We no need no stinking beer gun...

Looking at using this nice little setup for bottling my beer in the future, I was wondering about obtaining the correct level of carbonation.

I'm guessing that I would need to use this chart somehow, but I can#t figure out how lol.
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Say you want to carb your Marzen to 2.47 volumes and your keezer is set to 40 degrees. You find 40 on the left hand column then go to your right until you find your desired volume. Go up to the top column from that desired volume and 12 lbs is what you set the regulator to.

Cheers for the help Mike.

What I'm wondering is, if I was using the beer gun and I wanted to have my beer have, say 2.5 volumes of CO2 at serving temp of 40F. What pressure would I need to get my beer at before I bottled, when the beer temp will be around 30F. I know I need to drop to 3PSI before bottling, but prior to that I need to get the beer to the point where it will have sufficient carbonation so that when I warm it it won't be over or under pressured.

Does this chart come into play then?

Yup, you want 2.5 volumes at 30F (below freezing? Really?), so you'd set your regulator to 7 PSI. That'd carbonate the beer to 2.5 volumes. Then when you're ready to bottle, simply drop the pressure to 3 PSI (the carbonation will not instantly all come out of solution), bottle, and cap. Now no matter what temperature you store the beer at, it will have 2.5 volumes of CO2 in solution. The pressure in the headspace will vary, but the volumes of CO2 is locked in.

Cheers Kombot.
I'll level with you, I may have picked too low a temperature there lol. More used to working in Celsius (and when I do work in Fahrenheit it's in the region of 120F)

Good to know thank you

It's always a crap shoot for me, why doesn't the kegerator chart indicate how many days it takes to achieve the CO2 volume desired according to the settings indicated?

koomber said:

Looking at using this nice little setup for bottling my beer in the future, I was wondering about obtaining the correct level of carbonation.

I'm guessing that I would need to use this chart somehow, but I can#t figure out how lol.
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Click to expand...

I'm just wondering if this would work.. Over carb the beer in the keg by 2 times (if you want your beer at 2.5 put it at 5). Fill it up to the neck like a normal beer bottle. That way you don't have to be up to the top. And it would equalize to 2.5 with the head space.

I think the O2 in the head space would compromise your beer.

Alucard1983 said:

I'm just wondering if this would work.. Over carb the beer in the keg by 2 times (if you want your beer at 2.5 put it at 5). Fill it up to the neck like a normal beer bottle. That way you don't have to be up to the top. And it would equalize to 2.5 with the head space.

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I use this method to fill growlers and it works great.

The only thing I tweaked is that I don't change my regulator pressure. When I'm ready to fill I shut off the valve for the keg, purge some co2 and start filling. If the flow slows down too much I turn the CO2 back on for a couple seconds just to keep the liquid flowing.

I find this to be easier than messing with the regulator every time. I have also done this for a handful of bottles for a competition and it works great. I don't know if it would work for an entire case but for a couple bottles it works great.

Hi,

have anyone tried bottling from keg using beer gas ?
I'm thinking of carbonating with pure CO2 and then using beer gas (30/70 Co2/N2) when filling the bottles.
Does it makes any sense at all doing it this way ?

That's a nice tweak Hilbert. I'm gonna try that!

Counterflow pressure fillers are nothing new. I made one (as pictured above) and shot beer all over the place! Lol! Finally broke down and bought a $100 beergun. Only need one hand and is worth every penny!

been using this for a while and itdoes work great!, i dont bother with a stopper though, and chilling the bottles or growlers is key, and as far as purging with co2 prior to filling, i think it's a waste, when you fill the bottle to the top, the co2 is pushed out and "regular ol air" is sucked back in when the filler tube is pulled out. you could do it after filling i suppose..

[*]Go ahead and open the tap and drain some beer into a waste bucket. This will prime and cool the lines.

Waste Bucket = my glass!

Good share! Thanks!

Can't say I understand all this jerry rigging and metal parts to bottle from a Perlick faucet. A short piece of beverage tubing jammed into the faucet works great for me. I try to keep the bottle cold and reduce the keg pressure a bit, but otherwise it's super easy and essentially free. I chamfered the end of the tubing (razor/knife) to ease insertion.

