Bottling a keg that has been there for a while

[kuhl]

Ok, so. A couple months ago I kegged a nut brown ale. It was my first kegging experience. Unfortunately, there was an air leak upstream of the keg somewhere, and nothing got carbed, and I lost all my CO2. That's not really what my question is about, as I plan on buying new O-rings, and doing a full leak test before my next brew.

Time got away from me, and I'm now looking to bottle this beer after about 2 months sitting in the keg. I just tasted it, and it still tastes fine, just no carb. I have a couple of questions about process for this.

1. Do I need to add more yeast? Will the yeast that was in there activate after adding bottling sugar, or do I need more? I have a couple of dry yeast packs I can use, but I would probably only use ~1/4 of the pack, since I don't want any bottle bombs.

2. If I do need more yeast, should I add it and then wait a couple days to let everything mix together? My plan would proabably be to just add the yeast to the keg it's in currently, and then siphon it in a couple days to my bottling bucket. Does this sound ok?

Thanks.

 

[libeerty]

I would put priming sugar dissolved in water in your bottling bucket, then siphon on top of it so it mixes well, then bottle. No need to wait to mix it.

 

[chumpsteak]

Why not fix the leak and force carb the beer in the keg? Is there some reason you want it in bottles?

 

[kuhl]

libeerty - That was the plan. I was really hoping to get an opinion on the viability of the yeast in the keg, and if I'll need to add some more to kickstart carbonation once in the bottles.

chumpsteak - I guess my thought process was that it would be easier to just bottle this one, and then focus on fixing the keg once it isn't full of a beer. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as I'm thinking?

 

[kuhl]

Another question while I'm in here:

What are the socket sizes on Ball lock keg posts? Once is a standard socket, the other is a non standard size. 12 point I think?

 

[chumpsteak]

libeerty - That was the plan. I was really hoping to get an opinion on the viability of the yeast in the keg, and if I'll need to add some more to kickstart carbonation once in the bottles.

chumpsteak - I guess my thought process was that it would be easier to just bottle this one, and then focus on fixing the keg once it isn't full of a beer. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as I'm thinking?

You can easily change o rings with beer in the keg. Just purge with co2 again before sealing.

As far as the yeast being viable they are probably just dormant and will wake up and get back to work once you warm them up and feed them. Might take a little longer than normal to carb up is all.

 

[libeerty]

Definitely get 12 points because they work on 12 and 6 points. On a ball lock, it is probably either a 7/8" or an 11/16" socket, it can vary between different models.

 

[b-boy]

libeerty - That was the plan. I was really hoping to get an opinion on the viability of the yeast in the keg, and if I'll need to add some more to kickstart carbonation once in the bottles.

chumpsteak - I guess my thought process was that it would be easier to just bottle this one, and then focus on fixing the keg once it isn't full of a beer. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as I'm thinking?

I'd focus on fixing the kegerator then force carbing. Sounds like that's where you want to end up eventually anyway.

The trick is to isolate each part of the system to find your leak. You might lose a tank or 2 of CO2, but once you fix it you'll be good to go after that.

 

[kuhl]

I think I'm gonna go ahead and bottle the batch that's in there now.

I'd rather do keg troubleshooting without having to worry about sanitation.

I think my leak might have been at the regulator, since when I first hooked everything up, I sprayed the posts of the keg with starsan, no bubbles. I also need to go trade my CO2 tank in.

 

[jborgy]

I got this thing for disasempling and cleaning my kegs and it is awesome. I have 13 kegs and it works on all of them.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ratcheting-box-wrench-7-8-and-11-16.html