So how long will a counter flow bottle last

[chrissyr63]

I filled a couple of 1lt plastic bottles from my kegs ( 1stored at 20 psi and 1 at 5 psi ) how long should they keep their pressure \condition in a fridge?
Is it days weeks or months?

 

[Dutto]

How about "years"?

With nothing entering and nothing leaving the bottle the CO2 profile should stay the same.

With regard to the beer in there is very much comes down to how you well sanitised the bottles were when you filled them, what the ABV of the brew is and how you are storing the bottles.

I've opened bottles that are years out of date as far as the "Best Before" date and they have tasted fine.

 

[simon12]

Whats a counter flow bottle?

 

[chrissyr63]

By a counter flow bottle i mean a bottle that was filled with conditioned beer from a cornie and letting the inflow of the beer to push out any gas. I used one if those screw on gas post with a tube that reached the bottom of the bottle and then replaced with the bottle top after a few hours.

The bottles were cleaned with vwp and then used star san on them. The bottle are a sort of very pale blue in colour but the will be kept in a dark fridge until being used. Really just want them to last a couple of weeks so i can transfer some of my beer. Will have to see if i can get some 1lt dark plastic bottles.

 

[peebee]

Here's a more sophisticated "point-of-sale" version of a counter-pressure filler. This is Russian (Pegas - they do several versions) and was purchased from Lithuania. They are popular for selling beer over that way (s'cuse the dust):

It fills bottles quickly without loads of froth. Handy for taking beer on picnics.

 

[peebee]

… but to answer the query in the OP: I've filled PET bottles with this tap and not drunk them until many weeks later. If the bottles are properly cleaned there is no reason for them to keep beer any less long than the beer in the Corny kegs. As "Dutto" said … "years" (if the original beer is suitable to keep that long).

Now, having used flash to take that photo above, I need to go downstairs with a duster … (some things are best left in the dark).

 

[Fil]

IMHO If your cold side procedures are upto the task and you kept to em during the bottling the beer should have as good a shelf life as the keg it came from or one bottled from the fv.

Beer from pegas taps like peebees above are advertised with a 2-3week shelf life but that probably has more to do with less than sterile keg change overs in commercial high turnover environments which would probably introduce more risk of exposure to airborne microlife, than your home botteling proceedure.

 

[Wilfy]

Here's a more sophisticated "point-of-sale" version of a counter-pressure filler. This is Russian (Pegas - they do several versions) and was purchased from Lithuania. They are popular for selling beer over that way (s'cuse the dust):
View attachment 15060

It fills bottles quickly without loads of froth. Handy for taking beer on picnics.

Is there any home brewing contraption you don't have?

 

[Dutto]

..........

It fills bottles quickly without loads of froth. Handy for taking beer on picnics.

I can't cope with all this modern stuff!

In my youth, I spent a month living with a mate on his converted lifeboat. We were hard up at the time so rather than drinking at "pub prices" we used to go round the back of a pub located about half a mile away with a two-gallon enamelled bucket to get it filled by the lass who worked in the bar. (I think she was married, but my mate was really friendly with her!)

Obviously, the lass couldn't fill it up completely, and even with fourteen pints in it we couldn't' carry the bucket back to the boat without spilling some. So "waste not - want not" kicked in and we had to sink a couple of pints each before we set off back to the boat.

On warm summer evenings, the bucket was sometimes empty by the time we got back!

Happy Days!

PS

At that time (if memory serves me correctly) we got change out of a 10/- (50p) note for the bucket to be filled with Mild, the full 10/- for Bitter; and my mate reckoned that the barmaid was ripping us off!

As he was a "friend with benefits" as far as the lass at the bar was concerned I didn't think he had any right to moan about the price of his beer!

 

[peebee]

Is there any home brewing contraption you don't have?

Careful. You don't want to start me off explaining my motivations. Or, put another way … everyone else doesn't want you to start me off explaining my motivations!

Anyway, the Pegas tap isn't just a home brewing contraption, it is a serious beer retailing contraption (in some countries, not this one it seems). They are not cheap, but then neither is a Blichmann beer gun and the beer gun can't do the counter pressure bit.

Or perhaps I am misinterpreting your comment? If I give you a wish-list will you supply the items on the list?

… Beer from pegas taps like peebees above are advertised with a 2-3week shelf life but that probably has more to do with less than sterile keg change overs in commercial high turnover environments which would probably introduce more risk of exposure to airborne microlife, than your home botteling proceedure.

Ooo, I've never seen the "2-3week" recommendation. But I think the tap itself would be a source of microlife (and somethings a bit more "macro") if kept in retail type premises. I would imagine anyone on this forum would be keeping it clean, especially the nozzle where the beer comes out and around that area where any excess gets "vented". Not that I'm doing a very good job of keeping the outside clean looking at the above photo.

 

[peebee]

I can't cope with all this modern stuff! ...

Yes, but I can't recommend a two-gallon bucket to take on a picnic. And, having read some of your other posts, I rather hope you don't go cycling around the lanes carrying a two-gallon bucket of beer these days either.

 

[Dutto]

Peebee BEWARE!

I refer you to the situation facing a mate of mine who is currently complaining bitterly that (after he had a stroke) his wife sold his Meccano kit for many thousands of pounds less than what is was worth.

My own SWMBO pointed out to him that he probably followed my system and lied copiously about how much his hobby was costing him; and therefore how could he possibly expect his wife to know how much his Meccano cost!

Unfortunately, she has a point!

 

[Fil]

[QUOTE="

Ooo, I've never seen the "2-3week" recommendation. But I think the tap itself would be a source of microlife (and somethings a bit more "macro") if kept in retail type premises. I would imagine anyone on this forum would be keeping it clean, especially the nozzle where the beer comes out and around that area where any excess gets "vented". Not that I'm doing a very good job of keeping the outside clean looking at the above photo.[/QUOTE]

My own good luck / sanitation routine is such that i clean and sanitise keg posts/disconnects/beerline/tap when i exchange the keg, And tend to not disconnect a keg until its empty. I also push the sanitiser out of the beerline/tap with the first dirty 1/2 pint pulled from the keg. So I consider my dispensing system a simple extension of the closed keg system, after all if it wasnt closed it would leak beer as its contained under pressure. Therefore i have no need for regular line/tap cleanings as employed by commercial providers. Your commercial bars have a weekly line clean simply as they exchange kegs ad-hoc without the sanitation procedures your average home brewer would employ and therefore can introduce microlife into the system as a consiquence need the regular cleaning procedure which i consider redundant for my set up.

Much the same with the pegas taps (mine is a chinese knock off with a jbweld bodge) unsanitary keg changes could introduce nasties into the system, but if maintained as a closed system i suspect you wont have any such issues and could expect a significantly longer shelf life of your bottled beers.

NO there is no proof to back up my assertions so its an opinion and not a fact