Bottling-kegging question

[Challey]

I have a question about potentially splitting a recently brewed batch between kegging and bottling. The reason I'm considering splitting it is that I need some bottles to provide for judging, but really don't want to hassle with bottling the full 5 gallon batch. If it was an ale or even porter, I'd use my homemade CPF and cap a few bottles but it is a hybrid (Cal common) and needs more carbonation. I'm not sure it will remain adequately carbonated during the counter-pressure fill process.

My thought was to batch prime as if I were bottling and simply split things between the keg and bottles, letting each naturally carbonate. If the kegged portion of the batch needed a carbonation adjustment, that would be easy enough.

An alternative might be to use priming tabs for the bottled portion and simply keg and force carbonate per usual. I've never used the tabs before and would think they are a less precise than batch priming where you can weigh the sugar and take the other variables into more careful consideration.

All advice welcomed.

 

[hunter_le five]

You could keg it, force carbonate, and then bottle from the keg.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24678

This is what I use when I want to bottle just a few out of a batch.

 

[m00ps]

I second the bottling from the keg. I have the exact same dilemma as you: I wasnt to keg a beer but save enough bottles for friends and possibly competitions in the future. I reccomend kegging the whole thing and using a bottling setup (i bought a blichmann beer gun) for the following reasons:

- kegging the whole thing lets it bulk conditions more = better smoother beer
- lets you dial in carbonation. then set to like 2psi for bottling to minimize foam
- lets you purge each bottle with CO2. This is the BEST advantage IMO. It mimics a commercial system and minimizes oxidation. The shelf life will be much better
- you dont get yeast sediment in the bottle. Not an issue for me, but judges might not want yeast in an IPA ro something

only downside is you need to have the keg chilled and carbed in order to bottle properly. Once you cap the bottles, you can leave them at room temp. I've tried bottles that were bottled cold, warmed up for a month, then chilled back down and they were still perfect.

 

[Challey]

Thanks for the responses but I'm hesitant to bottle from the keg based on past experience doing just that. I have a DIY counter-pressure filler that works fine for filling growlers or occasional bottles for transport. For ales or porters that are carbed at fairly low rates (less than 2.3 vols of CO2), I'd be OK. I'm worried that for a hybrid that needs to be closer to 3, I won't be successful. The usual work-around is to slightly increase the keg pressure, but by how much is a guess - at least for me.

Anyone have any experience along those lines?

 

[hunter_le five]

When bottling from the keg, I stick the bottles in the freezer until I'm ready to fill them, and turn the gas down as low as I can go and still have flow (be sure to equalize the keg pressure). This generally prevents any foaming issues for me.

If that doesn't work for you, I guess just go the split batch route and batch prime half, force carb the other.