Mr. Beer Bottling Question - Can I use the keg?

[samman64]

This is a question regarding the bottling stage for Mr. Beer kits.

The Mr. Beer kit comes with plastic 1 liter bottles and the directions say to add the beer individually into each bottle (along with the sugar) to allow for carbonation.

For multiple reasons, I severely dislike the plastic bottles and I am switching to glass with my own bottle capper. However, I do not have all the tools I need for my own bottling.

So, my question to the forum is this: can I empty the un-carbonated beer from the keg, clean the keg, put the beer back into the keg, add the requisite sugar, and allow the beer to carbonate in the Mr. Beer keg itself (instead of individual bottles)?

Has anyone tried this – does the beer come out the same way?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jtratcliff]

Nope... The LBK (Little Brown Keg) isn't sealed. There are little air vents in the lid. That's why you don't need an airlock. It's an "almost open" fementer.

Bite the bullet and bottle prime in PET bottles for now. Then go scrounge a 3 gal bucket from somewhere (bakery, grocery store, soap maker, etc) and make your own bottling bucket with $2 spigot, $0.90 worth pvc nipples/elbows for a dip tube, and $4 spring loaded bottling wand. Then get yourself a $15 capper.

 

[jkn09]

It won't carbonate due to the airlock lid. Any carbonation that would occur is inhibited by the air constantly being released. Put plainly, your beer would already be carbonated if it weren't for the airlock lid.

 

[ryanvp123]

You can't carbonate in the Mr. Beer keg itself, because it is meant to release CO2 during (primary) fermentation.

However, I don't understand what equipment you're missing to do it in glass. If you mean you don't have a bottling bucket, you can still follow the Mr. Beer method of carbonating -- put a proper amount of sugar in each (glass) bottle, fill using the Mr. Beer tap, cap and allow to carbonate in the bottle.

I don't recall the measurements for how much sugar in each bottle, but I believe the one time I used my Mr Beer on my first batch, I got the instructions from the package or may have searched on their website.

Finally, I'd like to put a plug in for the PET bottles, if you prefer glass then by all means use glass, but I still use my original Mr. Beer bottles today. They are especially useful for feeling your carbonation levels without having to open a beer before they're ready. I haven't noticed any difference in results other than appearance.

 

[samman64]

Thanks all!