Keg conditioning 4 gallons in a 5 gallon keg

I have a stout coming up and I'd like to bottle a few. I was thinking of racking all 5 gallons into a bottling bucket with priming sugar. Then I would bottle a gallon or so and then rack the rest to my korny keg. Would the increased head space in my keg due to the lack of beer effect my carbonation even though my ratio of beer to sugar was correct. Essentially , all I want to do is save a twelve pack or so for winter drinking while I don't have to bottle all the rest.
Any ideas would b appreciated.

I don't think the increased head space would be an issue at all, as long as you purge all the O2 and seal with CO2 to fill the space.

Yes, the increased head space will be a problem because the co2 wouldn't have the same pressure. Its just like filling a bottle 2/3 of the way and hoping it would carb the same as a full bottle. Why not just carb it all up in the keg and then bottle from the keg when its ready? Those of us who force carb do this all the time. Wouldn't be any different with naturally carbed beers.

natural carbing in the keg also requires less priming sugar than in the bottle

so if you add enough sugar to bottle carb a full 5gal batch your keg will likely end up overcarbonated, or if you add enough to properly carb in the keg you will likely end up undercarbing your bottles

either keg it all, carbonate and then fill some bottles using a beer gun or biermunchers bottle filler or fill your keg with 4 gallons, force carb or natural carb with the amount proper for 4gal in a keg and add a separate amount of sugar for the 1gal left in the bottling bucket

the easiest method would be to fill some bottle from the keg IMO

Thanks for the help. I have been force carbing with good results but I can't fill bottles with my kegerator. I spill everywhere and they wont fill all the way. I guess I should have asked how to do this properly since that's my real issue.

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

I've had good success with this method, may take a little practice but if you turn the gas down and pre-chill the bottles it's pretty easy to get the hang of

terrapinj said:

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

I've had good success with this method, may take a little practice but if you turn the gas down and pre-chill the bottles it's pretty easy to get the hang of

Click to expand...

Yep - I do this all the time. The only time I have ever had problems is if I had overcarbed the keg.

I'm with the bottling from the keg idea also. Skip the priming sugar.
I use a bowie bottling adapter (search for it) and have kept bottles filled using that for months and months and never had any issues with oxygenation. Just fill it up as much as you can and cap on top of the foam.

I vote prime the whole batch, bottle what you want, keg the rest, and let the keg condition for the time you condition he bottles (so the sugar gets consumed) but deal with the pressure/carbonation of he keg with the co2 tank and not the natural stuff.

mhobs126 said:

Thanks for the help. I have been force carbing with good results but I can't fill bottles with my kegerator. I spill everywhere and they wont fill all the way. I guess I should have asked how to do this properly since that's my real issue.

Click to expand...

Try this... works great everytime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XmDFzCM2U50

I took the tube from my bottling wand, disconnected the spring apparatus from the bottom so I have only the tube, wedge it into my picnic tap, drop the pressure really low and use that to bottle from the keg. I've won many medals from that procedure.