Kegging a failed bottle conditioned beer

[303]

Anyone done this?

I took a fresh wort porter, coffee etc. I added some vodka (absolute) steeped cocoa nibs to secondary. Then bulk primed and bottled.

Zero carbonation after 3 months. Absolutely zip. Not even a little bit of carb in any I've tried. So not sure what I did wrong. Maybe vodka killed yeast or very poor mixing during racking for bulk priming.

Either some bottles are massively carbonated and some are nil and I have only found the non carbonated ones. But I'm hitting 100% so far. Getting tedious.

I need to do something with it and since it tastes Awesome I figured if I'm going to empty the bottles may as well empty into a keg and try to carbonate it.

So as above? I'll obviously purge the keg as best I can but I'm guessing I won't be able to keep oxygen going in no matter what I do, wondered if anyone had any clever ideas that might minimize oxidation potential ?

Normally I wouldn't bother but I've got about $55 - $60 invested in this batch.... and it tastes Awesome.. did I say that already?

cheers
303

 

[S.E]

You could force carb them in a PET bottle if you have a carbonation/ line cleaning cap?

 

[303]

yes I'm kind of wishing I had bottled them in PET but they are all glass with regular metal bottle caps.

 

[altone]

If you happen to have a counter pressure bottle filler I'm thinking it might be able to be used to "unfill" them.
The one I have could do it.

So higher pressure CO2 in bottle compared to keg and beer in becomes beer out. use keg PRV to vent excess pressure.

 

[303]

yes I like both ideas suggested so far. Unfortunately the bottles are not PET so I'd need another way to seal them to build up the pressure.
I wonder if some kind of bung would be enough. But it would need an in (pressure) line and out (beer) line and it would be tight for two lines... or slow. Although the gas line could be very thin.

Been discussed here before as well.. Idea is to chill keg, purge it, tilt it, pour slowly. No splashing or gluging. Carb and so on.

This is basically what I figured I would end up doing AND if the beer doesn't show signs of oxidizing for a week then I'll get some of it drunk. And some is more than none.

 

[ABG]

Do you have a sodastream machine and bottles @303 ? If I ever have a bottle that doesn't carbonate, I chuck it onto the sodastream, gas it up and leave it about 5 minutes before taking it off (otherwise beer goes everywhere - you can probably guess how I discovered that).

 

[altone]

yes I like both ideas suggested so far. Unfortunately the bottles are not PET so I'd need another way to seal them to build up the pressure.
I wonder if some kind of bung would be enough. But it would need an in (pressure) line and out (beer) line and it would be tight for two lines... or slow. Although the gas line could be very thin.

Been discussed here before as well.. Idea is to chill keg, purge it, tilt it, pour slowly. No splashing or gluging. Carb and so on.

This is basically what I figured I would end up doing AND if the beer doesn't show signs of oxidizing for a week then I'll get some of it drunk. And some is more than none.

The CPBF has a bung, gas in and a beer line, so would do the job (yes it would be fairly slow) Obviously if you don't have one it wouldn't be worth buying one just for this.

If you do it carefully as per your link it'll take a while to oxidize. Just do it and get your mates around to help consume it

 

[S.E]

yes I'm kind of wishing I had bottled them in PET but they are all glass with regular metal bottle caps.

I meant pour them into PET as you opened them rather than a keg.

Actually I misread your post and thought some were carbed and some not so what I was thinking was as you opened bottles and found any uncarbed pour them into a large PET bottle squeeze out the air and force carb them to drink first next session.

 

[Milhouse]

Do you have a sodastream machine and bottles @303 ? If I ever have a bottle that doesn't carbonate, I chuck it onto the sodastream, gas it up and leave it about 5 minutes before taking it off (otherwise beer goes everywhere - you can probably guess how I discovered that).

This would only work for PET bottles wouldn't it?

Sodastream drinks foam up bad enough when you add the syrup, I can't imagine the mess from a freshly carbed beer

 

[ABG]

This would only work for PET bottles wouldn't it?

Sodastream drinks foam up bad enough when you add the syrup, I can't imagine the mess from a freshly carbed beer

This would only work for PET bottles wouldn't it?

Sodastream drinks foam up bad enough when you add the syrup, I can't imagine the mess from a freshly carbed beer

I use the Sodastream bottles, much to the chagrin of my partner. They do foam up pretty badly, that's why I leave it on the machine for 5 minutes before removing. The beer ends up slightly over-carbonated, but it's a hell of a lot better than flat beer and it's a quick ane easy fix.

 

[david effer]

Anyone done this?

I took a fresh wort porter, coffee etc. I added some vodka (absolute) steeped cocoa nibs to secondary. Then bulk primed and bottled.

Zero carbonation after 3 months. Absolutely zip. Not even a little bit of carb in any I've tried. So not sure what I did wrong. Maybe vodka killed yeast or very poor mixing during racking for bulk priming.

Either some bottles are massively carbonated and some are nil and I have only found the non carbonated ones. But I'm hitting 100% so far. Getting tedious.

I need to do something with it and since it tastes Awesome I figured if I'm going to empty the bottles may as well empty into a keg and try to carbonate it.

So as above? I'll obviously purge the keg as best I can but I'm guessing I won't be able to keep oxygen going in no matter what I do, wondered if anyone had any clever ideas that might minimize oxidation potential ?

Normally I wouldn't bother but I've got about $55 - $60 invested in this batch.... and it tastes Awesome.. did I say that already?

cheers
303

WHEN I CHANGED FROM BOTTLES TO KEGS I HAD 12 BATCHES OF STUBBIES BOTTLE CONDITIONED ON THE SHELF.AS WE FOUND PEOPLE LIKED DRINKING THE KEG AS OPPOSED TO THE BOTTLE SO I REMOVED ALL THE LIDS PUT THEM SLOWLY INTO MY FERMENTER THEN TRANSFERRED INTO THE KEG WITH A TUBE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE KEG, SEALED THE KEG PURGED THE HEADSPACE AND PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE ON 10 PSI, WE ARE STILL DRINKING SOME AFTER A MONTH, BUT I WILL SAY I PROBABLY BROKE EVERY RULE IN THE BOOK BUT IT WAS O K PROBABLY MORE GOOD LUCK THAN GOOD MANAGEMENT...CHEERS.