Bottling from Fermzilla

[vaidas]

I just bought fermzilla fermenter and I will keg most of my beer. However, sometimes I want to bottle all batch and it would be very convenient to do it stright from fermzilla. I am thinking to ferment with airlock for the first day and then put a blowtie and set it 14-15psi. I would cold crash for at least 3 days after fermentation and would try to bottle it (I would push beer out of fermzilla with few psi from co2 tank).
Can blowtie handle this task? I see it is rated up to 15psi. Would it have enough co2 to carb beer?

 

[mac_1103]

First of all, 15 PSI at 68F/20C is only going to get you 1.7 volumes of CO2. Second, bottling carbonated beer requires counterpressure or you're going to either lose carbonation or have a foamy mess on your hands. Or both.

 

[Tony B]

I ferment in an all rounder. I haven’t yet tried bottling from it but if I were to give it a try, this might be a way go about it…
I would not try to pre carbonate the beer. Have all necessary components cleaned and sanitized including a picnic tap with hose attached to spout, long enough to reach the bottom of the bottles. Add carb drops or the proper amount of sugar to each bottle. Connect the co2 tank to the fermenter and pressurize to about 3 psi as a starting point. Fill each bottle from the picnic tap and secure cap.

 

[vaidas]

First of all, 15 PSI at 68F/20C is only going to get you 1.7 volumes of CO2. Second, bottling carbonated beer requires counterpressure or you're going to either lose carbonation or have a foamy mess on your hands. Or both.

I would use counterpressure tap from brewcrafter. But I see it is not possible to get fully carbonated beer at the end of fermentation, the only option seems to connect co2 tank during cold crash or just move beer to keg after crash and force carb it

 

[corncob]

I have bottled from an all rounder many times, but I'm not 100% happy with my method yet. It's true that bottling beer with more than the slightest touch of carbonation requires a counter-pressure filler. I usually don't use an airlock, but instead just lock the fermzilla prv open until very little pressure builds when closing it for a few hours. Then I vent it a couple times every day when I think of it. (I'm brewing ales so this whole process is only a week or so) this results in beer that is almost flat. It will go into a bottle without issue, then will foam nicely after dropping in a measured amount of table sugar. Then I cap on foam and rinse the bottle. I use a tap and push with a couple psi of co2.

All that works great, but I think I have found that a bottling wand is still necessary, because between each bottle the section of tubing below the tap fills with air. The bottling wand has its own valve right at the bottom, so this is prevented. I have found that bottles filled without the wand star to show some oxidation around the 2-3 month mark. I just need to find a bottling wand that doesn't leak constantly and I think my method will be 100%.

 

[vaidas]

I have bottled from an all rounder many times, but I'm not 100% happy with my method yet. It's true that bottling beer with more than the slightest touch of carbonation requires a counter-pressure filler. I usually don't use an airlock, but instead just lock the fermzilla prv open until very little pressure builds when closing it for a few hours. Then I vent it a couple times every day when I think of it. (I'm brewing ales so this whole process is only a week or so) this results in beer that is almost flat. It will go into a bottle without issue, then will foam nicely after dropping in a measured amount of table sugar. Then I cap on foam and rinse the bottle. I use a tap and push with a couple psi of co2.

All that works great, but I think I have found that a bottling wand is still necessary, because between each bottle the section of tubing below the tap fills with air. The bottling wand has its own valve right at the bottom, so this is prevented. I have found that bottles filled without the wand star to show some oxidation around the 2-3 month mark. I just need to find a bottling wand that doesn't leak constantly and I think my method will be 100%.

Do you use picnic/nuka tap to fill bottles? Do you add sugar to each bottle or try to mix it in fermenter? I wonder would counterpressure taps would work fine with flat beer?

Also, before crashing I add ~10psi or so to avoid imploding, would it make any difference to final carb level if I would just ferment with airlock?

