Left Over Beer After Kegging - What To Do?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jiffster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2015
Messages
806
Reaction score
109
I kegged a Porter yesterday and had almost a half gallon left over that wouldn't fit in the keg.

I put it in a pitcher and put it in the fridge. Couldn't bring myself to just dump it. (I did drink a pint).

What do you'd I with your leftovers?
 
Just leave it in primary. There's never more than a pint or two though. I would bottle it but too cheap to buy a capper and wand for such a small amount.
 
Since we also bottle (cider, meads, wines, specialty beers,) if we know there's more beer than will fit the keg, we sanitize a 6 pack of bottles, and put the extra beer in with a carb drop in each, and cap it up. If you really don't want to invest in a capper and caps and save some empties, you could also put the beer in soda bottles with sugar (abt 1/2 tsp per 12 oz) and bottle condition them that way. Edit: obviously I mean plastic soda bottles, cleaned and sanitized, with the caps firmly screwed back on!
 
I kegged a Porter yesterday and had almost a half gallon left over that wouldn't fit in the keg.

I put it in a pitcher and put it in the fridge. Couldn't bring myself to just dump it. (I did drink a pint).

What do you'd I with your leftovers?

This happens to me about every brew. I'd rather be a half gallon over vs half gallon under. I usually just swirl that into suspension and pour yeast into sanitized mason jars for next brew day. When the yeast separates in the fridge, I will pour off that wort before pitching the yeast. I like a large wort layer (50/50) on the yeast when storing as I think it helps protect the yeast. I know I'm probably wrong about this (protecting the yeast) but it always seems to work for me.
 
Drink it.. or get some swingtops. Swingtops are also handy if you have some left in the keg but want to put new batch in the keg.
 
I have a SS carbonator cap with a ball lock connection that fits soda bottles so if I have enough left after filling the keg I siphon to either a 1 or 2 L bottle, squeeze the bottle to remove all the air and tighten the cap. Place it in the fridge to chill and once cold hit it with 30 psi of CO2 and shake it up to absorb CO2 and do it 1 more time. Let it sit, sometimes until the next day and enjoy a taste of what the freshly kegged beer will taste like. As a bonus I find it easier to leave the keg alone for a little longer since I already got to sample it in cold & carbed form.
 
I didn't sanitize the pitcher before racking beer into it. Could I still put it in sanitized bottles or flip tops with carb tablets or use a CO2 carb cap?
 
On such occasions, I do the same as schatzke using a 1 or 2 liter bottle and a carb cap.
The best part of that is you can rapidly carb the leftover beer and have something new to sample.

Waste not, want not...

Cheers! :mug:
 
I have a SS carbonator cap with a ball lock connection that fits soda bottles so if I have enough left after filling the keg I siphon to either a 1 or 2 L bottle, squeeze the bottle to remove all the air and tighten the cap. Place it in the fridge to chill and once cold hit it with 30 psi of CO2 and shake it up to absorb CO2 and do it 1 more time. Let it sit, sometimes until the next day and enjoy a taste of what the freshly kegged beer will taste like. As a bonus I find it easier to leave the keg alone for a little longer since I already got to sample it in cold & carbed form.

^ This
 
I have a SS carbonator cap with a ball lock connection that fits soda bottles so if I have enough left after filling the keg I siphon to either a 1 or 2 L bottle, squeeze the bottle to remove all the air and tighten the cap. Place it in the fridge to chill and once cold hit it with 30 psi of CO2 and shake it up to absorb CO2 and do it 1 more time. Let it sit, sometimes until the next day and enjoy a taste of what the freshly kegged beer will taste like. As a bonus I find it easier to leave the keg alone for a little longer since I already got to sample it in cold & carbed form.

this ^.
Carbonator cap turns any plastic bottle into a mini-keg!
It's also good for quick tasting of nearly fermented out beer (cold and carbed tastes very different) or for re-carbing beer that went flat.
 
Those things are worth their weight in gold, carbonate anything up, juice, flat sodas, beer... plus a 2L bottle can now function as a growler that you can even recarbonate if it starts to go flat! You can get a gallon growler filled at the local brewery of choice and if it don't drink it all, pour it into a 2L bottle and carbonate it back up!
 
...

What do you'd I with your leftovers?

Love when that happens.

I sanitize some bottles, drop one of these in each, and then fill and cap. Works great every single time.

Cheers,

Norm

Edit: After reading the above, I just ordered a carb cap too. Those things are totally cool. Can't beat having that option for only $12.
 
Picked up a SS carb cap last night. It's carbed and in the fridge for tasting this afternoon.

Thanks folks!

Oh, I love mine! And when you don't have beer to carb up, you can carb up seltzer water and make your own tonic for gin & tonics. You can make kiddie cocktails for the kids by carbonating lemonade and adding maraschino cherries. You can make ginger ale or root beer quick, as well.

Maybe you need more than one........................:D

I have a plastic one I got years ago and it's sort of leaky sometimes, but the stainless one is perfect.
 
Oh, I love mine! And when you don't have beer to carb up, you can carb up seltzer water and make your own tonic for gin & tonics. You can make kiddie cocktails for the kids by carbonating lemonade and adding maraschino cherries. You can make ginger ale or root beer quick, as well.

Maybe you need more than one........................:D

I have a plastic one I got years ago and it's sort of leaky sometimes, but the stainless one is perfect.

I have two plastic and two stainless ones - plastic fail to seal for some bottles - around the screw top. Stainless are perfect every time. I only use stainless now. (They can also be useful for closed transfers from fermenters to kegs).

You can get very good stainless carbacap for $12-13 on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-S...092333?hash=item210df52cad:g:cXkAAOSwJSJXGk0P

But I prefer the one for $19.99 with a barb at the end (useful for transfers):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-S...827014?hash=item210cfcfc46:g:otUAAOSw41xXO3cs
 
Mwa hahaha, just got ours today, stainless steel one. Charged up a bottle of RO water with some lemon, lime and a tsp of sugar, nice. Now we have a bottle of Joe's Grape Mead (damned sweet grape stuff) and charging that up! I think this is going to be way too fun.
Edit: at less than $12 I may get another one or two....
edit 2 - do amazon smile btw
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V334SME/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
edit 3 - Joe's Grape mead fizzy = a really dangerous dessert drink (having trouble typing....)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I force carb, and just bottle it in 4 sanitized - 1L swingtops without any sugar, after I'm far enough down in the corny keg, I just add the extra 4L in. Mind you I'm just going for a good drinkable beer, I'm sure it changes the flavour but not enough for me to notice.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top