Rebottling

I need to rebottle my RIS into 12 oz. bottles for a competition. My beer is carbed pretty low per guidelines. I was thinking about the following procedure. What do you all think?

1. Purge a 3 gallon corny with CO2.
2. Carefully decant bombers into keg through tight fitting hose
fed to bottom of keg.
3. Recarbonate and bottle with Beergun.

Any advice or modification to the above would be appreciated.

Thanks
KD

Get some of those carboantion tablets. open bottles, drop in tablet, recap.

http://www.beer-wine.com/product_info.asp?productID=1183&sectionID=1

Special Hops said:

Get some of those carboantion tablets. open bottles, drop in tablet, recap.

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The problem isn't that the beer isn't carbed enough...he needs to get into smaller bottles without reducing the carb level or otherwise damaging the beer.

I think your plan would work okay, so long as you decant to the keg EVER so gently, and minimize oxygen exposure. I wonder if the whole transfer to small keg could take place within a deep tub or kettle that itself has been flushed with Co2? Maybe more trouble than it's worth, but it's a thought.

Bring me a couple of those 12oz bottles when you're done, I'll make sure they're still suitable for competition.

sorry I miss-read. Do they have to be 12 oz. bottles?

BlindLemonLars said:

The problem isn't that the beer isn't carbed enough...he needs to get into smaller bottles without reducing the carb level or otherwise damaging the beer.

I think your plan would work okay, so long as you decant to the keg EVER so gently, and minimize oxygen exposure. I wonder if the whole transfer to small keg could take place within a deep tub or kettle that itself has been flushed with Co2? Maybe more trouble than it's worth, but it's a thought.

Bring me a couple of those 12oz bottles when you're done, I'll make sure they're still suitable for competition.

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Thanks Lars. I know I can always count on a falcon to drink all my beer.

I think I'll give the 3 gallon setup a shot. If I keep a slow flow of CO2 flowing into the keg while I decant, maybe I will be ok.

You might also try siphoning from the bottles instead of decanting if your worried about oxygen. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone have to do this before so who knows what the result will be. If you've got some "junk" beer to test out on before hand it might be good, of course if your time constrained then just doing it and letting the judges decide is the only way to go.

At least its a RIS. That should cover up any off flavors pretty well. Just don't be offended by the scoresheets if they aren't as good as you expect. If I had to do this I would prep another bottle for myself and keep it aside till the day of the judging and sample it so you know what the judges are tasting that day

Bokonon said:

At least its a RIS. That should cover up any off flavors pretty well. Just don't be offended by the scoresheets if they aren't as good as you expect. If I had to do this I would prep another bottle for myself and keep it aside till the day of the judging and sample it so you know what the judges are tasting that day

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Yes, I am planning on making an extra bottle. I have hose that fits snugly into the bottle mouth. I'll run that to the bottom of the keg, which hopefully will be capped with CO2.

I did just that, and the pumpkin ale (It didn't carb, I think the yeast was gone, so I was salvaging it for drinking) lasted in the keg only about 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks it was showing signs of oxygen. Try using the autosiphon if you have one and maybe you can avoid the problem.