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Author Topic: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle  (Read 2507 times)

Offline raventor

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mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« on: August 14, 2016, 10:47:43 pm »
Need help...when I keg my beers they are great...everyone loves them. When I bottle a small portion of them, which I need to do for competition, they end up being beer bombs, more like champagne than beer, and they never taste right. Any ideas. I should note, when I chose to bottle the whole batch, everything works out, it is when I use the drops like FERMENTER'S FAVORITES® FIZZ DROPS, one per 12oz bottle that everything goes wrong.
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Offline greatplainsbrewer

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2016, 05:03:53 am »
Not sure I'm reading this correctly but if the beer is fully carbed in the keg you don't need to add carbonation tabs to the bottle when you bottle off a keg.

Offline homoeccentricus

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 09:30:39 am »
That's what I read too. Do you add sugar to already carbonated beer when you bottle?
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Offline dmtaylor

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2016, 09:33:09 am »
Right, you shouldn't use much sugar if any when bottling beer from a keg.  If you use any sugar it should only be like 1/20 of a teaspoon per bottle or something like that ("fairy dust").
Dave

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Offline brewinhard

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2016, 02:00:04 pm »
+1 to not needing to add extra sugar to an already properly carbonated beer. By introducing more sugar (drops) you are providing a place for nucleation sites to occur within the beer and potentially  providing extra "food" to spoilage microorganisms that could be present in trace amounts with little to no active yeast to ward things off.

Offline raventor

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2016, 10:50:08 pm »
THanks for the help....but to be clear, I am not taking beer from the keg and adding sugar. I pull off six bottles and then add sugar from the carboy, and then after i have the six bottles, I put the rest in the keg. Not kegging and then bottling.
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Offline duboman

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2016, 05:01:21 am »
Try simply bottling off the already carbonated keg and see how the beer turns out. I was never a fan of the carb drops. If that doesn't solve the issue then evaluate your bottle cleaning and sanitizing process.

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Offline dmtaylor

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2016, 06:20:03 am »
THanks for the help....but to be clear, I am not taking beer from the keg and adding sugar. I pull off six bottles and then add sugar from the carboy, and then after i have the six bottles, I put the rest in the keg. Not kegging and then bottling.

You need 1/2 teaspoon regular household sugar (cane or beet) per bottle for this to be successful.  Drops unnecessary.  And if you don't like that level of carbonation, then try 1/3 teaspoon in future or whatever.  Piece of cake.
Dave

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Offline Delo

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2016, 07:15:52 am »
Domino dots are 1/2 tsp of sugar.  I used them to bottle 4 beers from a batch I kegged recently.  They are easy to use and the sugar dissolves completely, unlike the carb drops.
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Offline santoch

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2016, 10:42:06 pm »
Lots of guys swear by the beergun.  Others use Tasty McDole's "stick a bottling wand into the end of a picnic tap" method.  I learned on one of the old fashioned counter-pressure bottle fillers and still do it that way.  I like not having anywhere near the amount of yeast in the bottle you get when you bottle condition.  If your sanitation and oxygenation practices are good, your beer will be just fine.
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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2016, 09:06:51 am »
Domino dots are 1/2 tsp of sugar.  I used them to bottle 4 beers from a batch I kegged recently.  They are easy to use and the sugar dissolves completely, unlike the carb drops.

I've only used dominos dots on one batch and found them to overcarbonate the beer for my preferences.  Of course, it was a bitter so the carbonation should be low.  That could be the problem.

I've never had good luck with the carb tabs or carb drops.  I found them to be inconsistent.

Never had a problem just mixing in priming sugar to the whole batch, but now that I keg that's not really an option.

Bottling off the keg has worked just fine for me.  I use the bottling wand stuck through a stopper method.
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Offline Delo

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2016, 10:24:23 am »
Yeah one dot would be too much co2 for a bitter for me.  The past few beers I used the dots to prime were lagers or other beers around the same co2 level.  For less carbonation I shave off some of the sugar from the dot...and I make sure its a dot not a cube!  I don’t really like priming individual bottles and the dots make it easier for me.  I have a bag of carb drops somewhere in my house. I have no idea where they came from or where they are.  I have never used them because I heard negative things about them.

I don’t bottle straight from my kegs too often, but when I do its not pretty.  I’ve tried a number of things with little luck.  I wind up wasting more beer out of the bottle/growler than the beer that makes it inside.  It doesn’t help that we are usually running around trying to go somewhere and at the last minute I think it’s a good idea to try to bring some of my beer with me.

To the OP when you say they never taste right, could there be an infection?  That would cause beer to overcarbonate and taste off.
Mark

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2016, 10:50:31 am »
Meh.  Shaving down the dots sounds like too much work.  I bought them to make life easier.

As far as filling from the keg, I get some spillage when I'm filling bottles, but not too bad.  It helps to have the bottles cold and wet.  For growlers, I'll spray some star san in them, swish it around, dump it, and fill.  As long as the keg pressure is low, you should be fine.  But, yeah, it's almost always done at the last minute.
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Offline Delo

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Re: mastered kegging...issues when I bottle
« Reply #13 on: August 26, 2016, 01:06:23 pm »
Meh.  Shaving down the dots sounds like too much work.  I bought them to make life easier.

As far as filling from the keg, I get some spillage when I'm filling bottles, but not too bad.  It helps to have the bottles cold and wet.  For growlers, I'll spray some star san in them, swish it around, dump it, and fill.  As long as the keg pressure is low, you should be fine.  But, yeah, it's almost always done at the last minute.
The next go round of bottling from the keg, although I say this everytime, I am going to take my time and try this.  I'm sure its a combo of things.  As far as the dots go, I bought them for Absinthe.  ;)
Mark