steam to purge oxygen?

[skullface1818]

I was filling some bottles from my kegs, and before I did so I blasted each bottle with steam to help sanatize them (hand steam cleaner). As I was filling them up I noticed how the steam was moving out of the bottles as I filled them and I thought, would steam move oxygen out of bottles?

It seems like a cheap alternative to allow me to send out bottles to competitions and to give to friends.

thoughts?

 

[Xandir]

There is still going to be oxygen in the steam, admittedly a bit less since the steam does take a bit of room otherwise occupied by air, but not enough to make a difference.

 

[Nightshade]

No, steam only makes the oxygen denser if I remember right.

But I do know it does not remove oxygen in the way you are proposing. A quick blast of co2 would do a better job of it.

 

[TopherM]

CO2 purges oxygen because it's heavier than oxygen and displaces the oxygen as it enters the bottle. Steam is lighter than oxygen, so it's not going to displace anything. It goes in, it steams out, the O2 stays behind.

 

[Mongrel]

Steam will heat your bottles and drive more CO2 out of solution. You're better off getting your bottles and kegged beer really cold, and capping on foam.

 

[JLem]

The steam may displace the air in the bottles, but something needs to fill the space...so ambient air will rush in...bringing the oxygen back in with it.

 

[skullface1818]

The steam may displace the air in the bottles, but something needs to fill the space...so ambient air will rush in...bringing the oxygen back in with it.

that's assuming that I leave the bottles for a good deal of time for all the steam to lift out.

If I give it a blast from the bottom out steam stays their for a good amount of time, and as I push beer into the bottles it pushes more steam out of the bottles, keeping air out of the stuff.

 

[mikescooling]

For what it's worth, when I fill bottles from the keg, I flood the bottles so the bottles over flow a little; so I'm purging them that way. When I do this everything is ice cold.