Barrelling + botling from the same brew

[drf]

Hi all,

I'm about to start my first brew. For various reasons I'd like to both bottle and keg. Brew length is 5 gal & I have a 5 gal keg. I will rack from the primary into the keg+priming sugar. I know it's better not to have air in the beer after it's fermented, so I'm a bit concerned about the air space that will remain in the keg.

I'm thinking of maybe doing 15-20 bottles, which would mean my keg would be only about half full of beer. Am I going to end up with a keg of oxidsed ale? I guess I'm asking whether anyone routinely bottles half of their keg, and whether they've experienced any problems.

Might it be an idea to vent the keg by opening the lid a bit after a few days to remove some of the air as the CO2 will be sitting more on top of the beer. The keg has a CO2 injection valve so I can top up later if it's not coming out.

Thanks in advance.

Chirs

 

[markp]

Add the beer to the keg and then gas with CO2. Leave to settle for 5 mins and then vent the barrel - the air will be forced to the top by the CO2 and vented out when you open the top (or valve). Top up again with CO2.
Sorted, with a nice layer of CO2 over your beer :thumb:

ATB