How much waste when bottling?

Hi

I'm using a pressure barrel for secondary which you can tap straight into your glass, but the problem I'm finding is the tap is a couple of inches from the bottom of the barrel, so you have to start tipping the barrel up to get the last 3 litres.

I decided to bottle the last bit into sterilised coke bottles in the fridge, however I definately disturbed the sediment and you could see the particulate material in it.

I expected this to settle out (which it did) and the beer to taste like all the rest (which it didn't - tastes a bit off). Is this last 3 litres of beer ruined once mixed up with the sediment?

Would you recommend on my next batch, taking the lid off and siphoning the last 3 litres?

 

your always going to have some sediment, and some wasted beer. When i do mine i syphon by hand so i dont have to worry about sedimentation....it makes for more peace of mind.

 

Living in America we don't have those kids of fermenters here, so I'm not sure if this will work...

You could try to rig up something like my bottling bucket pickup tube from the back of the spigot to almost the floor of the fermenter...

It's just a stopper that fits in the back of the spigot and a pipe or tube of some sort...My first version, this one, was made with a 3 inch piece of copper tubing.



Unfortunately that one met it's bitter end in my garbage disposal, so subsequently I replaced the copper with a piece of an old racking cane that I heated and bent over a spirit lamp...

It just slips into the back of the spigot of my bottling bucket and the tune angle down til the back lip of the pipe makes contact with the bottom of the bucket, leaving a small gap for the beer to flow through.



I end up leaving on average less than 4 ounces of beer behind...

And the best thing..No Tipping Required

Hope you can rig something like that up insige your pressure barrel.

 

oh, I see revy, although my Barrel is normally out of pressure by the time it's that empty. Are you relying on the pressure in the gas to push the beer up the pipe ... or have I got it all arse about face?

 

It just works as a siphon, there's no gas...it's an open bottling bucket, so I guess the liguid is pushed up by it's own weight.

A lot of people have them on their brew kettles as well...