Beer Forum

So Ive now completed my first 3 batches and 2, Jamil's BCS English Mild and a Drake's 1500 Pale Ale clone, are done and on tap. I'm really satisfied with both. My problem comes when I try to fill a few bottles off the kegs to give away.
I clean the bottles well, put the empties in the freezer to get as cold as possible & spray them down inside & out with starsan. I've been trying the "piece of tubing on the end of the tap" method, the tube reaches to the bottom of the bottle, but they still foam up a lot. I cap on foam immediately, but when they get opened later on they've all been dead flat, nothing.
I'm thinking it might be the capper, because I've filled 2 growlers and they've both been fine, held their carbonation with no problem.
Am I going to have to try to return this capper to morebeer, is it my technique, or might it be something else?

Helles Sick wrote:So Ive now completed my first 3 batches and 2, Jamil's BCS English Mild and a Drake's 1500 Pale Ale clone, are done and on tap. I'm really satisfied with both. My problem comes when I try to fill a few bottles off the kegs to give away.
I clean the bottles well, put the empties in the freezer to get as cold as possible & spray them down inside & out with starsan. I've been trying the "piece of tubing on the end of the tap" method, the tube reaches to the bottom of the bottle, but they still foam up a lot. I cap on foam immediately, but when they get opened later on they've all been dead flat, nothing.
I'm thinking it might be the capper, because I've filled 2 growlers and they've both been fine, held their carbonation with no problem.
Am I going to have to try to return this capper to morebeer, is it my technique, or might it be something else?

If you haven't had any success with bottle conditioning with this capper - then that might be the problem (or maybe the caps?). However, I still suspect the method... I'm a big fan of the CPF (vs. the Beer Gun, or the "tube on the tap" method). I am able to transfer to the bottle very slowly - with just enough foam to be able to cap on. You have to make sure that the beer is cold, and slightly more carbonated than you want the final product to be... Then you HAVE to make sure that you leave a small headspace - otherwise, you will loose even more carbonation to the headspace.


Mylo

Are you using a stopper with your tube on the end of the tap method? I have a CPBF, but if I'm just filling a couple of bottles for a competition or to take to a club meeting or something, I just use a length of racking cane with a stopper in the middle. That way I can pressurize the bottles, and release the pressure slowly until the bottle is full, then foaming is kept at a minimum.

linuxelf wrote:Are you using a stopper with your tube on the end of the tap method? I have a CPBF, but if I'm just filling a couple of bottles for a competition or to take to a club meeting or something, I just use a length of racking cane with a stopper in the middle. That way I can pressurize the bottles, and release the pressure slowly until the bottle is full, then foaming is kept at a minimum.

+1 linuxe!
Make sure the stopper is airtight when you're filling the bottle and the psi is about 2. As you fill the bottle pinch the stopper a bit so it lets some of the air/CO2 that's in the bottle escape as the bottle fills. If it's for competition you might even want to purge the bottles with CO2 before filling.

What sort of pressure is on the keg when you fill? I find I need about 4psi. I bleed the headspace from the keg, hit it with around 4psi and fill with the racking cane and stopper, with the tap (cobra in my case) on full open (not pressed down but 'flipped' up. I used to only need 2psi, but with a chest freezer I have to go up about 12-18" over the edge, so I added in some gas.

+1 to above suggestions about CO2 purging, temp, etc.

mRandolph wrote:What sort of pressure is on the keg when you fill? I find I need about 4psi. I bleed the headspace from the keg, hit it with around 4psi and fill with the racking cane and stopper, with the tap (cobra in my case) on full open (not pressed down but 'flipped' up. I used to only need 2psi, but with a chest freezer I have to go up about 12-18" over the edge, so I added in some gas.

This was exactly the problem. I bled the head pressure & poured it real slow on just a few psi, didn't foam up much at all & the beers came out perfect. I was psyched to get this down, cuz it's so much easier to share my beer with others, take it to my HB club, etc. I appreciate all the suggestions, thanks guys.

I am just now getting a handle on this technique and you nailed it. You must have the beer carbed to the right level, then remove from gas and drop down as close to freezing as you dare (32oF should be safe, beer freezes lower than this). Then, apply 2-5psi, pour yourself a pint to get the head pressure down, and fill your bottles. The first ones I do tend to have a little too much foam so I set them aside for a minute and let the foam die down. Then, dip the tube back in and fill. I found that the foam in about 2" of headspace settles into just about a perfect fill. You probably still lose some carbonation doing this but it is a ghetto method; buy a counter pressure unit if you have the money. You should still probably purge with CO2 but I haven't gotten to this point yet. I am now getting pretty good consistency on fill and remaining CO2. The worst thing you can do is try this at full pressure; foam city.
Now, an interesting thing I noticed, which corroborates why counter pressure is better, is when I find a bottle that jams up nicely against the vinyl tube and the tap. If the bottle seals up there nicely it fills slowly, gasses a little CO2 as I fill, and has nearly no foam. That is exactly what counter pressure gets you, zero foam issues if done properly.