I see no use in purging the bottle since the foam will purge the air, as long as you cap while still foamed up.

Seems like something I'm gonna give a shot to. $100 beer gun isn't in the budget right now. Thanks

this method kicks arss! I was about to buy a beergun and now can spend that 100 bucks on ingredients! Thanks BierMuncher!

Can some one clarify for me on the use of a bottle filler instead of cutting the racking cane at an angle. Does this (bottle filler) http://morebeer.com/products/bottle-filler-removable-spring-38.htmlwork well? Im saving my money up to get a counterflow chiller and eventurally get a bottle filler but that might be a few months from now.

I'm still trying to work my way through reading this massive thread, but I've got a similar question to the one above. Does anyone know if a racking cane with a curve at the top or a bottle filler works better? Or is it just personal preference? Thanks!

eluterio said:

Can some one clarify for me on the use of a bottle filler instead of cutting the racking cane at an angle. Does this (bottle filler) http://morebeer.com/products/bottle-filler-removable-spring-38.htmlwork well? Im saving my money up to get a counterflow chiller and eventurally get a bottle filler but that might be a few months from now.

Click to expand...

I used that same bottle filler with mine. I bought a Perlick 525 tap adapter and then stuck the end of the bottle filler into a picnic tap. It takes some practice to get it right. I completely disconnect the CO2 when I'm filling. I still may buy the MoreBeer bottle filler, but for now, this will work for my occasional bottle fills.

I entered one of the best light colored beers I've ever brewed into a competition and both sets of scores mentioned a paper bag taste which indicates some oxidation occurred. I assume that happened during the bottling.

limulus said:

I used that same bottle filler with mine. I bought a Perlick 525 tap adapter and then stuck the end of the bottle filler into a picnic tap. It takes some practice to get it right. I completely disconnect the CO2 when I'm filling. I still may buy the MoreBeer bottle filler, but for now, this will work for my occasional bottle fills.

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Im thinknig of doing what he had on the OP picnic tap. Instead of cutting the racking cane at an angle just use the bottle filler slow drain into the bottle and be done.

Ive been lucky to know people who work for a pepsi distributor and ive got a total of 7 corneys with 4 more on their way. I paid for 3 of them and the rest (8) cost me a batch of hef. Im sure Ill make my buddy one more but cant bet that price of free.

Im just starting into competitions and need to make it easier for me to bottle. Ive been doing this as of late.

Add priming sugar to each individual bottle appox 18. Filll each bottle from bucket and then empty bucket into keg. its time consuming and I would rather just fill as needed cause Ill be storing the kegs since I only have two taps.

Lurch69 said:

I'm still trying to work my way through reading this massive thread, but I've got a similar question to the one above. Does anyone know if a racking cane with a curve at the top or a bottle filler works better? Or is it just personal preference? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I honestly dont think it matters if its curved or not. As long as you can get it into the bottles. Hey all else fails try both and see what you like!

Oh and reading the entire post, nope stopped on page 3 then jumpped to the last 5.

Just bought my make shift beer gun. I had it at 3ish psi and while i filled my bottle it still had tons of foam. Also i had an issue with my stopper it was way too loose that it allowed for the foam to grow instead of shrinking it. Going to attempt it again tonight with 2 batches i just kegged.

I do have a question on this kegging and using beer gun right after. I used priming sugar at 2 oz per 2 cups of water. This was recommended by beer smith well it was 1.98 oz per for carbonation. Now if i use the beer gun and fill bottles would the 2 oz of priming sugar be enough to carb or should i add more priming sugar in each bottle to help with carbonation?

I've used BM's design to fill bottles and growlers with success. For the growlers, I didn't get a bigger bung so it's not snug, but who cares bc I cap on foam anyways. I just turn psi down, and fill from the bottom. As for the tubing off the perlick on the last page, thats exactly what every micro does to fill growlers that I've seen, so it must be ok. Maybe I should just do that


I don't chill bottles, what was the point of that again?

mendozer said:

I don't chill bottles, what was the point of that again?

