Heavier than air gas while bottling?

[Lars Bars]

While bottling my latest red IPA I decided to use some of the wine-preserving gas I had laying around to reduce the contact with oxygen. I'd assume that if it's a good thing to do others have done something similar and there's probably a better way to go about it. Can anyone provide some comments/experience?

 

[shanecb]

I'd say most people use CO2, but your wine-preserving gas (argon?) does the same thing. Definitely a cool touch to improve your packaging stability!

 

[Lars Bars]

It's some sort of mix of inert gasses. The brand was private reserve wine preservation system. How do people typically inject the CO2 into the bottles?

 

[shanecb]

I wouldn't say it's a common thing on the homebrew level, other than doing it when bottling from a keg. It's more of a commercial concern. But you could buy disposable CO2 cartridges and a regulator/dispenser thing if you really wanted to purge O2 from your bottles before/after bottling.

 

[Konadog]

They use a Beer Gun that is connected to CO2 and beer. First insert filler nozzle, press the CO2 button/valve to purge the bottle with CO2, then press the beer button/valve to dispense beer into the purged bottle and cap.

 

[Mothman]

Trying to wrap my head around this idea.

I'm picturing purging the bottle with CO2, then filling the bottle from the bottom, which will push the CO2 up and out of the bottle.

Assuming we fill until foam is just overflowing, the bottle would have all of the purging CO2 pushed out,right?

Then we remove the bottling wand/ nozzle, dropping the level of beer in the bottle, which would then pull back into the headspace atmospheric air... Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

 

[Lars Bars]

Awesome. Ill wait to see if there's any taste difference for this batch and then maybe go down that rabbit hole Thanks guys.

 

[shanecb]

Trying to wrap my head around this idea.

I'm picturing purging the bottle with CO2, then filling the bottle from the bottom, which will push the CO2 up and out of the bottle.

Assuming we fill until foam is just overflowing, the bottle would have all of the purging CO2 pushed out,right?

Then we remove the bottling wand/ nozzle, dropping the level of beer in the bottle, which would then pull back into the headspace atmospheric air... Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

You're exactly right. If you were trying to purge with CO2 you'd want to put it in after filling the bottle and before capping. Which I'm not sure I've ever really read anyone doing while homebrewing (other than a beer gun from a keg, mentioned above, which works great).

 

[Konadog]

Here are a couple different beer guns, and reviews of how they work if your interested: http://www.beerandwinereviews.com/counter-pressure-bottle-filler-beer-guns-reviews/

 

[Lars Bars]

Thanks again everyone. I think the reason I tried this is because all of my beers have a "home-brew taste". I ran into a brewer from goose island over the past weekend and he mentioned that it's probably from oxygen. If no one really does this much then I'm sure i'm just pulling random levers here. It's a fun hobby though and can't hurt to try random stuff!

 

[Lars Bars]

Opened a beer about 4 days after bottling (I typically do this to see how it's progressing). It does seem like there's a positive change in flavor and it does seem to have specifically targeted that "hombrew taste." I'll report more once the beer is seasoned a bit more.