bottling off a keg for homebrew competition?

Do any of you bottle directly from the keg, or do I need to bottle condition?
You can bottle off keg for competitions.

If you bottle from the keg, do you need to have a beer-gun bottling device?
You don't need a beer gun or cp device. It is a gamble when bottling straight from the tap depending on how far out you from the comp you are bottling. If you are just bottling a couple and have an extra tank and regulator you can purge the bottles prior to filling. This would be a pain for a lot of bottles.

I have won medals bottling from the tap, but it is best to minimize the time between filling and judging.

 

For a comp, Beer gun 5 or 6 beers from your corny (3 or 4 for QA) or alternately, bottle the whole batch right out the gate.

There are other ways...but not something you would want for a comp.
Carb drops work, but not real useful for your scenario.

 

I personally wouldn't bottle from the faucet, but I have a beer gun. Otherwise, I might feel differently. A couple things about bottling for competitions...

- Fill as close to the turn-in deadline as possible, as @sarcastro suggested. I normally do it the same day.
- If at all possible, drive the bottles to the collection point yourself, in a cold cooler. Several days in a hot UPS warehouse/truck can really hurt your scores.

 

That's pretty typical, though it can sometimes be two weeks or longer. In any case, I bottle on the day of turn-in (or shipping) if possible.

 

If entering two bottles you need to bottle at least four (bottle conditioning) or three (keg-carbed). Bottling from the keg seems the way to go, the slight loss of carbonation has never hurt my score but this is using a beer gun. I bottled from keg faucet once and will never do that again. Instead I suggest to borrow or steal a beer gun (and practice before bottling your comp beers).

Occasionaly I will be pressed for time (carb-time) or keg-space and will bottle condition for comps. You'll not enjoy mixing priming sugar for two bottles, so go ahead and do ten'ish bottles which is overall easier.

The reason for the extras? If bottle conditioning, you like to pop one bottle before submitting to see that all is well . . . you always want to have one bottle remaining to drink while reviewing your score.

 

I've used a picnic tap with a bottling wand attached to bottom fill my competition bottles with good results. I've won my share of medals bottling this way. Make sure you cool the bottles in the fridge to keep down foam loss and fill till the beer over flows the lip of the bottle. Removing the wand will settle the beer to correct fill.

 

I bottle off of a cobra tap with a bottling wand (remove the tip and spring) with a rubber bung slid over the wand. Sanitize it all. Drop your CO2 pressure down to about 3-4 psi. Vent the keg. Hook up the tap, and flush with about 4-6 oz of beer wasted. Insert the bottling wand into the sanitized bottle until in is just above the bottom. Push the bung down into the bottle neck to seal the system off. Depress the cobra tap, and every few seconds squeeze the bung so that it releases the headspace pressure allowing the beer to flow (only release for a second or two). When the bottle is full, remove the wand and give it a half depression of the cobra (this will send foam into the headspace). Cap and keep cold. I have won at comps this way. It takes some practice. First few bottles per keg are usually a little too foamy. I do about 4-5 bottles each beer for a 3 bottle submission.

 

I don't overcarb. I forget what size bung I use, but a quick Google search turns up #2 drilled bung.

 

Place bottles filled with sanitizer in fridge overnight. Get keg way cold & over carb a bit. Bring pressure way down to 1-2 psi then Jam a bottling wand without the tip, into the cobra tap and fill the cold bottles. Practice with a few you'll see how simple it is.

 

I also use a bottling wand. My practice is to overcarb by increasing the CO2 by 4-5psi above the serving pressure the night before bottling, get the beer very cold, vent pressure and bottle at about 3-4psi the next day. Consider the first 2 or 3 bottles to be for practice and getting your procedure dialed in. Cap on a little foam to exclude as much oxygen as you can. You can set up a continuous purge if you have an extra tank and regulator but this is probably overkill except for IPA's. I have had beers bottled this way score well up to a month after filling.

 

Depending on temperature that's probably an extra half volume of CO2. Do you think we really lose that much during bottling?

 

Probably.

 

I honestly have no idea, I just hadn't imagined it would be that great.

 

It would be if it were at the higher PSI for long enough, to reach equilibrium. I don't think overnight would get it there. I can tell you that when I have served samples through a jockey box at 40+ PSI, they did not noticeably overcarbonate in a period of a few hours.

My swag would be something less. Maybe 0.2 volumes or so, just based on appearance and mouthfeel of many bottle/growler fills vs how the same beers seemed straight from the faucet. Obviously, it would be very process dependent and even individual beer dependent (different starting carbonation levels and serving pressures), and YMMV.

 

YMMV It depends on your setup, how fast you cap, working alone or with a helper, etc. The number I threw out is for working alone, filling, capping, moving on to the next bottle.

 

That is exactly how I've been doing it for the last 30 years, and it works like a charm. In fact, I've consistently gotten far better results with this method than some of my friends that use the 'beer gun'.
I've even found that if the bottles are purged prior to filling, even beers that will be 'cellared' for extended periods hold up amazingly well.