Bottle to bottle transfer?

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divrguy

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Okay this might be a weird request but.... How do I effectively transfer beer from one bottle to another without major losses to foam?

Here's the story. All my beer is in swingtops. Family comes over from Germany and I have a beer in primary that was going to be bottled for them to take home. But, flight plans change... The rotator gets moved and bammmm.. They gotta leave in now in 5 days and this beer won't be ready.

So, I have 2 cases of beer in swingtops. Is there any way I can transfer these to regular bottles for the trip over? Does the empty bottle have to be the same temp as the full ones? Do I dump in a bottling bucket and transfer and hope for the best? Slightly swoosh the yeast into suspension and see if I get more carb after re-bottling?

Or do I just bite the bullet and send them away with the swingtops? Need your help guys..!


Cheers!
 
If you're surgical with a siphon, you might just be able to rack to new bottles. Extra hands would help. You'll probably end up having to pour a little to top them off at the end, but it would keep foam down and oxygenation as well. I would chill the beer and then rinse your new bottles. Leave a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the bottles and then throw them in the fridge or freezer (just don't leave them so long that the water freezes). That will help keep foam down as well.
 
I don't see the issue in sending them home with swingtops. I've bottled s few in swingtops and although I didn't have them in a plane I did drive with them and give them away with no issues at all. The way I see it swingtops of commercial travel a long way with no issue so why would homebrew be different? Maybe I am missing something but I wouldn't worry or take the risk in ruining them by transferring...at a minimum I would think the carb would get messed up and worse you oxegenate them.

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Well I didn't think there would be an issue with the swing tops, I just didn't want to give them away..lol

But I think it's not worth risking losing all the beer either. So, I'll just pack them up. Thanks
 
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