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I have heard that it's supposed to reduce foam. Have not done it myself. I just fill the growler like they do at the brewery. Tube on the faucet and let it go. I keep mine at about 8 psi and it works well. Never messed with filling bottles from a kwg. My buddy always bottles 6 beers when he racks to secondary and puts those Minton fermtab pills in there. Not ideal IMO because those pills aren't sanitized, but he has been successful, so to each his own.

Limulus,

When you entered it in how long did it sit before it was tested 2 weeks or longer?? Im into competitions and im wondering would it be better to bottle a few like I have been doing for competitions and keg the rest?

How do you guys store the bottles once filled? At room temp or in the fridge to keep it cool?

eluterio said:

Limulus,

When you entered it in how long did it sit before it was tested 2 weeks or longer?? Im into competitions and im wondering would it be better to bottle a few like I have been doing for competitions and keg the rest?

How do you guys store the bottles once filled? At room temp or in the fridge to keep it cool?

Click to expand...

I bottled 4. Three for the competition and one to keep at home which I opened and drank the day of the competition. The one I kept was fine. Maybe a little low on carbonation, but not oxidized. I think shipping from Atlanta to the west coast definitely contributed to the bottles getting shaken and then they had to sit another week before the competition. Next time I use this, I'll fill the bottle a little higher.

Did a variation on this yesterday due to picnic taps being split:

I put my bevlex tubing into a piece of racking tube (3/8) after heating the larger tubing. I then cooled it. This was just a very short, 2" piece of 3/8 tubing. I slid the stopper on my bottling wand, then I inserted bottling wand into the other end of the short 3/8 tubing, so it went flush with the bevlex. I was able to bottle a 12-pack at 3PSI this way by getting the stopper height right where it would "seal" the bottle, then just pinching the stopper. No valve to operate, no cracking the picnic tap (cracked two doing it the original way), just be careful with the bottling wand once it's "hot" on the keg!

Has anyone done this and what was your results?

Use priming sugar to carbonate keg store at 70degrees. Release pressure after a 5 day to get 3 psi. Fill some bottles as its hooked to co2 tank then return pressure to 10 psi and store again at 70 degrees?

When storing bottles from example above would one recommend store at room temp or in fridge?

eluterio said:

Has anyone done this and what was your results?

Use priming sugar to carbonate keg store at 70degrees. Release pressure after a 5 day to get 3 psi. Fill some bottles as its hooked to co2 tank then return pressure to 10 psi and store again at 70 degrees?

When storing bottles from example above would one recommend store at room temp or in fridge?

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room temp in that case because after 5 days priming fermentation isn't going to be complete. Let us know how it goes.

tre9er said:

room temp in that case because after 5 days priming fermentation isn't going to be complete. Let us know how it goes.

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Fermentation has completed, hef sat for 2 weeks racked into keg on day 14. Used priming sugar to carb in keg and at day 5 it was at 12 psi gained 2 in 5 days. I know its not done conditioning nor is it done carbonating but I need to bottle some for a comp and send off by next week. Call it cutting it close but also experimental as well. I think im going to add some more priming sugar to the bottles probably about 1/2 Tbs in each bottle since I have tons of sugar left. however, im going to see what happens if I leave a few bottles with no additional sugars and see if it carbonates well. Wish me luck!

eluterio said:

Fermentation has completed, hef sat for 2 weeks racked into keg on day 14. Used priming sugar to carb in keg and at day 5 it was at 12 psi gained 2 in 5 days. I know its not done conditioning nor is it done carbonating but I need to bottle some for a comp and send off by next week. Call it cutting it close but also experimental as well. I think im going to add some more priming sugar to the bottles probably about 1/2 Tbs in each bottle since I have tons of sugar left. however, im going to see what happens if I leave a few bottles with no additional sugars and see if it carbonates well. Wish me luck!

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No, no, no, no! You're getting it all wrong, man! Fermentation isn't complete until sugars are gone! When you add priming sugar, another fermentation starts! You don't need more sugar when you bottle the ones off the keg that you already added the proper amount of sugar to! You'll get bottle bombs that way! Yeast will eat until there's nothing left, so giving them more=way more Co2!