 

[corncob]

Do you use picnic/nuka tap to fill bottles? Do you add sugar to each bottle or try to mix it in fermenter? I wonder would counterpressure taps would work fine with flat beer?

Also, before crashing I add ~10psi or so to avoid imploding, would it make any difference to final carb level if I would just ferment with airlock?

I use the nuka mini, but a cobra or picnic would be the same.

I fill each bottle, then add a measured amount of dry table sugar (by volume) to each one through a funnel. In 1-5 seconds creamy foam will rise to the top, at which point I cap. I made a thread on here about this method. The key is just a touch of carbonation. More=you better hurry. Less=be patient for the foam. It works like a charm.

I never crash when bottling, but co2 added to counter going below zero gauge pressure at cold temps will change the carbonation of the beer significantly. You could consult your carbonation chart and reduce your priming sugar to compensate or go ahead and force carb all the way up and use a counter pressure filler. If you go the first route, adding dry sugar might cause enough foaming at the higher carbonation level to make my method impossible--you will know the moment you try. Make sure the beer is still really cold, and vent off pressure for a couple of days to make sure you are starting with atmospheric pressure and whatever co2 level corresponds to saturation at your cold temp.

But consider that if you are bottling beer to keep, maybe you won't miss the cold crash, as the keeping time will take care of anything suspended in your beer. If you are in a hurry, skip the bottling and just crash and serve from your fermzilla. That's my take.

 

[mac_1103]

co2 added to counter going below zero gauge pressure at cold temps will change the carbonation of the beer significantly

Depends on how much CO2 and how long you crash (and how much headspace there is in your fermenter too). I suspect that most people don't cold crash long enough for the beer and headspace CO2 to reach equilibrium.

 

[Tony B]

I recently brewed a batch of Belgian single and after filling a keg I could see I had a bit of clear beer still in the FV. I had a few clean, plastic 22oz beer bottles stored and decided to bottle condition the rest. I took two bottles and sanitized them. I also sanitized a clean picnic tap. I added 1.5 tsp table sugar to each bottle and filled them from the picnic tap at 2psi. A nice slow pour. I conditioned for 10 days at room temp. I chilled them and opened one today. Perfectly carbonated and delicious.

 

[vaidas]

I recently brewed a batch of Belgian single and after filling a keg I could see I had a bit of clear beer still in the FV. I had a few clean, plastic 22oz beer bottles stored and decided to bottle condition the rest. I took two bottles and sanitized them. I also sanitized a clean picnic tap. I added 1.5 tsp table sugar to each bottle and filled them from the picnic tap at 2psi. A nice slow pour. I conditioned for 10 days at room temp. I chilled them and opened one today. Perfectly carbonated and delicious.

You did not use bottling wand with picnic tap? I would like to bottle quads or imperial stout, wish it wouldn't be oxidized after a year of aging

 

[Tony B]

You did not use bottling wand with picnic tap? I would like to bottle quads or imperial stout, wish it wouldn't be oxidized after a year of aging

I did not, it was kind of last minute/ on the fly. If I do it again, I might try the technique I have been using to bottle from a keg. I kept some plastic bottles from my bottling days. They come in handy for a lot of things.
I use a carb cap tee (you can use a carb cap with no tee also) with a piece of tubing that runs to the bottom of the bottle. I run co2 through the gas side of the tee for a few seconds with the tee slightly loose to allow air to escape. Purging it. Then disconnect the gas and use a liquid to liquid jumper from the keg to the tee and fill the bottle. When it gets to the top, pull the QD, remove the tee and seal the bottle quickly. If I’m only doing one or two bottles I’ll just use the tee to cap it. Nice thing about using a carb cap to seal it is you can add a little more co2 after it’s filled.
If the keg is connected to standard serving pressure gas, you have to reduce the keg pressure to about 1-2 psi or it will fill too fast and foam up.
I’ve only done this a few times to take some beer to share, but it has worked well.
I use a similar process to fine with gelatin. Pushing the gelatin solution into the keg or FV.