Bottle conditioning a beer that has been partially force carved

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by tronester, May 2, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. tronester

    tronester Pooh-Bah (1,653) Nov 25, 2006 Oklahoma
    Pooh-Bah

    I have my friend and mines hombrewed golden ale in a keg that needs to be bottled. It was left under 10 psi of pressure.

    I am going to basically dispense the beer from the keg into the priming bucket. But my main question is how much sugar to use for bottle conditioning. I haven't even tapped the keg since it was first pressurized, so Until I pour a glass of this evening I won't even know how carbonated it is.
     
  2. OddNotion

    OddNotion Pooh-Bah (1,915) Nov 1, 2009 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    How long was it @ 10psi?

    Edit: Also was the psi just a burst to set the lid or was it constant in an attempt to carb the beer?

    Edit 2: Temperature of the beer might be important as well.
     
  3. jthahn

    jthahn Initiate (0) Jun 1, 2009 Indiana

    youve got a lot of variables to consider so let me ask a simple question first.
    Are you wanting to do this simply for transport reasons? I've poured straight from the keg into a bottle and then capped it when I wanted to transport some bottles. I wouldn't expect it to last forever like this but its a solution if you're just needing a temporary fix.
    Moving on, if thats not what you're wanting to do.

    The best option I can think of would be to vent off the carbonation and let the keg come to room temperature. Oxidation is a worry if you don't have the CO2 to protect the beer. Without doing it this way I don't know how you'll take into account:
    1) Current level of carbonation (which can be determined with PSI/temperature)
    2) Yeast in solution (going to need some for bottle conditioning)

    If you could essentially get the beer back to pre-kegging shape you could proceed as normal. Otherwise, answer the OddNotions questions, temperature is going to be important, and we can proceed from there.
     
  4. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    If the beer is properly carbonated, or better yet slightly over carved, you could keg straight to bottle. Let us know if it is fully carbed first.
     
  5. tronester

    tronester Pooh-Bah (1,653) Nov 25, 2006 Oklahoma
    Pooh-Bah

    So I basically had a small disaster when trying to bottle. I hooked up the tap line to the keg, and was spraying nothing but foam. And then the tap fixture that connects to the keg started leaking really badly.

    I got 3 gallons into the priming bucket, and added 1.1 oz of table sugar which hopefully won't cause bottle bombs. The beer was probably at 1 volume of co2 I would guess.
     
  6. OddNotion

    OddNotion Pooh-Bah (1,915) Nov 1, 2009 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    How were you transferring from keg to bottling bucket? Beer Gun? Tubing?
     
  7. HopNuggets

    HopNuggets Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2009 Connecticut

    What was your thinking behind pressuring a beer that you wanted to bottle? Why not just keep it in the keg? If you are going to bottle just transfer from primary or secondary to the bottling bucket.
     
  8. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    added 1.1 oz of table sugar which hopefully won't cause bottle bombs

    Me too.

    There is a way to bottle fully carbed beer without a beer gun. Get it fully carbed or slightly over, get your beer and sanitized bottles down to 32 degrees, drop your keg pressure down to where it pushes a slow trickle. Stick a 12" peice of sanitized tube into your tap and fill the chilled bottles and cap.
     
  9. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California

    That works pretty well, but can lead to diacetyl bombs from oxidation if you're not super careful. I've found that if I do that for growlers, I have to first purge the growler with CO2 from the tank (via a CO2 line without a ball lock gas connector), then stick the tap line with sanitized tube in and fill under the CO2 blanket.
     
  10. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    In full disclosure, I have only tried it twice. I had no problems. I would think that the CO2 that comes out of solution pushes out the atmospheric air.
     
    Ejayz likes this.
  11. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,865) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    I fill this way often, but I have a spare tank and regulator and the bottle is continuously purged while it's being filled. I've had saisons hold up fine for a year after doing this, IPA's not so much... but they are at their peak for less than a month anyway.
     
  12. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    I wasn't familiar with diacetyl being created after ferm is complete.
     
  13. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California

    I wasn't either until it happend to me... it also happened to hopfeunmaltz as well.

    I had a kegged beer taste perfect, then submitted bottles for a comp filled using a beer gun with a quick (5 sec CO2 purge), and some of them resulted in diacetyl bombs. I did some control bottle fills after the comp using my beer gun with variable length CO2 purges in addition to variations of the filling method you/I use (In addition to some internet searching) and found out its the result of not purging with or purging with an insufficient amount of CO2 resulting in oxygen pickup which the yeast can't clean up because they aren't actively fermenting and/or at colder temps.

    Sometimes you have to learn the hard way :slight_frown:

    Link as well: http://www.draymans.com/articles/arts/03.html
     
    tronester and scurvy311 like this.
  14. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    Great to know. I have been practicing for preparing comp beers. Looks like I need to add a step to my bottle filling. How many second purge at what psi do you recommend?
     
  15. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California

    Blichmann says to do a 5 second purge at 3-5 psi... I've found that if I do a 10-15 second purge at 5 psi for 12 oz or 22 oz bottles I don't get any oxidation. For growlers, I'm uber paranoid and do a 30 second purge at 5 psi. For bottle filling with my beer gun I also give a slight puff of CO2 after removing the tip to ensure minimal O2 in the headspace before capping.

    You can always do what I did and pick 5-6 bottles from your batch and test (3, 5, 10, 15 second purge, etc.) to see which amount is suitable since everyone's systems vary slightly.
     
  16. tronester

    tronester Pooh-Bah (1,653) Nov 25, 2006 Oklahoma
    Pooh-Bah

    Standard beer tap hose.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.