Xfer from 5gal keg to 3gal for serving - fridge needed?

[grove]

Hey all,

Noob kegger here. I siphoned an ESB from primary (after about 5 weeks) into a 5 gal corny with some priming sugar and let it sit in the basement. Now that it has been awhile, I want to transfer to my 3g serving keg + bottles using the BMBF. I don't have a kegerator, so the 3gal is the only thing I can fit in my current fridge to serve out of. Will transferring the carbonated beer from the 5gal to the 3gal result in a foamfest because I can't chill the 5gal before the transfer? I am using a jumper setup with 2ft of 3/16 beer line and a couple liquid disconnects. What about when I use the BMBF to shoot room-temp carbonated beer into my bottles?

Looking to do the transfer this weekend (first batch brewed in awhile), so any help offered is much appreciated.

cj

 

[Bobby_M]

Assuming you have a CO2 bottle and regulator, you can do with with no problem. Pressurize the 3g keg to about 12psi. Vent to remove oxygen. Pressure to 12psi again. Vent, then pressurize the 5g keg to 12 psi (and leave the gas connected there. Connect the beer to beer jumper and vent the 3g keg in short bursts to start the flow. You may need to vent it a couple times as pressure builds. Basically you want to keep 12psi on the 5g and a controlled 11psi or so on the 3g so that it flows but stays under pressure.

No, there's no way you'll be able to fill bottles with warm beer. BMBF or any bottle filling device needs the beer and bottles to be very cold to minimize Co2 loss.

 

[grove]

hmm. Guess I shoulda thought about that before I went and spent money on this half-baked setup.

so how about this: i transfer carbed beer to 3gal using your instructions, chill that, then bottle a couple gallons of chilled beer with the bmbf. Then i transfer the beer remaining in the 5gal to the 3gal for serving. Would the 5gal be fine after I transferred the first 3 gallons, as long as it's sealed up? Should I set it to a certain psi before unhooking the gas?

Next time I think I will just rack straight into my 3gal keg from primary with the appropriate amount of priming sugar, and I guess rack the rest from primary into a bottling bucket, again with appropriate priming sugar. That would probably be easier than this keg jumping bmbf contraption I have goin on. Of course if I had a fridge this wouldnt be an issue...

Thanks!