spend the money on a CO2 tank, regulator, and hoses, then I'm afraid it won't work. You'll still need the tank and accessories.
Click to expand...

this is true, I was giving the OP the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he knew that there would still be the need of a CO2 system in place. I finished the keg last night and did notice that toward the end it was getting flatter, so I think in the future I will adjust the psi accordingly to how much beer is in the keg, maybe by adding more psi the emptier the keg gets.
 
HaveADrinkOnMe said:
this is true, I was giving the OP the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he knew that there would still be the need of a CO2 system in place. I finished the keg last night and did notice that toward the end it was getting flatter, so I think in the future I will adjust the psi accordingly to how much beer is in the keg, maybe by adding more psi the emptier the keg gets.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need to do that. If you have your serving pressure set correctly, you will maintain the carbonation levels and should notice no change in carbonation at the tail end of the keg without changing it. That is one of the reasons I like the set and forget method where I set my pressure at ~12psi and let it carb, then drink off it after a couple weeks. No need to adjust.
 

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