Oxygenation paranoia with counter-pressure bottle filler

[hosack]

I have a question about the process of using a counter-pressure bottle filler to transfer beer from my keg into bottles and how to keep the beer from being exposed to Oxygen in the process. I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid or if there's actually a risk that I'm bottling my beer with oxygen.

I'm using this bottle filler. Sorry it's in German, but you should get the picture. It's the usual 4-way beer-in, beer-out, co2-in, co2-out system.

My question is:

When the bottle is completely filled with beer I remove the tube from the bottle slowly and this causes the beer to slunk down into the bottle. Doesn't this pull oxygen into the top of the bottle?

There isn't enough foam at the top to protect the beer from oxygen. I hear people recommend "capping on foam". Is this ok, or should I be doing something different?

 

[JohnSand]

I never thought of it that way, but I don't see any alternative. I don't bottle often, but they don't oxidize.

 

[pvtpublic]

I have found that after I pull the wand out, I crack open the valve slightly to pour foam out on top until the foam in the bottle comes out over the lip just a little bit. Then cap on that foam. Rinse the bottles after, and you're all set!

I hope that made sense.

 

[mac_1103]

There isn't enough foam at the top to protect the beer from oxygen. I hear people recommend "capping on foam". Is this ok, or should I be doing something different?

You should be able to get the beer to foam up by swirling the bottle before capping.

 

[Dgallo]

Your counter pressure filler should have the ability to run co2 down the diptube without beer flowing. Then there should be some form of prv on the system. So In an empty bottle run the co2 only when the diptube is at bottom for 5-10 second. This will atleast remove a good portion of the o2(not all of it though). Then pressurize for your transfer, fill, and cap on foam

 

[ITV]

My experience with a counter pressure bottle filler is that I initially purge the empty bottle with CO2 prior to filling.
After filling the level goes down a little after pulling out the fill tube and to cap on foam I either give another shot of CO2 from the fill tube or lightly tap the top of the filled bottle with the bottom of another bottle which you will want to cap immediately as the foam will rise to the top of the bottle very quickly.

 

[wsmith1625]

Swirl the bottle and cap on foam.

 

[Wayne1]

As @ITV mentions, When you remove the filler tube, have a sanitized cap ready to place on the bottle. Lightly tap the side of the bottle. I use a faucet wrench. This will cause the foam to rise. Quickly put the cap on and crimp. I just filled 10 gallons worth in bottles with my brother-in-law yesterday using this method.

 

[jerrylotto]

Don't forget to pre chill your bottles!

 

[Bobo1898]

Don't forget to pre chill your bottles!

+1 This is key

 

[hosack]

Ok thanks for the help everybody. I did have the thought about doing an extra purge after the pour. I'll try to use the methods you provided to get some foam to cap on top of my pre-chilled bottles. My first batch was under-carbonated so it's probably not the best beer to draw any conclusions from. I'll let you know how the next batch goes.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Ok thanks for the help everybody. I did have the thought about doing an extra purge after the pour. I'll try to use the methods you provided to get some foam to cap on top of my pre-chilled bottles. My first batch was under-carbonated so it's probably not the best beer to draw any conclusions from. I'll let you know how the next batch goes.

Yep, you are not paranoid. In this video, Vinny (and ) demonstrate using a counter pressure filler. When they did not swirl the bottle to cap on foam, the DO levels were very high. (Not sure if time stamps work in links, but it is at the 1 hour 11 min mark.)