Transferring from bottle to keg

[zacster]

I have a batch of lager that never carbonated in the bottle, so I went and bought a kegging system that will arrive tomorrow if UPS keeps up their end. I want to transfer to the keg, add yeast to remove the residual bottling sugar, and then force carbonate if still necessary. I don't think the yeast will create enough carbonation on its own, but I don't know and I guess I'll find out by waiting. The system is a standard Corny 5g ball lock, 5lb co2, the regulator and hoses. I only have about 4 gallons, if that, left as I'm ever hopeful that the next bottle will be carb'ed so I keep trying. One was and it was great, but the other 10 or so weren't.

How should I transfer to the keg without oxidizing the beer? I figure I've got a few options: Pour from bottle to keg (lots of splashing), gently pour from bottle to bucket and then siphon to keg, somehow reverse bottle to my keg using my bottling wand (lots of waste is my guess). I figure once in the keg I can put it under pressure and leave the yeast to do its thing first, then increase to serving pressure???

One good thing: NO MORE BOTTLE WASHING!!!

 

[hopsalot]

Sounds like you got a situation. I do not advise this but, I think the best way would be to gently pour each bottle into a bottling bucket, minimizing splashing. Then rack from the bottling bucket to the keg.

Good luck

 

[TopherM]

Yeah, you are asking for all sorts of problems, so if it were me, I wouldn't even attempt it.

IF YOU MUST, though, I think I'd sanatize the outside of each bottle and literally stick your arm and bottle so that you pour from the bottom up as much as possible, even sticking the open end of the bottle under the beer surface as soon as there's enough there to do so. That'll reduce oxidation, but you are going to get a ton of foaming no matter what you do, so you might not be able to reasonably fit all 48-56 bottles or whatever in the keg without dumping a good bit of foam towards the end.

Also, oxidation really develops over a period of time even when you introduce a bunch of O2, so I'd make a point to drink this keg pretty quickly. Even with alot of oxidation, the beer won't reasonably start to get a noticable stale oxidation taste for a good 10-20 days.

Good luck!

 

[krazydave]

Here's my suggestion. Don't do it and use this as an excuse to brew your next batch for the keg.

 

[divi2323]

I don't think I'd condone this either bit if you have to...

Use a bendy straw on the bottles. Put it all the way into the bottle and bend the straw upright so that the bottle will suck air through the straw while the beer empties. This can minimize splashing. I would do this into a bottling bucket and then siphon into the keg. Pour your bottles as close to the surface of the beer as possible.

Once kegged you should add priming sugar and yeast. The yeast will eat up any oxygen introduced and help carbonate. Obviously pressurize the keg and purge 4-5 times to help minimize o2 in the headspace

 

[zacster]

I'm not concerned about foaming as this beer is flat, which is the whole point of doing this. I'm just trying to salvage a batch without going through re-bottling with extra yeast. I tried adding yeast to a few bottles and didn't get anything from it.

 

[stvcoburn]

You can fill your bucket with CO2 throughout the process to push all the oxygen out. I'm sure the turbulence of your arm in a bucket would mix oxygen back in but it couldn't hurt.

 

[althea]

How long has it been in the bottle? Unless it has been a year, I would say just leave it in the bottle and it should eventually carbonate unless you didn't add priming sugar. Make a new batch to keg.

Edit: It says 6 weeks in your signature. You are definitely better off waiting longer rather than attempting what you're talking about. I just did my first lager actually, and found that at 4 weeks I also don't have even carbonation bottle to bottle but it is getting there. Most of my batches have been fully carbed within 2-3 weeks or earlier. I just think that as a result of the long aging/lagering period and that a lot of the yeast settles out (especially with a secondary) it takes a little longer. It will carb eventually and you'll enjoy it more if you wait and drink rather than ruin it by taking it out of the bottle...plus that is a ton or work. You definitely haven't waited long enough especially since you say 1 was actually carbed and good. Have you tried moving them to a warmer spot?

 

[Raenon]

I'd go back to basics and forget the keg at all:

How warm did you keep the bottles to carb?
How long were they kept at that temp?
How much priming sugar did you add?
Did you dissolve it first?
Did you batch prime, or bottle prime?

I'd take the whole batch, let it sit at or slightly below room temp, and forget about it for a month or two. I can't imagine the small amount of priming sugar will make your lager yeast foul it up too bad, but mixing a bunch of oxygen into it will.

 

[zacster]

Some answers:

They were at 65-70 to carb
It's been about 3 months now, my sig notwithstanding
I used 4oz as it was a smaller than 5 gallon batch
Yes, I boiled it for about 10 minutes
I poured the boiled sugar into the bucket first, then racked and let it swirl

I've had a few batches before that didn't carbonate well after 3 weeks, but I also could tell that it was happening and would be good eventually. This one is different. It doesn't even make a slight pffft when you open the bottle. Nothing, Nada, Rien. In fact, I have a batch of stout that is also not fully carbonated after about 6 weeks, but I know that is coming along. In any case, the keg arrived today and I'm anxious to use it! There actually isn't as much of this lager left as I thought Only about 30 bottles as I keep trying it and it was a smaller batch to begin with.

Once this is gone, I'll make another batch for the keg. I don't think this will take long to consume as I'm already planning a porch party.

And now I have to find a place that will fill a CO2 tank in Brooklyn.

 

[zacster]

So here's what happened:

I found a place in Brooklyn that fills canisters. It cost $20 for a 5lb tank.

I had originally bottled in both 12oz and 22oz bottles as I always do a mix, since sometimes I find the 22oz is more than I want but the larger bottles are fewer to fill and cap. I've been sampling 12oz bottles all along and had one that was carb'ed, all the rest were flat. In spite of the advice here I decided to put it all into the keg, and besides, it was already made and I wanted to try my new toys.

I thought I'd try a reverse bottling with my bottling wand, so I opened the first bottle, a 22oz one. And guess what, it was fully carbonated. It was 11:30 in the am, not yet beer:thirty, but I figured I'd try it, and it was great even though it was warm. So I decided to try another 22oz bottle, and it too was carb'ed. So now I have a decision to make, open the other 7 bottles or just assume the rest are good. I decided to try a 12oz bottle and well, it was flat. What I ultimately did was pour the 20 or so 12oz bottles I had into a bucket, and one of the 22oz bottles already opened (the other went into the fridge and the last of it is in a glass beside me. RDWHAHB) . I then siphoned into my keg. The bottling wand idea didn't work as it wouldn't hold the siphon.

I've put 20psi onto the keg and I'm letting it cool on ice water. Then I'll apply a little more CO2 pressure and force carb it. It won't last past tomorrow evening is my guess, as I'm have about 10 people over.

So what should I brew next??? I'm running out of time as the summer months aren't good for brewing as I don't have refrigeration for fermentation and my house gets hot.

 

[hopsalot]

Belgians love warm fermentation