Yo, people, what’s the best procedure to bottle from a keg when not in possession of a beer gun? I don’t need to fill a lot of bottles, so I don’t want to buy this expensive toy right now.
I do have a Beer Gun but I only use it if bottling up a lot of beer at once. But most of the time to bottle up a few bottles or a growler I just stick a bottling wand into the end of a standard picnic tap. I use the non spring loaded type. I purge the co2 of my keg and start filling. When things get really slow I turn on the gas valve to give it a hit of co2 to keep things flowing. If im bottling something that will be sitting around a while I purge the bottle with some co2.
Yeah the Beer Gun makes this all a little easier but it can still be done just fine without it.
This is how I do it. Easy. Cheep.
Yup. I add a 2 inch length of tubing that fits over both the racking cane and the cobra tap end to prevent the cane from slipping free of the tap. if this happens you get a nice counter pressure beer geyser which is not at all fun.
C’mon, that’s the poor man’s drinking fountain!
Buy a #2 or 2 1/2 one hole stopper. Stick a piece of tubing through it so that the tubing sticking out the bottom is long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle once the stopper is seated. Leave a few inches sticking out the top. Stick the tubing coming out the top into a beer tap. Seat the stopper in a bottle. Open the tap. The beer will fill about 1/3 of the bottle before pressure builds up and stops the flow. At that point, use your thumb to very slightly crack the stopper and start the beer flowing again. When the bottle is full close the tap. No foaming and you retain the beer’s carbonation. This works so well I’ve never used anything else.
Some people have worried about infection from the tap. Do y’all recommend any particular cleaning procedure (cleaning the tap) before filling a bottle.
PS. I have a beer gun. It is a pain to clean before and after use.
Is this done at serving pressure?
I bottle for a picnic tap, so I take a clean tap and line and run sanitizer through it prior to bottling.
No. I find it works best a very low pressure. 5 PSI max on my system. It’s also advisable to overcarb slightly to compensate for any loss in the bottling. I know Denny says he gets no foam, but I always get some.
The only thing I’ll add is that it really helps if you get your bottles really cold as well
Yep.
I have done the method Denny describes before. The stopper slows/stops the flow of the beer into the bottle (it’s counter pressure). To keep it going slow at serving pressure you would need to be delicate when letting air in.
Ive had good luck with a bottling wand shoved into a cobra/picnic tap. I drop pressure to about 5psi. I purge the bottles with CO2, then fill till liquid is coming out and cap quickly.
which is not difficult to do.
I find it easier at lower pressure. But perhaps I’m just indelicate.
With enough practice, it can become a pretty fast tear down, brush the SS steel tubes clean, soak in sanitizer, then a pretty fast assembly. The first time was frustrating, but I learned how to do it with no drama.
I have done it many times and would not call it hard. But it is a lot more steps than filling from the tap.
My cheap and easy method for taking a beer or two to a party is:
- Dip bottle and cap in starsan
- Turn pressure down to 1psi and vent the keg.
- Fill from cobra tap directly. No tubes or bottling canes connected to the tap. Just pour slowly down the side of the bottle. I get very little foam with low pressure.
- Cap (usually on foam).
- Reset regulator to serving pressure.
I don’t think this method is sanitary or oxygen free. So I only use it when the beer will be consumed quickly.
This is exactly what I do. It is also nice to not have to open and close the picnic tap. I cap on the foam and I can’t tell that I’m losing any carbonation. I poured a Imp Stout last night that was bottled in June and it was like I poured it from the keg.