I’ve got two cases of barley wine, which didn’t carbonate up. It’s been in the bottle for several months at room temp (65-70`) and there’s a thin layer of yeast on the bottom. I do get a little bit of a “ppfft” when I pop the top, but I’m thinking that between the high alcohol (10%) and the long secondary (I should have pitched some fresh yeast at bottling) it probably just isn’t going to happen. I am now happily kegging, and was wondering if there was a way to transfer the bottles to a keg and force carbonate without completely oxidizing the batch. My thoughts were to purge a keg with co2, and then outfit a funnel with a tube that ran to the bottom of the keg. I could then pour gently into the funnel. I could even go one step further and attempt to blanket the funnel in co2, so that co2 might enter the bottle instead of oxygen.
So, what say you? Anybody attempt this? What method did you use and how did it turn out?
I did this with a Pilsener that didn’t carbonate and it worked fine. I just poured from the bottles carefully into a tipped keg to minimize aeration and then purged out all of of the air after sealing it. You could certainly purge before pouring too and it might give you a little extra peace of mind. In my experience the only thing in homebrewing to really stress over is sanitation. Everything else has a significant fudge factor and the amount of O2 you’re likely to add pouring the beer into the keg is probably not going to kill it. You’ll probably drink it way faster than it would go bad anyway. Good luck with it!
Thad
I did it with cheap commercial quarts to see how it works once. Probably will be some oxidation even if you purge. The funnel-tube sounds sketchy but who knows? Might work.
I imagine there’s no way to do it without risking a little oxidation. I figured a funnel & tube would allow me to transfer the beer quietly to the bottom of the keg, which may be better than slowly pouring it down the inside wall of the keg. How well did it work with the cheap commercial quarts?
I think it degraded the flavor even though it was cheap beer. I did some shiner like that too. The carbonation was off and the beer tasted like it lacked freshness. However, I did not shake but just pressured the kegs up. I think it’s one of those one-way deals. You can bottle from a keg but the other way doesn’t work right.
That being said since your BW wasn’t carbed up to begin with why not purge, chill and shake? A worthy gambit to save the batch. Might be the best you ever make.
Funny and interesting. Particularly around the 1:50 range, if that beer isn’t getting oxidized I don’t know what is! Although it was really high alcohol at this point, but it will still oxidize.
I say go with your original plan, sounds like a good plan. chill the keg, purge with c02, and pour gently to the bottom. Purge again when you’re done and carb it up to your normal carbonating schedule. I think that’s a great idea.
I’m not sure if someone mentioned it already, but it’s a Barley Wine, it might benefit from a little oxygen.