Using Excess Beer After Kegging

[Housecat]

I've used 3 really poor practices for getting rid of the excess. ~snip~ tip the beer on the lawn. I wouldn't recommend any of those options ~snip~

Can you enlighten me as to why tipping it on the lawn is not recommended? Wouldn't the grass enjoy an ale now and then? :blink:

HC

 

[geoff_tewierik]

Fwiw the carbonator cap shouldn't be used at a pa greater than 40.

 

[under]

Yeah I use it at 20psi (140~kpa) mine has a alight leak also. Design fault? Disconnect?

 

[drsmurto]

Is there something different you can do with the beer left over after transferring to the keg. Like most people I just put them in stubbies which is a pain when the point of kegging is to avoid all the hassle of cleaning and sanitising lots of bottles. Is there a way that you could put this beer into a couple of large PET bottles and naturally or force carbonate them... keep them in the dark and then transfer beer to the keg at a later date ie top up the keg. Assume you would have to release the pressure on the keg, quickly open the hatch and pour in (maintaining sanitary practices at all times ie lots of starsan in a spray bottle). Ive heard some people have also removed the gas inlet post to add stuff to the keg rather than over exposing beer to air.

What are peoples thoughts. Are there other more practical and easier ways to address the excess beer?

Eddy

Am i missing something here? :huh:

If you know what volume your keg holds then brew that volume.

 

[Brewme]

I have a party keg that all left overs go in, lagers, ales, porters, whatever. It's Batz mongrel beer and usually surprising drinkable. I just purge the keg with C02 but don't gas it up until it's full, you need to keep in in the fridge of course.
Before I did this I found I was tipping it as bottling was too much of a hassle for me.

Batz

What a top idea.

I'll reserve one of my cornys for my own 'mongrel' beer.

Xmas cheers

 

[Brewme]

I just pour meself a pint at the start of transfer and drink that. Then after all is done and dusted and keg in the fridge I'm ready for another pint. I must admit though, I have reduced my batch size cause i hate bottling. So now i just brew 20 L and by the time you have a couple of pints it works out perfect.

Hi Drew,

Are you from England?

If I was forced to drink a pint of warm flat beer, I'd follow through with a technicolor yawn :icon_vomit:

Xmas cheers

 

[Phoney]

Best thing to do is change your batch size to either 20L or 40L, depending on the size of your equipment. This way you will have either 1 or 2 kegs with a bit of process waste, but no excess beer.
I find it amusing to see all grain recipes adjusted to 23L. If you are K+K or K+bits, just use 1 can and adjust the sugar or grains down.

See I thought, particularly after reading this thread, that 23L batch minus 2.5L kettle trub minus 1L yeast trub equals 19.5L (or one corny keg)


Am I doing it wrong?

 

[Hatchy]

Can you enlighten me as to why tipping it on the lawn is not recommended? Wouldn't the grass enjoy an ale now and then? :blink:

HC

Yeah, the grass loves it but I brew for me, not for the lawn. I've only tipped a bit once & that was because I was drunk when I kegged the beer & forgot about the bit that was left.

 

[DU99]

i bottle mine,you never know when get a top drop and you might want to enter in comp

 

[bignath]

See I thought, particularly after reading this thread, that 23L batch minus 2.5L kettle trub minus 1L yeast trub equals 19.5L (or one corny keg)


Am I doing it wrong?

I think that the people that are recommending brew to your keg size are actually meaning so that you end up with a keg of beer at the end of the fermentation process (including secondary if you do it).

I have very little waste, i brew to 20L into the fermenter so by the time i use a few hydro and refract samples, lose a little to crap in the bottom, i usually fill a keg and maybe only lose 100ml or so...

 

[Bizier]

I try to brew more because I have not locked in a grind etc and use a fair amount of hops, so I have a really variable trub level. I'd always prefer to have a full keg and a bit than a 90% keg. This year will be the year of calibration and measurement and striving for repetition (should have posted that in the resolution thread).

I pretty much always CC to clear and compact trub, so I'll have a flat pint of two from the excess with no qualms, I like getting an indication of what the beer is looking like. I usually siphon the leftovers into a jug if there is a bit, and chuck it in the fridge. Call me a philistine.

I think I will switch to the mongrel method, because I really like the idea of a mystery mix.

