bottling after kegging

[JHC]

I have just started kegging; I have just kegged my last three batched, and I cannot believe that I didn't do this before. It is the greatest step in homebrewing. I was wondering though, if after you force carbonate can you then put some in a bottle for giving away. I was using swing top bottles and have a bunch of them left and started wondering if I could fill a bottle out of the keg and clamp it and use that. If so how long would it be good? Any input would be appreciated.
I have a brew partner that has not gotten keg equipment yet and I don't want to waste the time at bottling to bottle his take of the beer. I thought maybe we could keg all of it and then he could come fill his bottles after it carbonates.
Thanks,
JHC

[fretlessman71]

The beer might last for a little while longer than using a standard growler, but every tie it got opened a lot of the carbonation would disappear. Think what happens to a 2 liter bottle of soda over its lifespan. Consider that once these bottles are filled by you, you're starting out at the same place you would with a freshly opened bottle of soda.

Now, there's such a thing as a counterpressure bottle filler, or something like that, that would allow enough carbonation to get into the beer without agitation that the beer would stay fresh much longer. It's a thought!

[JHC]

How about a wine bottle with one of those stoppers that allows you to remove the air?
JHC

[mlsuggs]

Well, if everyone will pardon a bit of anthropomorphism...

The problem with those stoppers (as relevant to beer) is that wine, except champagne, is still (no carbonation). Beer is almost invariably carbonated. Beer and wine both are hurt by oxygen. The special wine stoppers form a partial vacuum over the wine, thus removing most of the oxygen-wine contact.

The carbonation in beer *wants* to get out, though... As you suck out the oxygen with the special stopper, the CO2 comes out of solution--and by the time you managed a vacuum over the beer, you've got a flat brew. :(

--Misha
(who's saving his pennies for a counterpressure filler...)

[danno]

fill them as far as you can fill them, then the co2 in suspension won't have anywhere to go... just drink them all at once when you reopen them...

[vtown]

I've had good luck bottling from the keg without a counterpressure filler. The key is to make sure you have the beer carbonated correctly before you try to bottle any of it. If it's overcarbonated when you start filling it will gush and won't work worth a damn, under and well...your beer will be flat.

I give the brew a good week or more if possible in the corny to stabilze carbonation. Usually I have 10-14 psi on it while it's in the fridge. Then I clean my bottles in the sanitizing mode in the dishwasher. Make sure you let the bottles cool to room temp (or below) before filling or that can make the brew foam up too. I set the reguator to 1-2 psi, install a filling tube into the "corbra" tap long enuf to reach the bottom of the bottle. Fill, set a cap on top and I give it maybe 30 sec for co2 to start pushing the o2 out of the bottle then cap quick, helps to have a 2nd set of hands.... To keep from foaming, eveything should be as cold as possible and keep the beer moving in in the line as much as possible...no lollygagging between filling bottles (that's why 2nd set of hands helps to deal with capping) If you stop the flow longer than the time needed to move from one bottle to the next it seems to foam up significantly more.
Took me a couple tries to get the system down, but now I do this with about 1/2 of each batch I make and it goes smoothly every time.

Hope this helps!

Carl

[fretlessman71]

Hey - is it possible to add a little extra yeast to a beer you're "rebottling" like that and help it keep (or create some more) carbonaton?

[fuji6100]

Fret-

usually by the time you keg/bottle, there isn't anything left for the yeast to consume to produce that co2, so adding more wouldn't do any good.

I bottle straight from the keg but I just add prime tabs (now extinct, so i'll have to switch to coopers carb drops when my supply runs out) to the bottles and there is plenty of yeast left in the keg (especially since it draws off of the bottom and I usually bottle the first 6 pack out of the keg) to do the job of carbinating.

Using o2 absorbing caps when you do this dannos way works fine as well, as long as you are going to drink the beer soon and not try and age it. Otherwise I'd suggest carbinating naturally in the bottle.

[zoom6zoom]

Looks like you can make your own counterpressure filler fairly easily and inexpensively.
Here's a set of plans I found. (http://hbd.org/mtippin/cpfiller.html)

The main page (http://hbd.org/mtippin/) also has some great gadgets you can cobble together yourself.

[YamahaXS]

like VTown, i have had luck setting the regulator to 1-2 psi and letting the beer very gently pour into a flip top.

you may have some foaming issues if your beer is over carbonated.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by vtown
I've had good luck bottling from the keg without a counterpressure filler. The key is to make sure you have the beer carbonated correctly before you try to bottle any of it. If it's overcarbonated when you start filling it will gush and won't work worth a damn, under and well...your beer will be flat.

I give the brew a good week or more if possible in the corny to stabilze carbonation. Usually I have 10-14 psi on it while it's in the fridge. Then I clean my bottles in the sanitizing mode in the dishwasher. Make sure you let the bottles cool to room temp (or below) before filling or that can make the brew foam up too. I set the reguator to 1-2 psi, install a filling tube into the "corbra" tap long enuf to reach the bottom of the bottle. Fill, set a cap on top and I give it maybe 30 sec for co2 to start pushing the o2 out of the bottle then cap quick, helps to have a 2nd set of hands.... To keep from foaming, eveything should be as cold as possible and keep the beer moving in in the line as much as possible...no lollygagging between filling bottles (that's why 2nd set of hands helps to deal with capping) If you stop the flow longer than the time needed to move from one bottle to the next it seems to foam up significantly more.
Took me a couple tries to get the system down, but now I do this with about 1/2 of each batch I make and it goes smoothly every time.

Hope this helps!

Carl

An addendum to this is:

You can(and I do) slightly overcarbonate if you intend to bottle from the keg using the above methodology - but to prevent the excessive foaming all you have to do is drop the beer temp to below or around 35F. This keeps most of the CO2 in suspension when you transfer. The amount that breaks out is compensated for by the slight over carbonation. The temp drop makes a big difference.

[danno]

this may be just because it's cold here, and I have my chest freezer in the garage, but I just stick a piece of tubing over a cobra tap, and fill bottles. it's below freezing in my garage (and importantly, the bottles are that cold), but I just fill them at regular serving pressure (10psi) and cap them, I can get to less than 1" below the top of the bottle with minimal foaming, and I want it to foam a bit to drive off any remaining air...