Bottling with pressure ferment?

[Nick667]

Hi there I was playing with the idea of getting a pressure fermenter but I bulk prime and bottle and dont plan to keg at this stage. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to bottle with this style of fermenting and without C02. If it can be done, how would I use the bulk prime calculators with beer that is already carbonating?
Any info would be great.

 

[Hangover68]

Just stick to what you are doing, you'll need co2 to transfer to bottles plus associated gear.

 

[fifis101]

If I was you I wouldn't bother going to a pressure fermenter unless you plan on getting CO2 as well. The advantages you'll gain will just be lost by carbing in the bottles.

 

[Tangentile]

If I'm bottling from the pressure fermenter I just off gas it over a few days or a week until there's no pressure, then bottle as normal.

 

[yankinoz]

If I'm bottling from the pressure fermenter I just off gas it over a few days or a week until there's no pressure, then bottle as normal.

You could bottle that way, but only if you then add sugars and carbonate as usual in the bottle. By letting the fermenter "gas off," that long, you'll return the dissolved CO2 to the same level as if you had finished fermenting at atmospheric pressure and to the same final temperature.

If, on the other hand, one tries to bottle or keg under residual pressure, without CO2, added the math is against it. Carbon dioxide is present in the head space and dissolved in the beer. As you draw beer, you're losing the former and diluting the latter, killing pressure.

 

[BrewLizard]

I've done it.

It was a Bell's Two Hearted clone in an FKJ, which has something like 22-23 L of total volume. I did my usual 8.5 L batch size, at my usual pressure of 15 psi.

From memory, I bottled the whole batch without CO2 connected. Not that it matters – once you've formed a siphon, you could crack the lid open and continue using a bottling wand/gun indefinitely, provided your bottle is below the level of where you are drawing beer from.

I pseudo bulk primed each bottle with about half the usual priming sugar. You need to calculate the volume of dissolved CO2 based on your fermentation pressure and temperature, and find the remaining carbonation (and hence sugar) needed to hit your target.

However, I did notice this batch oxidised faster than previous batches. I'm not sure if it's because I had less sugar in the bottle to help the yeast eat O2, OR if it's because I'd kegged so long by that point and done either closed or zero-transfer brewing, that I've been spoiled by hoppy beers that stay fresh indefinitely.

 

[TwoCrows]

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