I have my beer in a keg right now and I want to fill some bottles from it.
Do I need a bickman beer gun to clean the bottles of air out of bottles.
Or is that not really necessary. That seems like a lot of money.
Thanks!!
The following method has worked well for me when bottling from the keg.
#1 put your clean and sanitized bottles in the freezer. I usually just keep them there. Cold bottles help prevent foaming a great deal.
#2 turn down your CO2 tank pressure to about 2 or 3 psi, vent keg.
#3 place bottle under tap and pour.
I think it depends on how long you’re planning on keeping the beer in the bottles. If just a day or three, you probably don’t need to worry about oxygen. If longer, then investing in a bottle filler is probably a good idea. At the very least, I’d attach some sanitized tubing to whatever your dispensing from so you can at least fill the bottles from the bottom and try to contol foaming.
I’ve had a counter-pressure bottle filler for a long time. It’s a pain to hook up and use, but no worries about oxygenation or loss of carbonation.
This is what I do It was cheap and works perfectly once you get your system down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwIbFQcH … ature=plcp
If you look around you will find numerous ways to do it. I have the Beer Gun and LOVE it. I know it might be a little bit more but you don’t have to worry about oxidation and it fills from the bottom. I have NEVER had any issues with beers/ciders that I have bottled from the keg and some have been in the bottle for 1+ year.
That video gets a bit long-winded, but this is exactly how I bottle from the keg and it works really well. I typically fill until beer is at the top - not just foam. There’s a bit of foamage and spillage, but after bottling up quite a few it amounts to just a few ounces wasted.
I bottled up some beer a couple months ago, and wanted to check that it was still good before handing out samplers to buddies. Still just perfect - good carbonation, no oxidation, fresh hoppy aromas, etc. This is the way to go!
Hmmm Very nice video!
I’ve been thinking about this recently and this seems great! Thanks guys!
Yeah it can be. I was at work and didnt have time to type up a big reply on what parts were needed. So I googled it and came up with that.
That video gets a bit long-winded, but this is exactly how I bottle from the keg and it works really well. I typically fill until beer is at the top - not just foam. There’s a bit of foamage and spillage, but after bottling up quite a few it amounts to just a few ounces wasted.
I bottled up some beer a couple months ago, and wanted to check that it was still good before handing out samplers to buddies. Still just perfect - good carbonation, no oxidation, fresh hoppy aromas, etc. This is the way to go![/quote]
[quote=“crud99”]I have my beer in a keg right now and I want to fill some bottles from it.
Do I need a bickman beer gun to clean the bottles of air out of bottles.
Or is that not really necessary. That seems like a lot of money.
Thanks!![/quote]
If you have the bottling wand (spring-loaded tube for filling from the bottling bucket) and a picnic tap/cobra tap, then you can shove the wand into the tap and fill sanitized bottles from the bottom up. That’s how I do it if I want to save bottles for awhile, otherwise I just use the picnic tap, tilt the bottle sideways and slowly pour down the side.
Don’t freeze your bottles. just get them good and cold. If they have frost you get a ton of foaming. Cold and the beer will foam the least.
I generally overcarb my beer slightly before bottling from keg. I use the Beer Gun but don’t bother with the purge part. If you cap on foam theres basically no air in there.
beer gun=waste of money. I use a counter pressure filler and am very happy with it. The picnic tap and stopper method is fine if you won’t be storing it for a long period of time.
[quote=“ipa”]The picnic tap and stopper method is fine if you won’t be storing it for a long period of time.[/quote]I opened a bomber of IIPA bottled with the tap and wand method 2+ years ago, no signs of oxidation. I do flush my bottles with a little CO2 before filling and like Tom I deliberately over-carb prior to bottling, so there’s CO2 coming out of solution as the bottle is filled from the bottom.
I too have stored capped bottles for a long time with no problems.
Same here…I have a couple bottles of a big assed Scotch Ale I filled from the keg almost 19 years ago, and the last one I tasted was phenomenal …mellowed by the aging with not a single “off” note. Good sanitation, careful filling, and using PureSeal caps certainly helped, I’m sure.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]Don’t freeze your bottles. just get them good and cold. If they have frost you get a ton of foaming. Cold and the beer will foam the least.
I generally overcarb my beer slightly before bottling from keg. I use the Beer Gun but don’t bother with the purge part. If you cap on foam theres basically no air in there.[/quote]
+1 Don’t freeze the bottles. You’ll get the least amount of foaming if your bottle surface is wet, which is why I like to just sanitize with Star-San and bottle right away.
This is how I do it for short term:
Mullerbrau Bottle Filling
This is how I do it for long term:
Mullerbrau Bottle Filling for Years
Filling purged bottles straight from the tap has always worked well for me, but I’m interested in giving this product a try sometime (I don’t know if it’s new or if I’ve just never come across it before):
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PERLICK- ... P3153.aspx[quote=“narcout”]Filling purged bottles straight from the tap has always worked well for me, but I’m interested in giving this product a try sometime (I don’t know if it’s new or if I’ve just never come across it before):
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PERLICK- ... P3153.aspx[/quote]That looks pretty slick! I wonder if NB or Midwest carries those?
With the picnic tap and wand, do you leave the gas on?
I’ll dump the pressure from the keg and dial the regulator down to 3-5psi.
