Bottling Force Carb'd (Keg'd) Beer - Question

[CorneliusRox]

Hey guys,


I've got the equipment/sugar to bottle, but I've never done it. I understand you add the sugar prior to bottling and let them ferment a bit more in the bottle to create CO2, pressure, and force carb in the bottle basically.

I only even keg because we make friends come over if they want to drink it. That being said, we're making the 13hr drive home to visit family and wanted to bring some beer.

Is there a way to bottle, or growler my force carb'd beer? I know to fill the bottle with CO2 first, but should I add some priming sugar? How much? How long should it sit, or is it good because it's already carb'd?


Thanks!

 

[microbusbrewery]

To do it right, you need a bottle filler like on of the following so that you can bottle straight from the keg. You could also make one yourself; there are a few on HBT that people have made. You could also try freezing your bottles before filling them straight from the tap, but I've never seen that work very well. I would definitely not try priming already carb'd beer.

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/beergun
http://www.northernbrewer.com/the-last-straw-bottle-filler
https://www.morebeer.com/products/c...-filler.html?gclid=COLAubjv98wCFZGIaQodi9sF1Q

 

[Atlmustang]

Go buy a couple 6 packs of grolsch beer and use the flip top bottles. Fill them and cap them. Should retain carbination for a while.

 

[CorneliusRox]

To do it right, you need a bottle filler like on of the following so that you can bottle straight from the keg. You could also make one yourself; there are a few on HBT that people have made. You could also try freezing your bottles before filling them straight from the tap, but I've never seen that work very well. I would definitely not try priming already carb'd beer.

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/beergun
http://www.northernbrewer.com/the-last-straw-bottle-filler
https://www.morebeer.com/products/c...-filler.html?gclid=COLAubjv98wCFZGIaQodi9sF1Q

Those look a bit pricey for a pretty much one time use. I have a line set up for purging my carboys prior to racking. What if I did that, then I put a line off my tap and pushed the beer to the bottom of the bottle?

Also, should I overcarb the beer just a tad and try and bottle. I'm thinking that might turn into a foamy mess though.

I could turn the keg down to ~30deg to get it really saturated in CO2. Would you recommend that?

Go buy a couple 6 packs of grolsch beer and use the flip top bottles. Fill them and cap them. Should retain carbination for a while.

I tried that years ago and it seems to only hold for a couple days. Does that sound right?

 

[jpakstis]

If you're just interested in filling growlers to bring over for immediate drinking or within a couple of days, you could just attach a growler filler to your faucet and fill it up that way. I assume you've already carb'd your beer for serving from the keg.

 

[CorneliusRox]

If you're just interested in filling growlers to bring over for immediate drinking or within a couple of days, you could just attach a growler filler to your faucet and fill it up that way. I assume you've already carb'd your beer for serving from the keg.

Yup, it's carb'd (or at least whatever I have at the end of June will be). It'll be about a week before I get it to it's destination, and I'm worried about it de-carbonizing. It might see a couple instances of going to ~45deg and back down to cold again too (since there's a 13hr and 5hr drive involved with only a cooler).

 

[doug293cz]

Check out this bottle filler.

Get the beer and bottles cold before filling. If you get any significant foaming while filling, turn the CO2 pressure down. CO2 in the foam is lost from the beer. Overcarbing a tad can compensate for some loss of CO2 during bottle filling. Ideally, you'd like just enough foam so that the headspace of the bottle is filled with foam after the filler tube is removed, and then cap immediately. This will minimize O2 trapped in the headspace.

Brew on

 

[microbusbrewery]

Here's a much cheaper version of a bottle filler. I've never tried this myself, but there are lots of success stories in the thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24678

 

[MaryB]

How about just taking a keg with and a smaller CO2 system?

 

[jpakstis]

Yup, it's carb'd (or at least whatever I have at the end of June will be). It'll be about a week before I get it to it's destination, and I'm worried about it de-carbonizing. It might see a couple instances of going to ~45deg and back down to cold again too (since there's a 13hr and 5hr drive involved with only a cooler).

Right, then a Beer Gun or some beer filler should do the trick. I've never tried it myself, but would a twist-off growler cap still hold the carbonation? I have a Beer Gun and its pretty easy to use once I got the hang of it. I also saw some posts online where people just filled the bottles right from the tap and capped it, no co2 added or anything additional. I don't know if that would work. If you have time, maybe try a test bottle? After all you're not expecting to keep them for weeks or months after bottling, I assume?

The one thing I don't think you need to do is add priming sugar. Its more about keeping the beer already carbed in that state until its opened. I also don't think the potential temperature changes will affect it much so long as its tightly sealed (hence my question about the twist-off growler caps).

 

[Yooper]

Check out this bottle filler.

Get the beer and bottles cold before filling. If you get any significant foaming while filling, turn the CO2 pressure down. CO2 in the foam is lost from the beer. Overcarbing a tad can compensate for some loss of CO2 during bottle filling. Ideally, you'd like just enough foam so that the headspace of the bottle is filled with foam after the filler tube is removed, and then cap immediately. This will minimize O2 trapped in the headspace.

Brew on

I"ve done this many times! I even won some competitions with this method. It works great, and the beer holds carbonation indefinitely.

I think it cost me about $2, since I had the picnic tap and line, and the broken racking cane, but I needed some caps.

 

[mongoose33]

I originally got into kegging NOT because I was anti-bottle, but because I didn't want that layer of yeasties in the bottom of my bottles. While I know to decant in such a situation, many I might give bottles to will not do that, and I didn't want to waste any beer anyway.

So I bought a kegging setup so I could bottle from the keg. But now, I only bottle if I'm taking beer someplace or giving it to friends/family. The carbonation is perfect and it stays perfect.

I've used the same method as above--in my case, I attached a piece of tubing to the end of filler tube so it fits over the end of the picnic tap. Chill the bottles, and I'm good to go.

I have "The Last Straw" filler from Northern Brewer, used it one time and it wasn't that happy of an experience. I'm sure I'll learn to use it better but in the meantime the cane and stopper method is rather good.

Here's mine:

 

[Gavin C]

I"ve done this many times! I even won some competitions with this method. It works great, and the beer holds carbonation indefinitely.

I think it cost me about $2, since I had the picnic tap and line, and the broken racking cane, but I needed some caps.

+1 to BMBF

Tried and tested.

Beer remains stable indefinitely in the bottle this way. I bottle any beers for comps or sharing this way with good results.

 

[eric19312]

Growlers are your best bet. Easy to fill and hold the beer carbed for at least a week if unopened.

 

[CorneliusRox]

You guys rock. I'm going to try chilling the bottles filling like the link said. It makes sense and sounds really easy. I'll let you guys know the results when I've tried it (probably in ~2 months).

Until then, I don't mind more suggestion!

 

[CorneliusRox]

I'm two days late on my 'two month' reply. ;-)

This worked perfect! I appreciate all of your guy's help.
I bought an attachment like above where it had the rubber stopper along with a double o-ring setup to fit in the tap. Then I realized one of my taps must be slightly bent...

I also spilled a ton and had a lot of foam even though I bot the bottles cold and rinsed them. Any advice on that? I basically had to keep adding a little bit at a time for the last 1/3 of each bottle.

Then for capping, I gave it a tumble to purge the bottles of any air, capped, and tossed in the fridge until our trip.

Everyone loved them and the carbonation on both bottles and growlers was perfect (granted it was only a week after bottling).

Thanks again.