Bottling carbonated beer(am i doing it right?)

[mackinskor]

Hi I have a question regarding longevity of carbonation in beer that is fully carbed from a keg (only CO2): simply, how long will my beer stay carbonated in the bottles if I'm bottling pre-carbed beer?

My only bottling experience is with priming sugar and old fashioned homebrew bucket bottling. I moved into kegging about 6 months ago and haven't had issues keeping beer carbonated on tap, but never bottled the beer because I haven't had the need.

Is this how it's done at other breweries? Carbonate then bottle and cap?

 

[sketerbuck]

If your bottling for long term storage I would look at using a Blichmann beer gun or a counter pressure bottle filler. If your filling bottles to drink right away then you can fill right out of your tap. Cold bottles and cold beer will help keep your c02 in suspension. On my faucet I can use a piece of tubing stuck in the faucet and fill from the bottom of the bottle.

 

[mackinskor]

I indeed used a beer gun and am keeping the bottles cold.

I have a beer sampling December 15th and want to be positive my beer won't be flat by that time

 

[AdamWiz]

As far as I know, the carbonation in beer bottled with a beer gun will last indefinitely as long as the bottle caps are sealed properly. Plus I would assume that the beer will stay fresh longer than bottle conditioned beer due to being able to purge the bottles with CO2 before filling. This is not from first-hand experience though, I am new to kegging and haven't bottled off a keg yet. By the way, how do you like using the beer gun? I am thinking of getting one soon. I like kegging, but I still would like to have some bottles to take on the go. I'm leaning towards the beergun instead of a CP filler, because I may end up bottling entire batches out of the keg sometimes due to not having enough space for more than 2 or 3 kegs in my beer fridge.

 

[mackinskor]

Oh man if you haven't used a beer gun, go get one!! Well worth the investment, saves so much time and clean up and oh jeez just better in every aspect

 

[kev7555]

I once bottled a pilsner directly from the keg (tube in the pouring spout and filled from the bottom of the bottle). I entered three bottles in a homebrew competition one year later and it won a minor award (second place ribbon). So I pulled out a few bottles that were left and all were great.

Yes, counter-pressure fillers work wonderfully but if you hit it just right, you can bottle directly from the keg just as well. I would advise not leaving a lot of headspace in the bottle with this method, maybe just a 1/2 inch or so.

Cheers!

 

[AdamWiz]

Oh man if you haven't used a beer gun, go get one!! Well worth the investment, saves so much time and clean up and oh jeez just better in every aspect

Today was my birthday, and guess what my wife had waiting for me when I got home from work? BEERGUN! My wife is the greatest, wouldn't you say? Can't wait to use it.