Bottle apfelwein from a keg?

[1990dtgl98]

Hey guys, just curious. I made some apfelwein that some of my bosses really want to try.

I use the method on here, of turning the pressure down, using a modified bottling wand and stopper to fill growlers/bottles. However, without the head that you get from beer filling all the headspace, thus reducing the amount of oxygen to skunk the beer, how long do they last.

I ask because I can usually get a beer to last about a week with my method. Does apple juice oxidize more readily, or having that little bit of headspace cause it to skunk faster? I want to give them a 6-pack each, but they probably would need 3 days to drink this batch. :cross::cross:

 

[squirrelly]

It really depends on how long the beer will be sitting in bottles.

If I am bottling for competition I take no chances and purge each bottle with C02 after the bottles have been cleaned and sanitized. From there I set the C02 regulator to 7 PSI and fill the bottles using the blichman beer gun. If I'm just filling growlers to hand out as samples at the tasting room I just run some sanitizer through the growlers and sanitize a piece of tubing that fits into the faucet. I just fill each growler from the bottom and cap on foam. That's just for beer that will be consumed within a few hours of filling the growler.

At a minimum I would purge each bottle with CO2 to try to alleviate the oxidation as much as possible.

 

[drathbone]

Oxygen doesn't cause skunking, exposure to light causes skunking. Isomerized alpha acids (what you get from boiling hops) react to light exposure by forming a chemical similar to that of the spray of a skunk. More info here.

Apfelwein doesn't have any hops in it and therefore wouldn't have an issue with light exposure that I know of. I've left a corked bottle in my wine rack for weeks with no issues. However it was a still wine and not carbonated like yours. My guess is that your only issue would be losing carbonation.

Now oxidation, caused from exposure to oxygen and creates cardboard or sherry-like flavors, generally takes a long time and a lot of O2 to stale your brew or wine. Sure, the splashing from transfer might introduce a bit of O2, but if you (or your boss) let a 6 pack sit long enough to get these off flavors you're not doing it right.