Tranferring from keg to bottle

[sscheetz]

I have a home brew contest tomorrow. I have 3 kegged brews that I will serve to the public, but the official judges require that we submit our brews in bottles. I tried the other day to transfer my pale ale to one of my flip top bottles. I placed it in the fridge for 30 minutes and when I opened it, it was flat. I must be missing something. I've had brewpubs put beer in growlers to go and they stayed carbonated for a few days. What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions? Is there an easy way to purge air in the bottle with my CO2? I'd really appreciate your help. I'd hate for these great brews to lose points for something stupid like carbonation issues.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

You could do it a coulpe of ways:
If you want to bottle right off your kegerator, chill the bottle to the same temp as the beer. turn off pressure to the keg or disconnect the gas line. Bleed almost all the co2 off the keg and then pour the beer into the bottle.
Another method is to use a homemade counterpressure bottle filler. There's a thread on Homebrewtalk.com that you can look at http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-n ... gun-24678/
Good luck

TBM

 

[BrewHop]

Ya, you gotta use a counterpressure chiller but beware shooting beer all over the wall...

 

[sn00ky]

You can also use a piece of tubing installed in endend faucet (tight fit) and leave it long enough to reach bottom of bottle. Chill bottle then fill. This will fill from bottom up and displace O2 as it fills. By the top you should have some foam that is filling the neck and pushing the rest of the O2 while leaving headspace of foam.

You will loose some carbonation, but certainly not much.

Growler filler is what it is if you want to buy it.

 

[thunderwagn]

You could do it a coulpe of ways:
If you want to bottle right off your kegerator, chill the bottle to the same temp as the beer. turn off pressure to the keg or disconnect the gas line. Bleed almost all the co2 off the keg and then pour the beer into the bottle.
Another method is to use a homemade counterpressure bottle filler. There's a thread on Homebrewtalk.com that you can look at http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-n ... gun-24678/
Good luck

TBM

This is what I use. Works extremely well and dirt cheap to make. I think I already had everything when I made mine. It does take practice to learn how to use it and adjust the flow, so be prepared to do several practice bottles and then move on to your competition bottles.
I fill flip top bottles and growlers often when my kegs are close to kicking and I need the space or keg.
I think the key is 'cap on foam'. As you near the top, start lifting out your wand and fill to the very top. Allowing some spillover is best in my experience. I also turn off my gas and release all pressure from the keg and then only add enough pressure to get a slow flow.
This is also a great way to take homebrew with you or to share in bottles or growlers. Once capped and sealed, I've had growlers last for weeks (not opened of course).

 

[sn00ky]

@thunderwagn Agreed. Same findings here too. I do the same thing at end of kegs - too eager to try the new one!

 

[J A]

Plenty of brewers use a growler tube on their tap to bottle for contest. As sn00ky points out, chill the bottle nice and cold and turn the pressure all the way down so the beer just comes out at a decent rate without any foam. Cap right away and it'll stay carbed just fine. I use a homemade beer gun and it's great. Counter-pressure doesn't require anything other than a cork over the stainless fill tube that can slow the release of pressure as the bottle fills. You still need to turn the pressure down on the keg to get it right.
Slightly over-carbing the keg the night before bottling is a reasonable idea if you're bottling out to empty a keg, but for just a few bottles serving carbonation is fine as long as it's at least at proper volumes for style.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

all I do is add a 1/2" silicone hose, fits tight on my tap, I have the end cut and a slight angle and it sits on the bottom of my growler then turn the pressure way down, works like a charm

 

[ChicoBrewer]

all I do is add a 1/2" silicone hose, fits tight on my tap, I have the end cut and a slight angle and it sits on the bottom of my growler then turn the pressure way down, works like a charm

Just did three growlers like this for a camping trip over the weekend. Worked perfectly.

 

[Hawkbox]

I'm still perfecting it but a flow control tap helps a ton too.