Keg to Bottle

[sok454]

I don't have a counterflow device to fill from my kegs to the bottle. I am wanting to enter my beer in our groups collaboration contest and wondered if it would be ok to tap from the keg to the bottle and sit for 2-3 days capped? Or would it flatten out?

Any other solutions?

 

[pdietert]

You can fill from the tap but will probably have problems with foam and carbonation may not be at the level you want. You can try turning up the carbonation 2 or 3 psi for 24 hours and chilling the bottles before filling. When you do fill, turn down the regulator to about 5 psi and purge co2 from the keg and lines. This may help but plan on wasting some beer.

Also, see this tutorial, you might already have the parts to do a DIY bottle filler:

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

 

[stpug]

I'll bottle a couple 12 ozers right off the tap. The process I use for 12 ozers is different than 32 oz fliptops, or even growlers. The smaller the vessel you're filling, the more foam issues you'll likely run into. For 12ozers, I simply remove the gas disconnect, vent nearly all head pressure, pour 3 ozs for myself (to chill the faucet), and then fill the bottles that have been pre-chilled (fridge temp is fine), cap on foam. As long as the stream coming out of the faucet is very small (pencil lead size) then the foam will be very manageable.

As a comparison, the stream size for 32 ozers I like to be about 3 pencil leads, and growlers maybe 4.

If I had to fill more than maybe six, or I was doing this regularly, or I was planning on storing for a decent amount of time, then I'd look into some other way of filling bottles but the method outlined above has worked well for me so far.

HTH!

 

[Conan]

I bottle from the tap pretty regularly, and without a specialized device. Assuming the beer is carb'd:
1.Turn off the gas to the keg in question.
2. Bleed nearly all the pressure out of the keg, leaving just enough to flow. "Bump" gas back in as needed to flow.
3. Slip 1/2" I?D tubing (~8" long) over outlet of nozzle
4. Put tubing in bottle/ growler.
5. Keeping the vessel at a steep angle, almost flat, open the tap. I tend to keep the outlet of the tubing near the mouth of the vessel until there's substantial liquid in the vessel. Then, I submerge the end of the tubing in the beer.
6. When full, turn off the tap. The first bottle or so will sometimes be too foamy (a neck's worth of foam). Either fill the rest and come back to it or, if I'll be the drinker, suck the foam off and continue filling.
7. Cap.
8. Remove tubing, clean it- sometimes, hehe- and turn the gas on to the keg.

Mine isn't a fast process and I've done it enough that I can read my flow which makes it much, much easier. I've done this for immediate consumption as well as long-term storage. The key to long-term, and I'm talking anywhere from a week to 3 years, is bottle sanitation. If I'm drinking the bottles tomorrow I won't sanitize them but if they'll be stored for more than a couple days they can cleaned and sanitized. Kyle

 

[sok454]

Thanks guys!

 

[JPFuller]

Long time sticky on this topic here..
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/