Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:25 am

Okay, here's the situation: My parents went away on a weeks vacation...

AND

I had to bottle half on my 10 gallons of Hef due to only having 1 available keg. The 5 gallons I kegged turned out great, but the 5 gallons I bottled came out way less carbonated. I have been adding some of the flatter stuff into half a glass on the good stuff to make a decent pint, but was wondering if I could just pour the 2-3 gallons I have left into a keg and try to force 're-carbonate' it?

Thanks in advance
Last edited by Tarp Town on Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
On Tap:
Saison
IPA
Oatmeal Stout
Light Ale

In Secondary:
Brown Ale

On Deck:
Kolsch
User avatar
Tarp Town
 
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:22 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:14 am

I'm not sure what your parents being out of town has to do with anything, but anyway...

don't pour them back into a keg, siphon them. If you have a counterpressure bottle filler that will work great, if not, put some tubing in a picnic faucet. Experiment a little and you'll be amazed how well it works. Oh, purge that keg with CO2 first, too.
What's on tap: Cream Ale, Imperial Blonde
Secondary: British Amber,
Primary: APA
http://bubrew.org
User avatar
DannyW
 
Posts: 1950
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:37 pm
Location: Nokomis, Florida, USA

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:37 am

How the hell would you push beer out of a bottle with a beer gun?
On Tap:
Saison
IPA
Oatmeal Stout
Light Ale

In Secondary:
Brown Ale

On Deck:
Kolsch
User avatar
Tarp Town
 
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:22 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:38 am

Tarp Town wrote:How the hell would you push beer out of a bottle with a beer gun?

Suck it (instead of push it) :)
Sent From My iPhone
 
Posts: 3412
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:46 am

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:51 am

Tarp Town wrote:How the hell would you push beer out of a bottle with a beer gun?


This assumes you have a partially filled keg with the same type of beer that is in the bottles and you want to put the beer in the bottles back into that keg.

Put keg on floor, full bottles on table.
Attach beer gun to keg, fill Beer Gun line with beer
Disconnect CO2, open pressure relief on keg.
repeat:
Open bottle, put beer gun nozzle in bottle.
Pull the trigger. Watch beer magically flow into keg.
Release trigger before tube is empty.
discard/recycle empty bottle
/repeat

You'll be done in no time.
What's on tap: Cream Ale, Imperial Blonde
Secondary: British Amber,
Primary: APA
http://bubrew.org
User avatar
DannyW
 
Posts: 1950
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:37 pm
Location: Nokomis, Florida, USA

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:57 am

DannyW wrote:I'm not sure what your parents being out of town has to do with anything


Sounds like they took the other empty kegs with them?
bcmaui
 
Posts: 2664
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: in the middle of the pacific

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:15 am

You could also do it with pressure, if you didn't want to rely on gravity.

- Purge and pressurize the ket to 10PSI
- Hooked up the CPF as usual with two exceptions: 1) reverse the flow of CO2 by moving the CO2 line from the normal input down to the to the pressure relief valve on the CPF, and 2) leave the QD off of the keg. Then the procedure for each bottle is:

1) put the CPF back into the bottle
2) open the PRV to pressurize the bottle
3) open the beer valve
4) slowly throttle the PRV on the keg to drop the pressure in the keg - beer starts flowing out of bottle
5) Stop the flow with the beer valve before the bottle is completely empty to prevent any air from the headspace bubbling through the beer
6) close the PRV valve on the CPF and remove from bottle

I like you gravity setup better, Danny - much more simple. The key, I suppose, is to not try to get every last drop out of the bottle and break your siphon.


Mylo
"Life is too short to bottle homebrew." - Me

"HEINEKEN? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!" - Dennis Hopper, in Blue Velvet
User avatar
Mylo
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 4722
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:50 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ

Re: Bottles to Keg?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:51 am

Thanks. I'm going to get an exact count of how many bottles I have before deciding. I may try adding some more corn sugar to a few to see if that helps any.

Definitely interesting.
On Tap:
Saison
IPA
Oatmeal Stout
Light Ale

In Secondary:
Brown Ale

On Deck:
Kolsch
User avatar
Tarp Town
 
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:22 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Next

Return to Kegging, Bottling and Dispensing

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

A BIT ABOUT US

The Brewing Network is a multimedia resource for brewers and beer lovers. Since 2005, we have been the leader in craft beer entertainment and information with live beer radio, podcasts, video, events and more.