Over carbing a keg for bottling? what level?

[haeffnkr]

Hi,
I am wanting to get a bit more carb in my bottles that are filled from a keg.

So if I like a lager or ale at 2.4 volumes, what is a good target to over carb the keg at? 2.6 2.7 or?

I assume then all the same process applies? cold bottles? bleed of the keg pressure and set the reg at 4 ish pounds and cap on foam?

thanks for your help in advance
haeffnkr

 

[VikeMan]

Overcarbonating to compensate for CO2 loss during bottling seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice I find it pretty difficult to tell the difference betwen the kegged and final bottled levels if bottling practice is good.

But if you need to try it, maybe try 0.2 volumes higher and see how you like the result. Keep in mind that if you do this, you'll need longer beer lines (or an adjustable faucet) to balance against that extra pressure when serving from the keg (i.e. when you're pouring a pint, rather than bottling from the keg)

 

[haeffnkr]

I plan to bottle the whole keg so serving out of this keg will not be a problem. I will try to get the keg to 2.6 and then bleed it off, and push beer out at about 3 pse and fill bottles till it is empty. Co2 the bottles first, then fill and cap on foam.

thanks haeffnkr

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I don't have hard data, but what I have done is to lower the temperature on my kegerator for a few days before I plan to bottle. In theory that would boost my carbonation level from 2.6 to 2.8. I figure a little more CO2 and a little coder temp both will help with bottling. I don't know how long it actually takes for the extra CO2 to be absorbed.

 

[haeffnkr]

Getting my bottles and beer cold is also something I read that will both keep co2 in the beer and reduce foam. thanks!

 

[balrog]

Cold is paramount. Increasing keg carb can unfortunately lead to more outgassing when bottling (foam) than if less CO2 is dissolved, I have found. Every internal twist and hurdle over which the beer flows causes just that much more nucleation, inciting a riot of nucleation. A little more carb *may* help, but damn near frozen temps help WAY more.

 

[Bobby_M]

You didn't mention what your bottling filling tool is but I'll assume the Blichmann Beergun.

I wouldn't overcarb the beer in the keg. It's just going to cause more foaming in the bottle which will defeat the purpose and make your day worse.

Lower the keg temperature as close to 32F as you can get it.

Keep your keg pressure the same or just drop it a couple PSI.. NOT down to 3-4 or you'll foam in the lines immediately.

Switch your hose to 11 feet of 4mm EVA barrier tubing. It will push right onto the back of the beer gun.

Put your bottles in a bucket of starsan and shove a few icepacks in there. Soak the beer gun in the cold starsan. Only take out a few bottles at a time and fill without letting them dry. Do this operation in a bussing tray so you can nearly overfill the bottles. As the beer approaches the neck of the bottle, start withdrawing the beer gun upwards. You should end with just the tip of the gun submerged by the time it's about to overflow.

 

[haeffnkr]

I was going to use a blow gun to purge co2 then use a picnic tap/racking cane to slowly fill the bottles. Then a quick blast of co2 then cap on foam.

 

[Beermeister32]

My kegged beer I’m at 9-10 lbs typically.

When preparing a keg for bottling, I bump the keg pressure up to 20 PSI for a week to compensate for CO2 losses during bottling, then push the beer to your counter-pressure filler at 10 psi. Bottle cold, I run my kegs at 34F prior to bottling.