A question on filling bottles from the keg

when you prepare the bottles for filling ( sanitize and freezer) do you sanitize then freezer or freezer then hit with starsan just prior to filling?

 

using flip tops.. so star san.. freezer and dip the tops right before filling...ok THANKS

 

Freezer will work but don't let them get frosted, the last thing you want is a bottle filled with nucleation sites.

And, fwiw, a bucket of ice water works as well without the frosting risk...

Cheers!

 

First off, I have been bottling from my keg using a Beergun. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with StarSan and the add a clean sanitized 2 liter bottle of frozen water. I then submerge my clean bottles in this solution, letting then chill down, empty and then fill. I have not had any issues, it seems to work for me.

 

First fill a bucket with water and Starsan and immerse your bottles for a couple of minutes, then let them dry and put into freeze to cold them.
Then I use a tubing with a thin rubber stopper and insert this tube into the picnic faucet to fill the bottles.
I just found this image on the web.



The most important is that your beer must be already carbonated and then you need 5 PSI for serving. Your tubing, rubber stopper and everything must be cold, to avoid foam on your serving... if your tubing or your bottle is warm, it will produce foam during the bottling.
The trick here is that the rubber stopper will "close" the bottle and you will fill the bottle until it pressurize equal to the keg. Then you need to press slowly the rubber to let some air run through the stopper and it will let you fill more beer in the bottle. You control the speed of your filling pressing more or less the rubber.
You could find some videos in Internet to understand that process.
Good Luck

 

using a growler filler tube.. do I have to crank down the PSI?

 

Actually I bought a bottle filler and use it sometimes to fill bottles from fermenter + priming sugar, but you can remove the head and use only the tube as shown in the previous picture.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VFBLNC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If your pressure is high, then you will have foam. If your beer is already carbonated, you only need enough pressure to push the beer from the keg to the bottle, so if try with 1 PSI it would work, but you will not take the filler up or it will stop, so I suggest using between 3 to 5 PSI just to push the beer. It is just a matter of pressures!

 

Unless you have some form of counter-pressure device, it's best to turn down the PSI before filling. Also, pour yourself 6 oz before filling the growlers also to get rid of the initial foam-prone beer and chill the lines/faucet a bit.

When I fill growlers from the tap (perlick faucet), I slip a drilled stopper over the faucet that then seals with the growler. Combined with the growler filler and tubing, I'm able to fill growlers from the tap without touching the co2 pressure and with minimal/no foam.

HTH!

 

This was my method prior to growler filler and tube. Foam is significantly reduced with the tube and slower flow (i.e. more pressure on the stopper):
http://youtu.be/1db5LMT_D0Y

 

I filled 3 bottles today.. got one half done with the growler filler and switched to the picnic tap... what a mess.

 

No good, huh? What do you think caused the problem? Too turbulent beer output or something else?

I assume the picnic tap method worked for you? Is that the "no stinking beergun" picnic tap setup?

 

cranked the PSI down to 5 still got beer everywhere.. got em filled and capped ( flip tops) on foam...we shall see.. didn't use the stopper.. will have to set up better next time. these are only needed to stay good a couple days.

 

Good to know your process that didn't work; if for no other reason than to know what does NOT work. I had my doubts about using a plain growler filler without some intervention; although I thought the lower psi would have helped.

I just got done bottling three beers from perlick 525ss taps; 1 growler and 2 32oz fliptops. I used my method of drilled stopper ON the faucet, growler filler with hose IN the faucet, pushed 3-4 oz through hose into glass to chill the hose, and pushed the pre-chilled bottles up against the stopper to create counter pressure. I did not do anything to regulator pressures - they were left at regular serving pressure. I would say that it worked extremely well. The foam that was created on top of the beer during the fill was a "scant" amount (i.e. 1/16" across 50% of the surface, centered around the growler tube). In all three fills I would say I lost about 1-2 oz in drips and capping on foam.

Overall, I'm happy with this process and think I can live with it. I suspect there is no such thing as "perfectly clean" filling from a keg faucet - but I've got some ideas . I may make a video of the process and setup to illustrate exactly how I do it and how it works out.

 

will be trying your method as soon as I get a stopper drilled

 

by serving pressure...12 or so PSI?

 

Release pressure on keg, turn gas down to 3-4 psi and reconnect. I keep a spray bottle of sanitizer by the keezer - few quirts in bottle / growler. Jam a piece of racking cane tube into perlick and away we go. Works well for me, haven't tried to hold bottles more than a day or so.

 

I'm closer to around 10 psi in my cold fridge, BUT it really shouldn't matter since the pressure you push the bottle up against the stopper is what counteracts the serving pressure. You'll need to push up ever-so-slightly more than me, which is not too straining . The worst part of getting a stopper on the faucet of your perlick is figuring out how to make the hole bigger!! I ended up using various tools to work the hole bigger and none did a great job. In the end I was able to remove enough material from the stopper's hole so that I can twist it on the faucet, but I would gladly remake my stopper if I could figure out a better way of expanding the hole.

 

I think your stopper method combined with the growler filler to fill from the bottom up would be perfect... but I will need various length hoses for bottles and growlers ( if I ever get any)

 

I use a growler tube with a small stopper on it that can slip up or down to accommodate the depth of the bottle. I might add a larger stopper above for growlers one day too. Works great and I do not need to reduce the psi. I also keep my growlers and bottles in the freezer and they're usually full of frost, but that hasn't been a problem so far.

 

I totally agree...if you didn't release the pressure on your keg, it still has a high pressure on its head space. You must close the valve of the co2, release the pressure on keg, and open the valve of the co2 but reducing it to 3 or 4 PSI.
Just in case release again pressure, because the real carbonation has been absorbed by beer.... now that you do not have excessive pressure, it must work.
If you still have foam, would be for a warm termeperature on the bottle, the filler, the tubing..... run some beer through your connection to cold your lines and try again on a cold bottle.

 

I like that idea (stopper on growler hose)! I wonder what kind of backpressure needs to be built up to eject the growler filler device from the faucet? I guess since the hose is fairly rigid it would take a bit. This is something I'll definitely experiment with. Thanks for sharing your process!

 

terrible idea...beer everywhere.....when I released to stopper to allow the flow to continue beer spewed all over.....picnic tap and racking cane and stopper for me from now on..that sucked