Moving beer from bottles to keg

[Tiredboy]

I have an Orval cone that I bottled a couple of months back. After a few bottle bombs I dropped the temperature as it seemed carbed enough. In retrospect, it could do with being more carbed but if I bring it out of the fridge I'm wary about getting more bottle bombs or whether it would make any difference anyway. I've recently bought a kegging setup and wondered whether I could open the bottles and pour them into the keg and then force carb them. Are there any negatives about doing this?

 

[shawnbou]

Yes, there is one huge negative. Pouring all those bottles into the keg will introduce massive amounts of oxygen into the beer and result in very fast oxidation. Your beer will taste like dry sherry very soon. That's why we always siphon fermented beer through hoses instead of pouring it from vessel to vessel.

If the beer is just a little undercarbed, I'd chalk it up as a learning experience and just drink an imperfect homebrew.

Or better yet, take a six-pack out of the fridge and put them in a styrofoam chest to let the yeast warm up and start carbing again. Re-chill a bottle every few days and test the carbonation level until you find the number of days that is needed to get the beer the way you want it. The styrofoam chest will contain the bottle bombs if they happen.

 

[Tiredboy]

Is the oxidation an issue even if the keg is flooded with CO2 prior to transfer?

 

[GreenDragon]

I did this once with some IPA I over-carbed in the bottle. It's fine as long as you and your friends can drink the keg in about 48 hours (which we managed).

 

[shawnbou]

I've never tried it, but I think you're still gonna get oxidation even if you purge the keg with CO2 first. There's going to be oxygen in the air when you open the bottle, and when you pour it. Unless you can work in a purely oxygen-free environment ... but don't do that.

It wouldn't be worth the risk to me for a beer that's just slightly undercarbed. But hey, try it and let us know what happens.

 

[Homercidal]

Depends on how fast you plan to drink it and what your personal oxidation level goes to. I'd probably be fine with it myself, if I knew I could drink it in about a week or so.

It might make a fun experiment to try.

 

[NailGunGuy]

Is the oxidation an issue even if the keg is flooded with CO2 prior to transfer?

In theory, no. The co2 will stay in the keg till the beer you pour in pushes it out. But i cant think of a good way to pour the beer in the keg without sticking your arm and the bottle in the keg. You just have to ask yourself if you'd rather drink under carbonated beer or risk doing something wrong and having to dump a whole batch. Personally I don't like to pour beer down the drain.

 

[Tiredboy]

It's a shame as the carbonation is hit and miss from bottle to bottle. It's a fantastic beer but some are just a little bit too flat. No way I'll get through the whole lot in a week. Maybe I need a Carbonator (http://www.homebrewing.org/The-Carbonator-Draft-to-Go_p_108.html) and then if I find one a bit flat, pour it into a suitable bottle, use the carbonator and drink it a few days later when CO2 has been absorbed......

Definitely glad I asked the question though, I would have been gutted to turn a whole batch of good to very good beers into bad beers just for a bit more carbonation!