Recomendations for bottling

[kevinham]

I fill bottles off my cobra tap all the time. No need to refrigerate the bottles (unless you really want to) and they keep their carbonation as long as any other bottled beer does after capping.

First get the beer a little bit over carbed (hit the keg with 30 psi a few hours in advance). Then the trick to keeping the carbonation mostly in solution is to release all the head pressure off your keg and then just barely flow 1 psi of gas and start slowly filling the bottle while holding it at an angle (almost sideways at first). It might take a good thirty-to-forty seconds to fill up. Don't worry about the headspace. Cap immediately as each individual bottle is filled up. Ready for the road! I have even entered a competition bottling this way with seemingly no ill effect (38 average score). I also fill up a 1 gallon jug with a screw top (like a jumbo growler - I think B3 sells them still) to take to parties and the carbonation is just fine.

I am convinced if you are careful and go slow there is no reason to buy a counter pressure filler unless you like gadgets and have a lot of money...

Cheers!

I do pretty much the same thing, except I stick a piece of tubing on my faucet that will reach the bottom of the bottle, and just slowly pull it out as the beer fills the bottle. Works like a charm.

[dhempy]

I love my beer gun ... but it is essentially a cobratap with long stainless steel tubing with a special nozzle designed to minimize foaming, and a convenient way to purge with CO2 prior to fill.

Brew Captain has set you up with the right parameters .... overcarb a little before filling, and DROP THE PRESSURE IN THE KEG to just enough to make the beer flow. A slow fill is a good fill! In my experience, chilling the bottles does help minimize foaming ... I sanitize and put the bottles in my kegerator so that they are at the same temp as the keg. If you're in the mood to experiment, try doing one at room temp and one at keg temp and see if you notice any difference on the fill.

Dan

[maltbarley]

Well the Captain is always practical on a budget and a great source for brewing info, but his filling doesn't include a CO2 flush of the bottle. So, when you have the extra cash and a desire to fill cases of bottles, take a look at the Blichmann Beer Gun.

Also, the purpose of chilling the bottles is to reduce the foaming. I refrigerate mine regardless if I'm filling a couple bottles off the tap or a case from the gun.

Edit: looks like I was typing while Dan was posting...oops.

[dhempy]

Edit: looks like I was typing while Dan was posting...oops.

Great minds ...