[brewerbrown]

I recently built my self a keggerator, so all my home brew goes into that now.  However, Iwant to enter some of my brew into competitions and I was wondering should I bottle it from the keg after it is carbonated and ready to drink or should I bottle from the carboy before it goes into the keg and carbonate it with priming sugar. Thanks for the help

[richardt]

If you know how many competitions you'll be entering (usually 3 bottles per comp), and how many bottles you may wish to gift to friends, then I'd bottle from the carboy first and then put the rest in the keg.  In my case, I use a plastic bucket (w/ spigot, same thing as a "bottling bucket") as my primary fermentor.  It makes it really easy to transfer into bottles or keg via the spigot (no siphon needed). 

Otherwise, I'd put the bright beer in the keg and if there's any left over (there usually is) in the carboy or fermentor bucket, I'd bottle the rest.  This is my usual method since I don't want to chance getting slurry into the keg. A little slurry in the last bottle is no big deal.

[narcout]

I prefer to bottle from the keg, but either way should work fine.

[hamiltont]

I prefer to bottle from the keg as well. Virtually eliminates the yeast on the bottom of the bottle. I use an old bottling wand with the plunger/tip cut off and a short piece of tubing on the other end that fits perfectly into the Perlick faucet. Then lower the CO2 pressure to 2-4 lbs., let the pressure off the keg & then fill the bottles. If you don't get enough foam to cap on (the foam pushes out all the O2) then shoot a little CO2 in each bottle before capping. Sanitation is paramount as always, including inside the faucet! Cheers!!

[Norm!]

Two words....Beer Gun....simple & fantastic piece of equipment!

[jeffy]

I also bottle right from the keg, but there is something to be said for bottle-conditioned beer if you tend to save them for any length of time.  The yeast in each bottle will scavenge the oxygen, giving you more time before staling takes place.  So if you were thinking way ahead and wanted to bottle some for next year's competitions or for Christmas presents or something, then bottling some with priming sugar is a good idea.

[mxstar21]

Two words....Beer Gun....simple & fantastic piece of equipment!

I agree.  Definately worth the money to go with Blichmann Beer Gun.  Really easy to use.

[James Lorden]

holding back some from the keg and bottle conditioning has the distinct advantage of cutting down on oxidation through the bottle conditioning process.  That said for some reason I always just use my counter pressure filler (which is an huge pain in the butt).

That said, the yeast in the bottle can experience autolysis if not properly stored so keep them cold after they condition.  (This is my main problem come to think of it).  It's easier for me to store kegs then bottles so I tend to only bottle when I need one.

[cheba420]

100% of my beer goes into kegs. When I've needed bottles, I've just taken a length of tubing and connected one end to a bottling wand and the other end to the out post on my keg. I lower the pressure down to almost nothing before I make the connection and then fill away. Seems to work out pretty good. Not as cool a counter pressure filler but it gets the job done.