Bottle Half and Keg Half

[robc311]

So I'm considering kegging half of my batch of hefeweizen and bottling the rest. For the bottling I have 1 liter flip top bottles. Amazon was supposed to deliver 24 regular bottles today but alas they never came. So, I'm not sure what to do for priming since I'm only bottling half the 5 gallon batch and I'm using 1 liter bottles. I guess I can just use half the priming sugar but I also have a bag of Mango Jacks carbonation drops. The beer is a hefeweizen so I want to be careful that I don't get bottle bombs due to all the yeast left in suspension. Any tips before I proceed?

 

[gromitdj]

I would use the drops as indicated on the package. Excess yeast won't cause excess carbonation, excess sugar will. Whatever amount of yeast you have in suspension will only be able to consume the available sugars.

If you want to be sure about the carbonation level, make sure you are at final gravity by taking SG readings.

 

[robc311]

I just checked the package for the drops and it says 2 drops for 750ml and 3 for 1.25 liters so it looks like I'm in between. I guess I will try kegging about half from my fermenter then transfer the rest to my bottling bucket with the corn sugar and water mixture already in the bucket...hopefully it still mixes well. When I checked FG several days ago I was at 70% attenuation so I'm hoping it's ready today...I'll have to verify FG first.

Or maybe I will just wait until my smaller bottles show up and bottle it all. I didn't want to use the bulk of my big bottles on this as I have a brown ale to bottle soon as well. I wanted that in the bigger bottles.

 

[davou]

I always keg and bottle! What I do is fill the bottling bucket, then fill my keg from there. Once the keg is full I calculate priming solution based on the volume remaining, give it a light stir and then bottle.

has worked out gorgeously for me so far!

 

[Chiller_ale]

Yep, check out one of the online priming calculators.

I have been using this one and have not had a problem.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[nobadays]

Or.... if you are not in a hurry to drink the kegged beer, put all the beer in the bottling bucket with the correct amount of priming sugar - bottle what you have bottles for and keg the rest (be sure to fill the keg with starsan and push it out with CO2 then add the beer slowly into the CO2 rich environment) and let the keg naturally carbonate a couple of weeks.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Or.... if you are not in a hurry to drink the kegged beer, put all the beer in the bottling bucket with the correct amount of priming sugar - bottle what you have bottles for and keg the rest (be sure to fill the keg with starsan and push it out with CO2 then add the beer slowly into the CO2 rich environment) and let the keg naturally carbonate a couple of weeks.

IMO, this is much better for a hef than force carbing. Also, depending on how solid your bottles are, it's better to go with a bit higher carbonation than normal for a hef - I go to 3.2vols. You need to make sure your bottles can handle it though (most can).