bottling kegged beer

I'd like to bottle up a few beers from a keg, my understanding is that I can do this by just dispensing into the bottle and adding some carb drops. I normally add 5 tabs for an uncarbonated beer, any idea how many it will take for a beer that's already carbed and kegged? I'm thinking maybe 2?

I have only started kegging within the last few months but I have had success using a siphon hose attached to the tap. I run the hose through a rubber bung and into the bottle. I just press the bung against the bottle top as I fill the bottle (it works best if the bung is bigger than the bottle). The bung will increase pressure in the bottle and minimize foaming. When the beer flow slows down from the increased pressure, just burp it a little to relieve some of the pressure. I haven't stored the beer for more than a week but it retained it carbonation for that length of time so it should last longer. I have a few stored to test after a month to check.

Good Luck!

best method is to use a counter pressure bottle filler or a beer gun. better results with the CPBF, but the beer gun is easier to use. about the same cost. around 70, so it is a bit of an investment. but you should be able to get consistent results, and once you understand how they work, you will get minimal loss of carbonation.

with any of the other methods, they will work for just a few number of bottles, if you just want to transport them for quick drinking, but i would be wary of long term storage and the level of carbonation. i believe it will tend to be erratic and inconsistent, which is also why i would caution against adding the carb drops, because you won't know how well the liquid kept the carbonation as you dispensed into the bottle, and either will have not enough carbonation, just right, gushers, or bottle bombs.

if you can foot the cost, get a beer gun or CPBF, if not, just do your best with the equipment you have at your disposal.

where do you live? see if there is anyone around you that has the proper equipment that you could borrow.

I'm not ready to invest in a beer gun yet, I don't really see me doing this all that often as I usually bottle a 6 pack and keg the rest so I have a few bottles to gift, but I'm making up a sampler christmas pack and have some beer only in a keg...

I ended up just venting the keg and turning the pressure down until it barely came out of the tap, which gave me a bottle with almost no foam. Then I dropped in two carb drops and watched the bottle foam up and spill everywhere... Whoops.

For the subsequent bottles, I dropped in one tab and quickly capped them before they had a chance to foam up. I'm hoping that will do it, seems like there was plenty of co2 in suspension as it fizzled out after dropping the tabs in, so one tab would hopefully be enough to give it an extra kick to keep it carbed nicely. And if not, well, next time I'll know better

sounds like you're going to have gushers after a week or so. You just added priming sugar to fully carbonated beer. If your yeast has all dropped out and doesn't ferment the added sugar you will just have extra sugar in the beer. The foaming in the bottle was not because of the extra sugar in the carb drop, it would never start carbonating that fast. You added a lot of nucleation points to the beer when you added the drops and the CO2 in suspension attached to them and made bubbles that then erupted. Same principle as mentos in diet coke.

I used to think that I would also seldomly use a beer gun, but I can tell you that I will probably use it for almost every batch now.

Observations:

1. It's a great way to finish off a keg and get that corny back into production.
2. I make soda as well as beer and the soda doesn't get consumed as quickly as beer (go figure), so I bottled a great deal of soda.
3. It's the only way as a kegger to 'archive'.
4. The only way you'll be able to see the effects of longer term aging.
5. It's an easier way to compare the same recipe batch after batch.
6. You'll gift more beers. Therefore you'll brew more.
7. I made it easier on myself by adding a secondary regulator, so it's easier to hook up.
8. Having the extra CO2 line outside of the fridge allows me to use the CO2 to blanket cornies and carboys before filling. I also use the CO2 for racking.

dantodd said:

sounds like you're going to have gushers after a week or so. You just added priming sugar to fully carbonated beer. If your yeast has all dropped out and doesn't ferment the added sugar you will just have extra sugar in the beer. The foaming in the bottle was not because of the extra sugar in the carb drop, it would never start carbonating that fast. You added a lot of nucleation points to the beer when you added the drops and the CO2 in suspension attached to them and made bubbles that then erupted. Same principle as mentos in diet coke.

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Yes I'm aware of why it was foaming, I never said I thought it was carbonating in 5 seconds...

The point of the carb drop was to make up for the co2 that will be lost in the beer as it escapes into the headspace due to not being in a pressurized vessel anymore. An uncarbonated bottle takes 4-5 drops to carbonate, so I'm hoping 1 drop is enough to make up for the lost pressure. Maybe, maybe not, who knows. Yes there is a chance that there is not enough yeast left to add a little extra carbonation, but hey, it's a sweet stout anyway so a little extra sugar isn't the end of the world.