Condition.... bottles or kegs?

[ChandlerBang]

The first batch is almost done in the secondary. The instuctions (box beer) of course say to go to bottles and let carbonate. I have a couple cornies that I'd rather go to.

Do I need to let it go longer in the carboy before going to the keg?
Will it carbonate immediately in the keg with the CO2 or do I still have to add priming sugar?

Can I do some bottles and the rest into a keg, meaning will having the keg only half full to start with effect the outcome?

 

[JonK331]

Just go into the keg, no priming sugar. There are lots of threads on here about how to carb but you can do it in as little as a few hours by cranking up the pressure and shaking the keg. It better to set the pressure to 30 psi and go approximately three days. Better yet to set the pressure to ~14 psi and go a week or so.

You can keg half, then add priming sugar to the rest and bottle as long as you purge the O2 out of the keg by letting gas out via release valve after pressurization (you should do this anyway). However, it is very easy to bottle right out of the keg, just jam the clear plastic tube from your bottling wand into a cobra tab and fill bottles from the bottom, making sure you cap on foam and not dead space.

 

[Drunkenfool]

Dude. Fuk bottling. Unless u want to needlessly feel all of our early brewing pains

 

[Drunkenfool]

Oh yeah. Exactly what the other dude said on how to do it. Thank god for cornies. You need like 10 of them

 

[lumpher]

Oh yeah. Exactly what the other dude said on how to do it. Thank god for cornies. You need like 10 of them

damn. i knew there was a problem. i only have 9 kegs... o yeah, and i only bottle very special brews

 

[ChandlerBang]

Maybe I'm a 'tard, but I kinda wanted to see the difference in taste between the options. And my wife did such a damn good job cleaning all those used bottles I've been collecting.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Dude. Fuk bottling. Unless u want to needlessly feel all of our early brewing pains

Just posted it in another thread, but just as applicable to this post:

To paraphrase Revvy:

THERE IS NOT A DAAAMN THING WRONG WITH BOTTLING.

Anyone that says something like that about bottling is either a) extremely lazy, or b) got something wrong, and placed the blame on bottling itself. Homebrew competitions and BJCP events require bottles, and the owners of my LHBS swear by bottles.

So....

there.

 

[cheier]

I have no problems with bottling, but I'm considering bottling from the keg for a few brews in the future using a beer gun. I'll probably experiment a bit with bottle conditioning and bottling from kegs in a few months just to taste any potential differences in flavour profiles. Either way, I'll probably make sure I always have bottling as part of my process.

 

[ChandlerBang]

When conditioning in a keg, does it still need to happen at 70F like with the bottles?

 

[pkincaid]

When conditioning in a keg, does it still need to happen at 70F like with the bottles?

Nope.... C02 is absorbed better at colder temps. PLUS the only reason bottle carbing is done at 70 is because the yeast are still actively "fermenting" the added sugar that is needed to carbonate. When using kegs, you are forcing C02 into the solution from a tank of compressed gas. No need for yeasties to help with kegging, they can take their leave when I pull my kegs out!

P.S... I still bottle, but I don't use priming sugar. I bottle from the keg. So easy and nice and no more bottle bombs for me! I like to keg the whole 5gal and bottle a 12 pack from it.

 

[ChandlerBang]

P.S... I still bottle, but I don't use priming sugar. I bottle from the keg. So easy and nice and no more bottle bombs for me! I like to keg the whole 5gal and bottle a 12 pack from it.

Reeeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllyyyyy, I want to bottle a little just for convenience. To take to a buddy's house or something. I read somewhere that some guy jams the racking cane on to the tap and goes to town bottling. I think I can figure that one out.

So how long do you let it sit chilled and under pressure before you go keg to bottle? Since it is already carbed at that point you just fill, cap and refridgerate?

 

[pkincaid]

This is the thread with directions on keg bottling at practically no expense

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

I didn't cut my racking cane at an angle, and as long as I keep the end submerged everythings fine!
I strongly urge you to check out that link cause it gives you all the 411 needed to bottle: kegged beer. You have to lower the cO2 tank down to like 1 or 2 psi (2 works for me) tip the bottle a little, cap when it foams to the top... yadda yadda. But I still find it more convenient and consistent than using priming sugar.

I keep my beer kegged until it's at my desired volume of c02 AND conditioned well enough to drink, then I bottle off a 12 pack. We drink from the keg and save the bottles for when the keg is all gone, or for a BBQ or party. It's also nice that there's no sediment in bottles filled from the keg.

I'm sure the thread will help more, and I'm sure there are others who can help fathoms more than I, but good luck!