Bottle Conditioning From Primary

[Pehlman17]

It's been a long time since I've bottle conditioned beer. I typically primary in a corny keg with floating dip tube, transfer to a serving keg, and use a Blichmann Beergun for any bottles that I've needed to fill. Hence that's always been pre-carbonated beer by the time it's in the bottle. Anyway, if I were to do some bottle conditioned beers with conditioning tablets, filled directly from primary, would it still be wise of me to use the Beergun's ability to purge the bottle with CO2 before filling? And perhaps purge any headspace before capping I suppose?

PS - FWIW, this will primarily be for Belgian-style beers. Does anyone have recommendations for bottles and/or carbonation tablets (brand, amount to use, etc) for Belgians? Still planning to cap. I'd rather not bother with corking.

Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

I don't purge my bottles before filling and I haven't seen an issue yet. However I'm not making the very hoppy NEIPA' s and stuff that might benefit from such.

I just fill the bottles up and cap them. Sometimes the little bit of dissolved CO2 that is already in the beer from the fermentation foams up some so that probably adds some CO2 briefly to the headspace if you cap it right away.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Anyway, if I were to do some bottle conditioned beers with conditioning tablets, filled directly from primary, would it still be wise of me to use the Beergun's ability to purge the bottle with CO2 before filling? And perhaps purge any headspace before capping I suppose?

I would start with a "defense in depth" approach (purging bottles and headspace) for most of the bottles - and for a couple of bottles, I would run a "side experiment" where I didn't purge the bottles or the head space.

as an aside (and @hotbeer this aside is not related to your post in #2 - I trust that you know how to transfer without excess oxygen pickup), and regarding anecdotal stories related to bottling, last week, I FF'd through a UT video on brewing with extract. I hit the "stop" button just after the host started the auto-siphon by placing it in the fermenter then pumping it three or four times. If you have an auto-siphon, do this with water and count the bubbles. .

 

[Pehlman17]

I would run a "side experiment" where I didn't purge the bottles or the head space

Funnily enough I thought of trying the exact same thing. I don’t really tend to age beers at all. Even styles that take to it well. Maybe I’ll try dry hopping a Tripel or something and see how the bottles differ purged vs not purged.

(As an aside. Does anyone by chance have experience with how Lallemand Abbey performs with bottle conditioning? As in only used in primary, no additional yeast added at bottling.)

 

[Zambezi Special]

I have no kegging equipment, so no CO2.
I mainly brew Belgian's and bottle straight from primary with table sugar in each bottle.
Works for me, but I have no comparison and I drink my beers fairly fast.
No experience with the Lallemand, only with the Mangrove Jack

 

[Sipina]

(As an aside. Does anyone by chance have experience with how Lallemand Abbey performs with bottle conditioning? As in only used in primary, no additional yeast added at bottling.)

I've done it once with Lallemand Abbey and it worked just as it should.

 

[Miraculix]

Fill the bottle as high as you can without risking cracking bottles due to thermal expansion of the liquid. Usually this means about 0.5 cm headspace.

This made a huge difference in all my beers, the hop aroma stays like in commercial bottles now. Small headspace is more effective than purging. If you can, combine both.

 

[Sipina]

Fill the bottle as high as you can without risking cracking bottles due to thermal expansion of the liquid. Usually this means about 0.5 cm headspace.

This made a huge difference in all my beers, the hop aroma stays like in commercial bottles now. Small headspace is more effective than purging. If you can, combine both.

Do you have any thoughts on the O2 uptake from the yeast in the context of preserving the hop aromas? Do you think it has any effect at all? Maybe the less flocculant yeast would be better in this regard?

 

[Miraculix]

Do you have any thoughts on the O2 uptake from the yeast in the context of preserving the hop aromas? Do you think it has any effect at all? Maybe the less flocculant yeast would be better in this regard?

The o2 in solution will be completely used up very quickly if bottle conditioned with priming sugar, no matter the type of yeast.

The o2 of concern is only the O2 in the headspace as that one will still be there once fermentation in the bottle has finished. Then it will slowly get into solution and oxidize your beer. That's why a small headspace is of utmost importance.

 

[whattabrau]

The o2 in solution will be completely used up very quickly if bottle conditioned with priming sugar, no matter the type of yeast.

Anecdotally, I have literally poured beer into a fliptop bottle and "spunded" it to carbonation by popping the cap periodically (= purges the headspace). The beer remains fresh for months.

If the above sounds weird, it's how I do my "leftover" wet hop beer: squeeze wort out of the kettle hops, move the liquid to a milk bottle or growler or something, add some yeast, wait until mostly fermented, pour into bottles, "spund" to carbonate. I usually get two 0.5L bottles that way, and I'm not too keen on spending a lot of effort on it. Disclaimer: I understand the risks of doing the above and accept them, and I'm not advocating it as a general technique.