If you're going to naturally carb the beer in the keg, you've given it the right amount of sugar. Bottling some off of the keg after 5 days doesn't change a thing. Just leave those bottles with the sugar they already have in them, don't add more!

tre9er said:

No, no, no, no! You're getting it all wrong, man! Fermentation isn't complete until sugars are gone! When you add priming sugar, another fermentation starts! You don't need more sugar when you bottle the ones off the keg that you already added the proper amount of sugar to! You'll get bottle bombs that way! Yeast will eat until there's nothing left, so giving them more=way more Co2!

If you're going to naturally carb the beer in the keg, you've given it the right amount of sugar. Bottling some off of the keg after 5 days doesn't change a thing. Just leave those bottles with the sugar they already have in them, don't add more!

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I thank you very much for the info! I understand what you were trying to say now. I'll let you know how things turn out I'm hoping for positive results but only time will tell. If it works out well this will allow me to have kegs stored at room temp and when i want to give one away or send in to comps I can. No need for a walkin cooler haha!

So, here is my process and results from the first few bottles after putting the beer gun together. I did two different approaches to the process and results to only one.

Part 1:

I had chilled the keg that had priming sugar at 2.0 oz for 4 weeks and was at 22 psi at 70 degrees before I put into kegorator. I dropped psi to 12 put co2 connection on it and let it sit at 43 degrees for 5 days before I touched it.

I chilled the bottles, lines, prior to introducing the beer into them. Dropped CO2 to 3 psi filled first 2 bottles with little success. My #2 stopper with whole was not tight enough and was letting the pressure out causing tons of foam. I was able to put 6 oz or so into them as test them 3 days later stored at 43 degrees. Results FLAT beer and not surprised with it. With the Third bottle I somehow managed to do proper technique filled it with about 1/2 inch room to spare and no to little foam. Capped it with foam about 1 inch from top and let it sit in 43 temp for 4 days.

I popped the cap and saw or heard no fizz. My worst nightmare no carbonation . I still drank my beer with tears flowing down my face and thinking I had made this beer gun and its worthless. Sad face again but not to be discouraged I did the following and bottled 24 more beers doing this below. What did I do that caused this epic failure? How do I fix it?

Part 2:

I had another keg stored at room temp that I used priming sugar to carb it. Sat for 7 days psi was at 15 when began to fill the bottles. I purged at room temp, 70 degrees until I reached 3 psi. I then connected my beer gun and line not chilled, grabbed bottles not chilled, and grabbed 1 table spoon of corn sugar to 1 and 1/4 cup of water boiled it and put 1/2 Tbs of liquid into bottles.

I am worried that I may have over carbed my beer but I needed to get some done to ship out to a comp by today. I also like to experiment with processes and stuff so this is experiment #1.

Ill let this sit for 2 weeks before I open test 1 and 1A. Sample 1 has no additional priming sugar and is stored at room temp. Sample 1A has 1/2 Tbs of priming sugar added and stored at room temp.

right side is beer in and an overflow valve, left is co2 in. with a second hose running to the keg, pretty standard keg tap. purge, pressurize, switch to the beer line and control the flow by varying the overflow/bleeder valve.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/photo-60180.html

This works even better if you have the spring bottle filler instead of the raking tube. More control.

I used BM original post to bottle two kegs today. It went very well, I placed my bottles in a deep freezer for about 45 minutes before bottling. I noticed after getting quite a bit of foam at 3psi for my setup, by placing it at 5psi I hit it spot on, had only minimal foam and it was slightly quicker fill.

I am fairly new to brewing, I have about 6 batches done. I brew small batches, 2.5 gallons. My problem is it takes too long to go from bottle conditioning to drinkable. I was wondering if I had one keg with a picnic tap, would it condition faster in the keg and then bottle with this awesome device. I have a birthday coming up and am wondering what to spend it on

raymadigan said:

I am fairly new to brewing, I have about 6 batches done. I brew small batches, 2.5 gallons. My problem is it takes too long to go from bottle conditioning to drinkable. I was wondering if I had one keg with a picnic tap, would it condition faster in the keg and then bottle with this awesome device. I have a birthday coming up and am wondering what to spend it on

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Longer you allow your beer to condition the better results.

If your in a rush i would think force carb with 30 psi and rolling it, do a search on hbt, could speed it up maybe a week or so.