 

[Housecat]

Yeah, the grass loves it but I brew for me, not for the lawn. I've only tipped a bit once & that was because I was drunk when I kegged the beer & forgot about the bit that was left.

Fair enough, I usually have about 500ml left over and give my lawn a little drink when I clean out my fermenter. I also adjust the amount of water in my brew level to fill only my keg with bugger all left over.

HC

 

[drew9242]

Hi Drew,

Are you from England?

If I was forced to drink a pint of warm flat beer, I'd follow through with a technicolor yawn :icon_vomit:

Xmas cheers

Nah not me.

I just started with tasting it while kegging, but that slowy grew to a whole pint cause it taste so good. Ohh and i cold crash the beer first before kegging, so it isnt warm. And surprisinly not totally flat.

 

[woodwormm]

Yeah I use it at 20psi (140~kpa) mine has a alight leak also. Design fault? Disconnect?

i'm looking at making up my own force carb lid which suits the soda stream bottles...

i know these bottles aren't cheap but they are designed to handle quite high pressures and they seal really well, so i was going to get a JGuest bulkhead union and put it through a soda stream bottle lid, possibly with a dip tube on the inside (i always gas my kegs through the liquid port, i like the idea of gassing from the bottom)....

i'll post some pics when it's created.

then i can use the sodastream bottles for leftovers and also for take aways out of the tap, gas up a bit, then into the esky... presto.

 

[BobtheBrewer]

I bottle...but I only ever do about 2 stubbies. Why not just bottle the excess in to longnecks (thus halving the number you have to use), or use your PET idea but just carb them up in the PET and drink them?

I have no idea why people use stubbies so much. Especially when there are heaps of available pint or longneck options around. THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO (the mists clear)...I bottled my first brew into ALL stubbies, never again.

Anyway, just an alternative suggestion for you...

Cheers. :chug:

Slightly off topic but I'm surprised that no yachties seem to post on this forum. Maybe internet costs are too high. Go ashore at sundown at places like Lizzard Island, Gove etc and everybody has 2 litre coke bottles full of home brew, of all shades, and they don't keg. I'd drop in a couple of photos but I don't know how.

 

[hoohaaman]

These - http://craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=870

I think they work up to a 2L bottle. I just filter the remainder of the beer into 1.25L coke bottles (my beer is cold already). Hook up to the gas @140kpa shake like shit until it dosent accept anymore gas (30 sec?). Drink.

Me too.

Have just sprung for the pet bottle CPBF.Good reports on here.Like to give friends and family UN- flat beer,Couldn't be arsed mucking around with sugar,and the but"it was cloudy".

 

[sink cut]

Nah not me.

I just started with tasting it while kegging, but that slowy grew to a whole pint cause it taste so good. Ohh and i cold crash the beer first before kegging, so it isnt warm. And surprisinly not totally flat.

+1
fermenter beer is the best treat especially if its dropped clear. I am always excited when I know I'll have excess on kegging night and will often have a quite a few pints. On occasion I have even left the fermenter in the backyard and have had friends who actually prefer my fermenter beer let themselves in and polish it off a few hours later.

The beer at this stage has a certain vibrance about it and can seriously be up there with the best beer experience you will ever have at home.

A tip for enjoying flat beer is to use a syringe to suck a little bit up and squirt it hard back in the glass a couple of times. This will give you a lovely head and areate the beer bringing out the delicious flavours you worked so hard to put in there. Doing this has a similar affect to pouring though a beer engine.

 

[Nevalicious]

On occasion I have even left the fermenter in the backyard and have had friends who actually prefer my fermenter beer let themselves in and polish it off a few hours later.

No kidding?? That is some thirsty friends you have there!! My mates would turn their nose up to completely flat beer... Hey, think of the cost savings on c02 or the time savings waiting for bottles to carbonate!!!

 

[sink cut]

No kidding?? That is some thirsty friends you have there!! My mates would turn their nose up to completely flat beer... Hey, think of the cost savings on c02 or the time savings waiting for bottles to carbonate!!!

These particualr friends turn their nose up at freezing carbonated beer, Its either out of the fermenter, or hand pump, or nitro beer for them.

 

[Boondy]

I bottle, but often keep some aside (couple of pints) to make a bloody good chicken casseroles.