Half Filled Keg + Bottles = Good Idea?

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Harpo84

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I'm currently waiting for my first batch of homebrew to ferment and wondering what I should do when it's done.

I have a brand new keg waiting to see some use but it'd also be nice to bottle some. Is it a bad idea to half fill a keg? If I do, do I need to prime the keg with CO2 before filling to ensure that it doesn't end up half full of non-sterile air? And do I need to inject CO2 into the newly half filled keg or will the secondary fermentation from a half dose of priming sugar still be enough for carbonation?

OR, would it be better to finish the whole 40pts in my keg and then decant half into bottles from the tap? Or would this make the bottled beer go flat?

Help is much appreciated!
 
I would fill the keg, turn on the c02, burp the air out with 2 or 3 pulls of the valve then fill your bottle's from the tap. That way the head space is taken up with c02. Don't forget priming sugar in each bottle
 
I do half bottled, half kegged with nearly all my brews and it's fine. You might want to give the keg a little squirt of CO2, I do that anyway just to make sure it's sealed by listening for any leaks. No need to bottle from the keg, just do it separately.
 
Thanks for the help!

@auralabuse & darrellm - Wouldn't it be easier for me to fill the keg and mix in the full amount of priming sugar, decant into bottles from the tap and then inject the keg with CO2? Then I'd only have to measure out one lot of sugar, the keg tap would make bottling easier and both the keg and bottles can sit conditioning at the same time.

Or is this an unreliable way of making sure each bottle has an equal dose of priming sugar?

If what I'm saying is ridiculous in some way then feel free to correct me! Never done this before :cheers:
 
Just one word of warning from my experience... Don't try and bottle straight from the Barrel, you'll get in a right mess. I did a brew once and wanted to make up 6 or so bottles so they could be transported but the beer tends to slosh out of the tap a bit and combined with the air rushing out of the bottle as the beer went in - it made a right mess! I gave up with half an inch of beer in a bottle and the kitchen floor in a state.

It would probably work if you have a length of hose on the tap though...

Also, putting the sugar in first is a sound plan - referred to as batch priming, but usually done in a bottling bucket (FV with a tap and little bottler or similar fitted) with the bottles filled from that.

Good luck.
 
Mickeywheelspin said:
Don't try and bottle straight from the Barrel, you'll get in a right mess.
Click to expand...

+1

The beer will be under pressure so you'll get 3/4 of a bottle of foam with just a little beer. If you are going to batch prime, do it from a bucket and bottle as normal. If you plan to bottle regularly, woth investing in a little bottler or bottling wand (has a valve on the end which presses against the bottom of the bottle, to the beer stops flowing when you lift it off after it has been filled). Bottling is a bit of an art, and we've all sprayed beer over the kitchen :doh:
 
Thanks guys - you saved me from a bit of a disaster there!

Just been to my LHBS and invested in a second bucket and a bottling wand.

I now have half a keg and 15 bottles of evenly primed bitter :-)

Bottling with the wand was very easy. Had exactly enough time between bottles to casually fit a cap and put the bottle safely to the side.

Any idea what sort of pressure I should be looking for in my half filled keg? Obviously it's low at the moment being recently filled (2psi right now) but how high should it go if all is going well? And how long should that take?

The only CO2 I have on hand is the little 8g piercing type capsules. At what point should I consider using one?

Don't want to risk under-carbonated beer but I don't want to blow the top off of my new keg either. It's a Balliihoo Premium Keg if that helps.
 
Not come across that barrel before, nice feature having the ability to measure pressure, don't think many of us have that so won't really be able to advise on exact pressure readings. But it has a safety release valve, so you shouln't need to worry about too much, too little is usually the problem.

I'd suggest giving it a 1s squirt of CO2. You probably don't need it, but it will allow you to pressure up the barrel sooner and draw a sample. Also read that "The Balliihoo Barrel Comes Fitted With Genuine S30 Injection Valve Which Allows Use With 8 gram Co2 Bulbs Via A Piercing Pin, The Pin Can Be Removed To Accept Hambleton Bards Larger S30 Co2 Cylinders If Required." I'd suggest getting a Hambleton Bard cylinder at some stage if you have a local shop, it'll work out cheaper in the long run, my local charges £5 to re-fill them.
 
HI there, digging up an old thread here. I am planning on racking my beer tomorrow into the barrel to which I will have added the priming sugar. Using a syphon to fill around 18 bottles (that is all I have at the mo) and then I was going to seal the barrel and give a squirt of Co2 (I am assuming that this is easy to do with the bulb that came with my initial kit)

Only 2nd brew ever and 1st one I simply batch primed the barrel but bottled all using syphon and wand, using it as a secondary vehicle - it worked well

I reckon the barrel will be around 1/2 to 2/3 full of IPA. Any issues with this? things I could do better/differently?

Thank you in advance for any help.
 
It'll be fine without adding any co2. I do purge using a gas line but that's because I have one and it's no hassle, and it removes the oxygen before I put the lid on (I assume to use a bulb you'd need the lid on). Before I had that option I'd just prime and pop the lid on and done.

When I bottle I put the caps on loosely at first and leave them for 20 mins during which you can hear gas escaping, then tighten the caps (I assume it's co2 from the fermentation). You could do something similar, even leaving it for a few days and then loosen the cap to purge the oxygen, but it's not really necessary, when your co2 builds up it'll be below any oxygen that was in there.
 
Dads_Ale said:
Or get a 2 gallon barrel then you can fill the barrel and bottle the rest.
Click to expand...
ive got a 2 gallon barell dads ale and believe me they are no good for co2 gassed beer as the plastic is too flimsy and swellup like a balloon if over 2/3 psi,not good.they are of a better use for bulk wine making
 
Godsdog said:
ive got a 2 gallon barell dads ale and believe me they are no good for co2 gassed beer as the plastic is too flimsy and swellup like a balloon if over 2/3 psi,not good.they are of a better use for bulk wine making
Click to expand...

The ones I have (they are about 2 1/2 gallon) are essentially the same as the bigger PBs just smaller. I have just been using one and it will happily take 20psi without deforming (although it does leak through the threaded tap insert at 15psi).
 
Have you tried PTFE tape on the tap thread?

Sent from my HT7 using Tapatalk
 

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