poor man's bottling from the keg procedure

[tesguino (tesgüino)]

If there’s foam, you’re losing carbonation. You should be able to control the foam with back pressure, not by lowering the pressure.

[jrdunne (Joe Sr.)]

That’s why a lot us over-carb slightly before bottling.

[wvbrewer]

Some have mentioned they purge the bottles with co2.  What sort of device do you use for that?

[jrdunne (Joe Sr.)]

I have a splitter on my CO2 line.  One end goes to the keg, one to an pneumatic air gun like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/HUSKY-13-Piece-Air-Tool-Accessory-Kit-41255HOM/205331964

I hook up a short line to the end of the air gun and flush the bottles before filling.

It helps to have a helper.  But one person can do it.

[theprofessor]

That’s why a lot us over-carb slightly before bottling.

BINGO!
As a result, the stopper/wand method has always produced perfectly conditioned bottles for me.  Purging the bottles prior to filling has also reulted in bottle aged strong beers that were perfectly fine years after bottling from keg.

[tomharger_comcast.net]

You can do exactly the same as a bottling gun with a bottling wand.

1. Sanitize bottles and using the bottling wand hooked up to 5 lbs CO2 and fill with CO2 from bottom up. Place cap loosely on the bottle.
2. Move your bottling wand / hose to the liquid side of keg with 5 lbs on the CO2 on the gas side of keg.
3. fill the bottles with the wand from bottom up then cap the bottle.

You have to fabricate your own connectors from CO2 tank to wand and keg to wand but you don’t need an expensive bottling gun to fill bottles.

[downbrew]

@PORTERHAUS

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.

I’ve been wondering this same thing, and your technique seems pretty easy.  I’ll give this a try because I only need to bottle a couple growlers.  Thanks!