Competition Submission - from keg to bottle question

[ThinBrewLine]

So my competition brew, currently in the fermentor, will need to be turned in on April 08 in two bottles. Judging is to occur between April 08 and April 18.

As I normally keg my brew, I see two options and seek your input.

One option is to keg it as normal, holding back enough and adding bottling sugar and bottling the two bottles.

The second option (the one I like best) is to keg it, force carbonate it via C02, and then go from keg to bottle just before submission, hitting the bottles with C02 to purge any 02.

I think it will be better from the keg, as there won't be much time for any bottle conditioning.

Has anyone got any better advice/ options?

The brew in question is an IPA with an OG of 1.08

Thx in adv!

 

[unviewtiful]

Since you normally keg, you should go that route for consistency's sake and bottle from the keg. I like Biermuncher's beer gun for bottling off the keg, I had everything on hand for it except a stopper.

 

[Natdavis777]

Before I got my beergun, I always kegged comp beer from the picnic tap and capped on foam. Worked fine for me.

 

[beerinthebloodco]

Biermuncher's gun is a winner in my book! I have used it for a couple competition entries already with no problems!

 

[Lyger10]

So to add on to this question, what about temperatures????

If my beer is nice and cold and carbonated, if I bottle it and warm it back up on a shelf for a few weeks don't I run the risk of waking up yeast and creating a bottle bomb?

 

[EcuPirate07]

So to add on to this question, what about temperatures????

If my beer is nice and cold and carbonated, if I bottle it and warm it back up on a shelf for a few weeks don't I run the risk of waking up yeast and creating a bottle bomb?

Uummmmmm if you bottled off the keg, unless you keg conditioned with priming sugar there is nothing for the yeast to eat, so no chance of bottle bombs. Plus if it's been at 40 degrees for a week plus most yeast have settled out and wouldn't even make it into your bottle.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Yeah, I think you should have no problems bottling off the keg (assuming you've got some sort of setup that allows you to do that). I just did that and took 1st place in my category and best of show overall for a super hoppy sour beer.

You probably don't need to purge with CO2 first either, but you certainly can if you feel like it. Just fill the bottles up with StarSan, dump them out one at a time, and then immediately fill it and cap it.