Dumb question from keg guy re: bottling

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jeffg

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OK, this is probably a stupid question:

i haven't bottled a beer in many years, since the 90s. I am contemplating submitting a beer to a homebrew competition and obviously I will need to bottle. problem is, I do not want to bottle the whole batch, jsut a six-pack or so.

So is the best option to prime the whole batch, bottle six beers and then keg-condition the rest? I've never added primed beer to the keg, I always force carb with Co2 and I'm worried about over-carbing the beer since I will have another unprimed keg running off a distributer of the same Co2 tank (so I need 8 psi minimum). I assume with primed keg beer you just want enough Co2 to force the beer out (like 2-3 psi)?

Other options? I don't have a counterfiller/beer gun and don't feel like dropping $90 on one. I assume priming each bottle individually is too risky and won't be uniform?

Thoughts? i'd like to start making a habit of bottling a six of each batch I do..maybe I can even take part in a beer swap some time this way.
 
That would work fine. Or you could buy some of those priming tablets they sell that are premeasured for one bottle.

What you're suggesting would work fine, though. I might would shoot a bit of CO2 in the keg since you're going to have that much head space.
 
prime each bottle individually... siphon the beer right out of the secondary into the bottles with a bottle wand, then remove the wand and siphon the rest into the keg. Presto!
 
Oh yeah. You don't need to worry about over carbing your keg. It will all equalize once you pour a couple.

As for the pressure for dispensing, that's a whole 'nother can of worms. The beer gets to flat if you have that low of pressure. I use about 12 pounds of pressure with about 7 feet of that narrow hose they make. It's all about balancing and I don't know a whole lot about it. Other than you need to set it at a higher pressure and run it through a longer hose to cut down on fizz.
 
God Emporer BillyBrew said:
That would work fine. Or you could buy some of those priming tablets they sell that are premeasured for one bottle.

See, now I have never even heard of this option before. Who carries them and do they work just as good as batch priming?

Thanks for the suggestion.

Jeff
 
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