Filling bottles from kegs

[Ghizo]

Ok I am looking at getting a filling gun, but need a few bottles for this weekend and because I have just started don't have any ready. I do have the carbonation cap with the tail which can apparently used for filling. Does anyone use it for filling?
Do you lose much carbonation changing from carbonation cap to regular lid on a pet bottle?

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Im not familiar with the carb cap. I bottle from keg. Prior to bottling usual scenario is to crank up the pressure on the beer a day before. Drop the temp as well if you can. Then turn the pressure down slow like 5psi when bottling. Chilling bottles helps but its fiddly. I sanitize the bottles, drain on the tree then bag with freezer bags and chill bottles, glass and pet. That's the best for indefinite storage life (which has never been too long for me) :chug:

 

[mofox1]

They certainly do work. Snip a bit of tubing to fit down to the end of the bottle. Fill fairly high and you'll minimise the amount of pressure that is "lost" as well as minimising the amount of oxygen that gets in.

If you give the bottles a wee bump so that the last cm or two foams up you can cap on the foam and have effectively zero oxygen ingress without having to sacrifice much carb.

First time doing it a few weeks ago for the Vic swap and had zero issues. Cracked open one I brought back home a week ago and detected no off flavors either.

Good luck

 

[anthonyUK]

Once you've filled your bottle with the carb cap you can give it a burst of CO2 then chill a bit before swapping the caps to compensate for an loss. Really only needed for lagers and other higher carbonated beers though and will tie up your cap for a while if you only have the one.

 

[Cervantes]

I use one of these..........

 

[Blind Dog]

I use one of these..........

Ditto (with slightly bendier tubing), but I only use with the gas on (low) to fill PET bottles, and disconnect the gas totally if I'm filling glass since another AHBer pointed out the only thing protecting me from exploding glass was a functioning reg and a dollop of luck.

 

[Yob]

Ok I am looking at getting a filling gun, but need a few bottles for this weekend and because I have just started don't have any ready. I do have the carbonation cap with the tail which can apparently used for filling. Does anyone use it for filling?
Do you lose much carbonation changing from carbonation cap to regular lid on a pet bottle?

All the time, I take sample bottles from cold conditioning, hit it to 30 psi, disconnect, and shake shit out of it (you can feel the bottle soften as the gas is absorbed.

I do this 3 or 4 times. Done.

If filling from the keg, I'll fill it and still do the above once before swapping to a pet lid. (allowing 5 minutes, or better is overnight) in the fridge to settle. Works a charm.

 

[simplefisherman]

I connect the gas to the cap and loosen the cap to purge air out, then pressurize the bottle to the same as keg pressure. Stops it foaming up when you start filling from the keg.

 

[mofox1]

I connect the gas to the cap and loosen the cap to purge air out, then pressurize the bottle to the same as keg pressure. Stops it foaming up when you start filling from the keg.

Oops - I forgot that bit... good pickup. This (the gas/beer ball lock post) is the only real advantage the carb cap has over the DIY filler that Cevantes linked to. Add that to top of the DIY one and it's functionally identical.

While I bump to keg pressure, I didn't bother with the purge*. Fill high and the cm or two of foam (assisted by bumping/knocking the bottle) makes sure there is very little O2 present.


*The first couple of bottles I *did* bother. And I actually thought I was being really clever - I filled the bottles with water, fitted cap + gas connect then inverted and let the CO2 push the water out by slowly opening the lid. Once empty (or - full of CO2), tighten lid, change to beer connect and fill (correct way up!). When I realised that I could just fill high and cap on foam I worked out I was just wasting CO2. Simple methods FTW.

 

[MichaelM]

Blichmann make a beer gun that does not require counter pressure. Seems less complicated but at a price. Definitely would be nice to have.Or you could try and build one yourself like this guy did , but you better be good with american measurements.