Bottling from a keg

[jerly]

What is your preferred Method of bottling with a keg setup? Are the counterpressure fillers easy to use and do they work? What about the blichman beer gun? I want to figure something out, and I've never heard too much about what people who have tried them think of these items.

 

[david_42]

I rarely bottle, but when I do I just reduce the pressure in the keg to about 3 psi and attach a short hose to the tap. Most of the time I'll pre-chill the bottle as well. I've seen demonstrations of the beer gun at club meetings and people who own think they are fantastic. I've never hear anyone say a counterpressure filler was easy to use, but they do work.

I believe there is a review of the beer gun on this site.

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

I rarely bottle, but when I do I just reduce the pressure in the keg to about 3 psi and attach a short hose to the tap. Most of the time I'll pre-chill the bottle as well. I've seen demonstrations of the beer gun at club meetings and people who own think they are fantastic. I've never hear anyone say a counterpressure filler was easy to use, but they do work.

I believe there is a review of the beer gun on this site.

Do you then use carbing drops or does it just keep it's carbonation?

 

[kornkob]

The point of the coutnerpressure bottle filler (or the beer gun) is to keep the CO2 in solution while you fill the bottle. There is no need to 'recarb' beer you are filling using those tools.

On the other hand, if you are filling bottles to haul to a party and consume, you are better off just filling cold bottles from the tap and sealing them up right away.

 

[jerly]

The point of the coutnerpressure bottle filler (or the beer gun) is to keep the CO2 in solution while you fill the bottle. There is no need to 'recarb' beer you are filling using those tools.

On the other hand, if you are filling bottles to haul to a party and consume, you are better off just filling cold bottles from the tap and sealing them up right away.

So, you don't really need one of these unless you want long term storage in a bottle? How much carbonation do you lose, say within 3 or 4 days? Would you want to have a beer gun/counter pressure filler then?

It will be nice if it is going to cost me nothing.

 

[Orpheus]

Hmmm...

the term "beer gun" just sounds so right and yet so wrong at the same time.

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

So How Long Does Bottled Beer Last Bottled From A Keg?

 

[shelly_belly]

I have some of EdWort's Robust Porter I bottled from a keg almost a year ago and it's still great.

 

[marubozo]

I've filled bottles with just a picnic tap and bottling wand from the keg at low pressure and ice cold bottles and drove them over 100 miles to a friend's house and they were still good the next day. I used the same method and shipped a few bottles to a HBT member on the other side of the country (1 week in transit total) and he said they were carbed pretty well, and maybe only slightly lower than expected.

Take that for what it's worth. I'd have no problem filling bottles this way in the future, although if I were sending it off to a competition I might also slip in a carb tab or two in there to be safer than sorry.

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

I'll be wanting to bottle a few from my keg, to let them age longer and see how they mature. I plan on going the 'cut the pressure down and shove a tube on the faucet' method. My question is, if the beer is cold coming out of the keg, do I have to store the bottles cold, or can I store them at room temp? Then again, if the beer has already been chilled to serving temp, is there any advantage to letting it age? Won't all the yeasties be dead/dormant or w/e?

 

[pekabrewery]

My question is, if the beer is cold coming out of the keg, do I have to store the bottles cold, or can I store them at room temp?

If the beer is warmed up a few degrees when you bottle (using warm, or room temp. bottles) you will loose carbonation since the solubility of a gas in liquid decreases with increased temperature.
Easiest way is to clean the bottles, sanitize them, I usually cover them with saranwrap after drying. And then put them in the freezer over night. Bottle next morning

Regarding the aging in bottle, you already carbonated the beer in the keg which takes sometime so my guess is the beer is already aged... Don't take my word for it though, someone else might know some more about this

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

Well, I like the idea of setting a six-pack aside and coming back to it after 6 months or a year to see how my beer has evolved. But, if it won't change at all because my yeast are all dead, then I won't even bother.

 

[Flomaster]

no if you bottle and keep in cool dark place your beer should mature just fine

-=jason=-

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

Refrigerator cool? Or closet cool?

 

[Homercidal]

I've used the BMBF quite a few times and found the best results were delivering at just a little under the keg pressure. Otherwise the beer comes out of solution too easily as you are filling and foams up more. I stared low, and finally just kept turning it back up until the foaming stopped.

I think that filling with a beer gun, or countrpressure filler would be fine for long term unless you introduce Oxygen into the bottle, and then you could get stale beer after a while. At any rate you will lose a little bit of carb when you do this. How much depends on the method and your skill. I doubt its usually enough to worry about. I've bottled beer for competition and have never been knocked for carb of oxidized beer.

Just make sure to sanitize your equipment before you use it to prevent bacteria from taking over your beer and you should be good.

And if I were filling beers just to take somewhere and drink I'd just fill from the tap, as mentioned and cap on the foam. (I actually have several swingtops just for this purpose, or a growler.)

 

[Flomaster]

Refrigerator cool? Or closet cool?

closet, you want to age the same as you would if you bottle carbed the beer.

I need to buy a setup so I can bottle a couple sixers of my first brew before the keg gets kicked.



-=Jason=-

 

[Homercidal]

Refrigerator cool? Or closet cool?

Depends on the beer style and length of time. Generally both are fine as long as the beer is drank within several months. The warmer the beer is, the quicker it ages and oxidizes. A bigger beer will last longer and can actually improve as it gets older. A lighter beer, or a style that depends on hop flavor and aroma will not last as long in either case, but the colder the better.