bottling before kegging

[Mrtickel]

Hello

I was wondering if i was to transfer my beer from fermentor to bulk prime it in my bottling bucket so i can bottle a few beers for friends and then transfer to my keg to finish carbanating natueraly
What i want ta no is it ok to do this?? or will i need more/less priming sugar.
And my match size is 5 gallons and the amount of priming sugar i will be using is 110g.
Also the keg i will be using is the same as a pony keg.
Thanks

 

[boo boo]

If you are going to do that, why not just bulk prime in the keg and rack some beer into bottles from that? One less container to clean.

 

[Mrtickel]

I dont mind cleaning the extra container Plus i have no set up for filling bottles from a keg so i think it would be the easist way to fill the bottles.but i just want to make sure bulk priming is bulk priming no matter if its going into keg or bottle.

 

[KAMMEE]

You don't have to have a beer gun or counter pressure filler to fill bottles from the keg. Carb the beer until its at the desired level of carbonation, Chill your bottles in the Keg Fridge overnight in a bucket of starsan, then reduce PSI to about 5, slowly fill the bottles, cap on foam as it rises up to the top of the bottle. This works for lots of folks who enter competitions, and I've tried it to take a sixer to a friends house. Worked great for me. The key is cold bottles and reduced psi so the foam doesn't get out of control.

 

[erikpete18]

Yeah, take a look at this post about the BierMuncher Bottle Filler. If you've got a few things laying around already (cobra tap, racking cane), its pretty easy to bottle from a keg.

The other problem is you need less priming sugar to carb a keg than a bottle. So if you mix up your whole batch at bottling levels and then keg part of it, it might be a little overcarbed. Of course, you could get around this by venting the keg at some point to prevent all the CO2 from going into solution, then if it goes too low it will carb up fully once its on gas. You could also look at carb tabs. Never used them, but the idea is that you can put a measured amount of sugar in each bottle and then move the beer onto it, then you could add your keg-priming sugar and go from there.

 

[malkore]

Jeez, just fill a few bottles, individually prime them, then rack to the keg and force carb.

priming sugar in kegs just never makes sense to me. you create all that sediment you have to get rid of...losing beer in the process.

 

[Yooper]

Jeez, just fill a few bottles, individually prime them, then rack to the keg and force carb.

priming sugar in kegs just never makes sense to me. you create all that sediment you have to get rid of...losing beer in the process.

I don't agree- the amount of sediment produced from priming in the keg is negligible. You get some sediment in the keg anyway, and priming adds such a small smidgeon to it that it's not even noticeable!

You can prime the entire batch and then just bottle off a few. I've done that and it works fine.

 

[Golddiggie]

Just keep in mind, the amount of priming sugar used in a keg is much less than what you would use in bottles. Using the Beer Smith carbonation section, it's about half the amount of sugar between bottles and keg. Same CO2 volumes and brew temp too.

I would transfer brew to the keg, then transfer the balance to the bottling bucket. Prime the keg by itself, and then whatever you plan to bottle. You could do it the other way around, but I wouldn't prime it at one volume. If you do, chances are the brew in the keg will be super-carbonated. Unless, that is, you vent it while it carbonates. Although if you're going to do that, you might as well just put it on gas from the start.

WHEN I get into kegging, I plan to do some tests where I'll carbonate half a batch with gas, and the other half with sugar... Just to see if I can notice a difference. I'll mark the keg, but not the taps.. I'll also get others to try each and see if they notice any difference between the two (I'll do that as a blind test to them). If it makes no difference, then it's a coin toss as to which method to use. The only exception could be when putting something on beer gas. :rockin:

 

[Yooper]

Just keep in mind, the amount of priming sugar used in a keg is much less than what you would use in bottles. Using the Beer Smith carbonation section, it's about half the amount of sugar between bottles and keg. Same CO2 volumes and brew temp too.

Yes, but...............

It's not like the keg will be overcarbed if you use more priming sugar. It's just that you don't NEED as much. It won't be super carbonated or anything like that at all. Not by using 4 ounces of priming sugar instead of 2 anyway.

I've done it, and it works!

 

[Golddiggie]

I don't see how adding more sugar than you need for a CO2 volume won't push you over that volume... If I need 2oz to get to 2.4CO2 volumes (at 65F) in a keg, and I add 4oz instead, I'll get closer to 3.9CO2 volumes... Unless there's some extra brew voodoo going on behind the scenes... Or the actual PSI in the keg hits the limit that the yeast can survive, and you kill them all, thus preventing more carbonation... Which, basically, means you just wasted ingredient.

 

[Yooper]

I don't see how adding more sugar than you need for a CO2 volume won't push you over that volume... If I need 2oz to get to 2.4CO2 volumes (at 65F) in a keg, and I add 4oz instead, I'll get closer to 3.9CO2 volumes... Unless there's some extra brew voodoo going on behind the scenes... Or the actual PSI in the keg hits the limit that the yeast can survive, and you kill them all, thus preventing more carbonation... Which, basically, means you just wasted ingredient.

Hint- you can pull the "pressure relief valve" if you need to! But you probably won't even need to.

 

[Golddiggie]

Hint- you can pull the "pressure relief valve" if you need to! But you probably won't even need to.

Which is what I had said in an earlier post... I would just be concerned about pulling it at the wrong point, and undershoot the desired carbonation level by a large amount.

I would rather just know that I used the proper amount to get at least close to my target CO2 volumes... I doubt I'll ever hit a specific volume while priming with sugars though. At least when you keg, and put it on gas (using a keezer or such) you can pretty much guarantee that you'll have a specific CO2 volume in there after ~2 weeks. Although the margin for error I usually give myself makes it a non-issue.

Obviously, I've not kegged any brews yet. I do see it as something I will do, at least with some brews, or parts of batches, in the future. I do know that some styles I'll pretty much always bottle. Mostly because they won't be something I'll drink often enough to put on tap. Things like big barley wines, old ales, etc... I'd rather have a bottle, or three, in the fridge to enjoy than have a tap occupied by it. Well, at least until I get the keezer that can hold a dozen (or more) kegs, and taps for each one. :rockin:

 

[wedge421]

+1 for the Biermuncher method. That thing works like a charm. Ive filled close to 500 bottles using that method. Its cheap, easy and just works.

 

[rycov]

i just got some carb drops. so i transfered to bottling bucket to cold crash, bottled what i wanted in the bottles with the carb drops. then put the rest in the keg and set to 12 psi. keg is starting to taste good already. another week and it should be perfect. i haven't tried the bottles yet, so i cant speak for how the drops work. but the process was sweet. ill probably always do a sixer or so this way, that way i can keep a few around for a while and not use up keg space.

 

[Sea]

+1 for the Biermuncher method. That thing works like a charm. Ive filled close to 500 bottles using that method. Its cheap, easy and just works.

I gotta say this is by far the best option for bottling a few from a batch. A couple a bucks for a stopper and and old racking cane are well worth it since you'll use them many times. Plus the most important reason: NO SEDIMENT IN THE BOTTLES. This is the easiest way to overcome a common homebrew gripe which is often magnified when you are giving the bottles away to people who don't know how to pour a homebrew.

 

[Mrtickel]

Cheers people for all the help i might try the carb drops as i have some here then transfer to the keg.