Keg to bottle?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dgonza9

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
1,182
Reaction score
12
Location
Evanston
I'm thinking of joining a local brew club. This means I'd need to bring some beer in bottles to the meetings. Right now I don't bottle at all, just keg and force carb.

Probably not likely, but is it possible to pour kegged beer into bottles and cap them? I'm thinking of getting some Grolsch style bottles if this idea works. but I imagine there will be air in the bottles that will oxidize the beer.

I'm just glad to have put bottling behind me, but it'd be nice to have some beer I can transport and share.
 
No, you don't want to pour into bottles. The foaming would be terrible.

You can either use a tube into your faucet, like brewpubs do, to fill a growler. If you want to bottle for gifts or competitions, you can do the BMBF method- the Biermuncher Bottle Filler (see the thread "we no need no stinking beer gun").
 
I use a picnic tap with no tubing and carefully pour down the side of the bottle at like 1 psi. With cold beer and bottles, I can do this with almost no foam.

For drinking the same night, that is it. For competitions I purge the bottles with c02 first (using a spring tip bottle filler).

This is the same method promulgated by Mike "Tasty" McDole.

I also own a CPBF that I use if I am doing a bunch of bottles from the same keg.
 
I'm with remillard. Just release almost all the pressure from the keg first. If it starts pouring too slowly, give it a shot or two of gas and you'll be back in business. It's certainly worth a try before you buy a beer gun or spend time rigging up some contraption, which is what I tried first. Turning the pressure way down and pouring straight into the bottle works best for me. YMMV.
 
A soda bottle with a carbonater cap is going to be more consistent since you can replace the carbonation lost when filling, but filling chilled glass bottles with a bottling wand (sans valve) stuck in a picnic tap works ok. BMBF if you need more than a couple bottles filled; it reduces spillover loss.
 
Biermuncher's method is the way to go. I've done it many times and it always works beautifully. The best part is that you don't have to wonder how carb'ed your beer is. So great.
 
Back
Top