Keggers who bottle for competition or swapping

So, I've used my kegger to fill up a growler to go or a few bottles for a friend who would be drinking brew in the next few days. Either way, they were kept cold from keg to bottle to fridge.

For those of you who keg and send out to beerswaps or comps, do you think it affects your final brew (moreso for competition)? I'm worried that even doing what I can (cranking up pressure for a few days, then bleeging off and filling at a reduced PSI with a CP filler/beer gun), things like warming up and shaking during transit will affect my brew more than if I just bottle carbed a 6er out of every batch for the very purpose of sending out for comp/swap.

Anyone notice anything in kegged brews drank weeks later and often changing temp from cold to warm to cold again?

Subscribed.

Hopefully BM will chime in with a link to the post he made about how he does this.

Well, I've seen his magic tool, and I use something similar, and it works fine for short term storage and transfer.

I'm really interested in hearing the results of long term storage of keg bottled beer and how it survives transfer.

jezter6 said:

Well, I've seen his magic tool...

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I really wish that I was mature enough to not find that hilarious.

I've heard the guys on the Jamil show podcast saying that they generally bottle their beers from the keg.

I'm subscribing to this thread just to hear more about Biermuncher and his magic tool.

(and the 8 new cornies in the basement that I start using next week)

I've read the thread already, Rich, I just couldn't resist the joke. Thanks for it again though, I'm always happy to refresh my memory on gadgets!

The beer I entered in competition was carbonated with carb drops. I racked to the keg. Then used a picnic tap to fill sanitized bottles. dropped in a carb drop and let it sit for 6 weeks for competition.

I'm getting ready to keg for the first time this weekend I was wondering what to do with the extra 2 or 3 litres. I want to bottle them but can't figure out how much sugar per bottle. I'm sure I could but I'm too slow or lazy.

Thanks
Rudeboy

I have often filled bottles from a keg by inserting a bottling wand into a pony tap. The night before I chilled the beer to about 35, and dispensed the beer under VERY low pressure. The important thing is to FREEZE THE BOTTLES first. Cold beer into warm glass is gonna foam like crazy because warming beer can't retain the CO2 that cold beer can. Freezing the bottles keeps every thing calm and the beer stays carbed.

teu1003 said:

I have often filled bottles from a keg by inserting a bottling wand into a pony tap. The night before I chilled the beer to about 35, and dispensed the beer under VERY low pressure. The important thing is to FREEZE THE BOTTLES first. Cold beer into warm glass is gonna foam like crazy because warming beer can't retain the CO2 that cold beer can. Freezing the bottles keeps every thing calm and the beer stays carbed.

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Agreed. I put the bottles in the freezer the day before, though I'm sure a few hours would do the trick.

Aye. I've read the thread about the tool, and I use the picnic tap and bottle wand method myself.

Method aside, my main question is the quality of the brew when left in the bottle over a period of time and/or shipped after being poured using the above methods of either 'magic tool' or bottle wand, freezing, etc.

Has anyone done experiments (or just can comment on) the taste of brew bottled and possibly shipped from a keg? Those that recieve beer from a swap that they know was 'keg bottled' - does it taste any different than a bottle carbed beer? Is it slightly flatter even when using the best kegging methods?

How about longer term storage? Anyone tried a keg bottled beer after say 1 month or 3 months? Anyone done any side by side tests? If not, I may have to begin a test.

jezter6 said:

Has anyone done experiments (or just can comment on) the taste of brew bottled and possibly shipped from a keg? Those that recieve beer from a swap that they know was 'keg bottled' - does it taste any different than a bottle carbed beer? Is it slightly flatter even when using the best kegging methods?

How about longer term storage? Anyone tried a keg bottled beer after say 1 month or 3 months? Anyone done any side by side tests? If not, I may have to begin a test.

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I bottled 2 beers from kegs for a competition ELEVEN days before the competition (using the low pressure/frozen bottle method described above). Both won 2nd place and none of the 6 judges mentioned anything bad about the carbonation level.

I kept a few bottles of the Helles I made and had one the other day. That was December 20. I bottled it on Nov 1. The carb was still fine and it tasted great. Alas, the keg is long empty.

Awesome! That's the kind of evidence I was looking for.

SuperiorBrew said:

Biermuncher's Magic Tool

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that link better not be porn!

Short Drive said:

The beer I entered in competition was carbonated with carb drops. I racked to the keg. Then used a picnic tap to fill sanitized bottles. dropped in a carb drop and let it sit for 6 weeks for competition.

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This is the way I'd do it. It is also the same way my LHBS (or me, when I worked there) recommended.

Rack to the keg. Fill the bottles with warm, flat beer, on top of the required amount of Munton's carb-tabs. Cap, and wait, until conditioned. Yes, you will get a deposit. Live with it. (RDWHAHB!)

steve