Bottling from cask?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

VillageBrew

AG Novice
Joined
Jan 6, 2016
Messages
345
Reaction score
66
Location
Market Drayton
I've casked a brew (20 litres in 2 x 10 litre casks) but was wondering how effective tapping off a few litres into swing top bottles would be.

Would it be suitable, say, for transporting to a party or even for storing for a few days?

I'm also concerned I was a bit hesitant about over-priming so worried it won't carb up. Would there be any merit in adding a dab of sugar in the bottles to try carbing those further?
 
I'm going to start kegging (mainly in mini kegs). O was wondering if this is possible from those too. Would it be doable? If so same process?
 
To hold CO2 in suspension within a liquid (be it beer or a soft drink) requires that gas pressure (usually CO2) is maintained above the surface of the liquid.

However:

1. Once the pressure is released from the surface of the liquid it takes time for the CO2 to come out of suspension.

2. More CO2 can be absorbed into a cold liquid than into a warm liquid.

3. The CO2 will come out of suspension at a slower rate if the liquid is cold.

So, taking these three elements into account, to maximise the retention of CO2 during transfer between a keg and a bottle it is best to:

1. Carbonate the keg to maximum if it is intended to transfer the beer into bottles.

2. After carbonation is completed, chill down both the keg and the bottles to just above freezing.

3. Transfer the beer from the keg to the bottle with as little pressure drop and disturbance as possible.

4. Cap the bottle as soon as possible after filling. (Leave an air-gap as normal.)

5. Allow the bottle to return to ambient temperature.

6. Re-open and pour the beer at a temperature only slightly below ambient (rather than chilled) to ensure a decent head still remains.

The beer won't be "flat" but it won't be as lively as normal.

However, as the amount of carbonation transferred from the keg cannot be accurately ascertained, adding more sugar is NOT recommended.

Hope this helps. :thumb:
 
I think we should start a thread called 'questions for Dutto' seeing as your always quick to respond to people's brewing mishaps or general wonderingments with some very detailed and at time quite frankly hilarious answers, good on you Dutto :thumb:
 
Thanks Dutto - that was basically what I was expecting: the thought of working out how much sugar to use for re-priming in the bottle was making my calculator feel queasy. To be honest, I'm struggling to match production to consumption so it won't be too much of an issue; just wanted an option for nipping to a mate's with a few samples. :thumb:
 
........ just wanted an option for nipping to a mate's with a few samples. :thumb:

Whatever you do, don't leave any MKs at your mate's place to settle and condition!

Last Autumn I took 2 x 23 litre PBs with me to France for drinking at the motorhome and 5 MK's to leave at a French mates house so that I could get a decent brew when we visited his house.

Big Mistake!

On Visit One, hot sunny day, I showed him how everything worked and opened up an MK so that we could murder a couple of pints each.

By Visit Two a week later the first MK was empty and the second MK was only about half full.

By Visit Three about another week later I only had two full MK's left and they were finished by the end of the next visit.

The bit that really got to me was that, when I pointed out to his wife that we had run out of beer, she said "Thank goodness for that. Jean-Claude has hardly left the cellar for the last three weeks!" as if it was all my fault.:doh:

In April I will still take the two PBs for myself but I will also pack a Wilco Kit, a tin of Golden Syrup, some EKG Hops, an FV and an airlock so that J-C can brew his own ...

... and by the time it has finished fermenting, the first PB should be empty and ready to be refilled! :thumb:
 
I think we should start a thread called 'questions for Dutto' seeing as your always quick to respond to people's brewing mishaps or general wonderingments with some very detailed and at time quite frankly hilarious answers, good on you Dutto :thumb:

'E's got nowt better to do than be on't forum :grin:
 
My second last brew I put in a pressure barrel which had developed a leak around the tap. After a few days of trying to stop the leak I gave up and moved it to bottles. I did add a bit more sugar to carbonate properly but not the full amount I would normally use and they came out less carbonated than usual. I guess this is similar, but if you do add more sugar to carbonate you will need to leave it for a while for the yeast to carbonate and to condition, I did 2 weeks each.
 
Ha! I wish! :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's mainly due to "Insomnia"! I hope that sleeping for less than six hours a day is the ONLY thing I will ever share with the late Margaret Thatcher!

Hi!
No matter what time I go to bed, at 5.45am my stupid body clock alarm goes off.

Reminds me of an old joke: Every morning at 6 o'clock I have a ****. Trouble is, I don't wake up till half past 7 :mrgreen:
 
Back
Top