[DrewG]

Bottled a beer the other night, usual routine for a beer at 2.5ish volumes. I usually pull a half pint or so a day when I think its close, when it's right I'll bottle. Set up my gear and got to work with the beergun. bottled a case or so, poured one for myself while I was at it, and it was right where I wanted it. Got a 6 pack into the second case and I notice I'm getting less foam in the neck, didn't think too much of it at the time. Opened a bottle out of that case a cpl days later and it's maybe 1.5 vols. Tried another, same thing. Tried one from the first case and its 2.5. Very strange.

The only thing different on this batch from every other is I dry hopped in the keg. I did not remove them while I was bottling. Could that have anything to do with it? Ideas?

Thanks

[Kaiser]

did you have to lower the keg pressure for bottle filling?

Kai

[DrewG]

did you have to lower the keg pressure for bottle filling?

Yes. Carbonated at 8 psi over a week, bottled at about 2 psi. This is how I've done it in the past with no issues, much over 2 psi and you have foaming issues with the beergun.

[Jimmy K]

I suppose the dry hops could provide nucleation sites, causing the CO2 to come out of solution faster than normal.

[tschmidlin]

Yeah, it's possible the dry hops helped it lose carb faster.  I have never heard of that happening before, but it's the most obvious explanation.

[DrewG]

Yeah, it's possible the dry hops helped it lose carb faster.  I have never heard of that happening before, but it's the most obvious explanation.

I had them suspended in there with some dental floss. They would have been out of the beer by the last third of the bottles. Maybe as the level dropped over the hop sack it provided a big ole nucleation site? It just seems weird. The entire bottling session was less than 30 minutes.

[tschmidlin]

I had them suspended in there with some dental floss. They would have been out of the beer by the last third of the bottles. Maybe as the level dropped over the hop sack it provided a big ole nucleation site? It just seems weird. The entire bottling session was less than 30 minutes.

Seriously?  30 minutes . . . that's totally weird.  I guess it is still possible, but it seems unlikely.  Was the beer warm during bottling?  That might have explained it losing carb quickly, although still, 30 minutes . . . it could have been a combination of factors.

[DrewG]

Seriously?  30 minutes . . . that's totally weird.  I guess it is still possible, but it seems unlikely.  Was the beer warm during bottling?  That might have explained it losing carb quickly, although still, 30 minutes . . . it could have been a combination of factors.

30 minutes. I fill and my girlfriend caps, so it goes quick. Beer was at 38f. I don't even pull the keg out of the fridge, my beergun lines reach the countertop we bottle on.

[tschmidlin]

30 minutes. I fill and my girlfriend caps, so it goes quick. Beer was at 38f. I don't even pull the keg out of the fridge, my beergun lines reach the countertop we bottle on.

That's just weird, really.  It seems strange that it would lose carbonation that fast.  Hopefully someone else who has bottled from a dry-hopped keg can weigh in.

[euge]

30 minutes. I fill and my girlfriend caps, so it goes quick. Beer was at 38f. I don't even pull the keg out of the fridge, my beergun lines reach the countertop we bottle on.

That's just weird, really.  It seems strange that it would lose carbonation that fast.  Hopefully someone else who has bottled from a dry-hopped keg can weigh in.

Wouldn't the same problem manifest itself when a group of people start drinking off a hopped keg at events? I'm sure it isn't unheard of that a keg kicks in less than 30 minutes.

[tschmidlin]

Wouldn't the same problem manifest itself when a group of people start drinking off a hopped keg at events? I'm sure it isn't unheard of that a keg kicks in less than 30 minutes.

If you were serving at 2 psi at the event then you might see that, but I don't serve at that low pressure.  We kicked 8 kegs of dry hopped beer in under an hour during Stan Hieronymous's talk at NHC and the last ones weren't flat, but the serving pressure was around 12 psi for some kegs, and 25 psi for some others (different length coils in the jockey boxes).