Keg system solely for bottling

[orionol73]

Hey All! Have been brewing for a few years now and bottle carbonation seems to be one of my areas of least control. When I first started I just followed the kit directions about adding volumes to and those would be almost always over carbonated. I then began researching and have learned to dial it in more closely by weighing my sugars before adding to the bottling bucket. This has gotten me closer but I still notice a discrepancy from batch to batch.
Ultimately I would love to have a few kegs and a kegerator but unfortunately I had to choose between a fermentation chamber and I chose the ferm chamber because it had a quantifiable impact on my brews. Have been doing some thinking and was beginning to wonder about having a single keg to carbonate all of my beers in and then bottle them from the keg with a beer gun. I have the space for a single keg but no space to control the temperature beyond ambient which is an almost constant 70+/- 2 degrees.
Does anyone have any experience doing this and how much does it change the process trying to carb at 70 instead of 40?

Thanks!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I could be wrong but Im not sure that'll work. The beer won't absorb CO2 as well at 70f as it will at 40f so I think there would be way too much pressure in the headspace to use the beergun. Considering the beer is even carbed at that point. Does your ferm chamber have space for a keg and fermenter? If it does....

You can try timing your batches so your cold crashing your fermenter while carbing up the keg. After you bottle everything then you bring the temps back up. Or... just wait until after you've kegged/bottled to start a new batch. Takes a bit of coordinating but it should work with your constraints.

 

[stratslinger]

Actually, I don't see why that wouldn't work - it'd likely take more time, but it should work.

You'd just use one of the carbonation tables that get reposted around here all the time, find the right pressure to carbonate your beer to the desired level while at 70F (or thereabouts). Let it sit 2-4 weeks, and it should be carbonated at that point. (Note - I did this pretty routinely before upgrading my kegerator to one with the capacity to store and carb an "on-deck" keg - it seemed a little slower to carb than when the beer is cold, but it worked).

Then, I'd think you could just purge the keg and drop your regulator to a level more friendly to your beer gun, and off you go. Yes, leaving a beer on long term at a lower pressure than that needed to maintain proper carbonation will eventually lead to a flat beer - but it takes a lot longer for that to happen than it would tke to fill a bunch of bottles from it.

 

[jddevinn]

If you add an extra quick disconnect to the lid of the keg and attach that to a carbonating stone you can knock down the carb times.

 

[mongoose33]

I've been force carbing; I get the beer down in the 30s F for temperature, then put 36psi pressure on the keg for 24 hours. It works because the colder beer holds more CO2 in solution.

After 24 hours I put the pressure down to about 12psi, and it's just about right.

Part of the key to bottling w/o foam is not allowing the beer to warm up as it's being dispensed. Warmer beer doesn't hold CO2 as well as cold beer, so guess what happens to that CO2 as the beer warms? It comes out of solution as foam.

I've had the most success using cold beer dispensed into cold bottles.

 

[Yooper]

Trying to bottle warm carbonated beer could be a huge foamy mess. Well, not "could be", but will be. Warm beer when dispensed with a Beergun will foam like crazy.

 

[jddevinn]

You should be able to pick up a used freezer/fridge for pretty cheap!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Actually, I don't see why that wouldn't work - it'd likely take more time, but it should work.

You'd just use one of the carbonation tables that get reposted around here all the time, find the right pressure to carbonate your beer to the desired level while at 70F (or thereabouts). Let it sit 2-4 weeks, and it should be carbonated at that point. (Note - I did this pretty routinely before upgrading my kegerator to one with the capacity to store and carb an "on-deck" keg - it seemed a little slower to carb than when the beer is cold, but it worked).

Then, I'd think you could just purge the keg and drop your regulator to a level more friendly to your beer gun, and off you go. Yes, leaving a beer on long term at a lower pressure than that needed to maintain proper carbonation will eventually lead to a flat beer - but it takes a lot longer for that to happen than it would tke to fill a bunch of bottles from it.

Carb chart for the OP but it only goes up to 65f.... http://www.drinktanks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CARBONATION_CHART_DRINKTANKS.png

 

[orionol73]

Thanks for all of the quick responses!
To answer a few questions; no I do not have enough space in the fermenter to keep a keg in there also, just a small mini fridge. I would love to get a small fridge for a kegerator but again, no more space in my current living situation
Looks like I'll just have to keep fighting with those pesky sugar granules until they do as I say!

 

[jddevinn]

Thanks for all of the quick responses!
To answer a few questions; no I do not have enough space in the fermenter to keep a keg in there also, just a small mini fridge. I would love to get a small fridge for a kegerator but again, no more space in my current living situation
Looks like I'll just have to keep fighting with those pesky sugar granules until they do as I say!

You could try to um steal most of the food space in your food fridge for a keg cold crash before bottling.

*****I live by myself and DO NOT remove two food fridge shelves to fit my largest erlenmeyer for cold crash ipe: