Curiosity question about bottling vs. canning from taps

[jack13]

People go to a lot of trouble, including me, to try to bottle from their taps in a way that keeps fizzing to a minimum--cooling the bottles, maintaining pressure while pouring, pouring under low pressure, and so on. Even then, sometimes our efforts result in flat or flattish beer later when we open those carefully poured bottles.

So why is it that one can just pour straight into a can without any hoopla, seal the can, and have nice fizzy beer later? I've seen bartenders pour crowlers...they're just filling them up and sealng them. Nothing special.

It doesn't seem to be simply because canning provides a better seal. I say this because, if I can bottle the regular way (with priming sugar) and open that sucker up two years later and it's perfectly fizzy, then my bottle caps must be providing an essentially perfect seal.

Anyone know what's going on here?

 

[Alex4mula]

If the bottle seals good it will do the same job as a can but a lot cheaper. Otherwise if you fill correctly and bottle seals good then both will do the same job. I rather have glass than metal but that is me. Also those crowlers that breweries fill are also meant to be consumed soon but yes they will last more than any growler with screw cap.

 

[jack13]

If the bottle seals good it will do the same job as a can but a lot cheaper. Otherwise if you fill correctly and bottle seals good then both will do the same job. I rather have glass than metal but that is me. Also those crowlers that breweries fill are also meant to be consumed soon but yes they will last more than any growler with screw cap.

So are you saying I should just be able to fill a bottle from my tap as I would with a can? ...most importantly, not have to worry about counter pressure?

 

[Yooper]

So are you saying I should just be able to fill a bottle from my tap as I would with a can? ...most importantly, not have to worry about counter pressure?

Sure, if you're going to drink it in a day or two. Same with growlers. The thing is, you need to avoid foaming in any case. If you can fill it without foaming and are going to drink it before oxidation can be an issue, then you don't have to do anything special at all.

I fill growlers or even 2L soda bottles from my taps all the time to take places. If I'm bottling a full batch, to age or to save, I do it a bit differently (but not all that much differently honestly).

 

[mongoose33]

So are you saying I should just be able to fill a bottle from my tap as I would with a can? ...most importantly, not have to worry about counter pressure?

Why not? Here's a short 20-second video showing how I do it. The slight delay at the end of filling is making sure I'm capping on foam, and I'm handing the bottle to a buddy for him to cap it. Otherwise I'd just cap it. The flow control faucet makes it easier, of course, I can dial in the rate of flow to where I get minimal foaming. In fact, this example has a little more foam than usual--once everything is well-cooled, I might not even have 1/4" of foam in the bottle as it's filling.

I do the typical stuff--the bottle is chilled, I'm using a vinator to spritz sanitizer into the bottle, I've run a little beer through the faucet and growler-filler to chill them.

I've been doing this for a long time, and I don't see much if any reduction in carbonation.

BTW, the buddy who's recording this for me had a brilliant idea. I always want cold star-san so it helps cool the bottle. He suggested making ice cubes of star-san to put in the vinator to keep it as cold as possible. Brilliant!

 

[Bobby_M]

Without using a filling tool that has both CO2 purge as well as a shutoff at the bottom of the filler tube, neither bottles or cans will be a long term solution. Many years ago I thought makeshift filling methods were clever and thrifty but it wasn't a replacement for something like the Blichmann beergun. Upgrading to the beergun immediately increased my competition success since everything was now properly carbonated and not oxidized.