Bottling Advice

[BlackPerks]

Hello me again I need some bottling advice.

My fist brew was a minor success, I put it into a pressure barrel but didn't wait the 2 weeks for the brew to finish and once I poured nearly half out air was sucked in trough the tap and soured my brew.
My questions are is this just a side effect of using a barrel?
and is it possible for me to bottle some and put the rest to the barrel?

Thank you.

 

[mmaguy41]

Do you have any way of injecting co2? Injecting co2 when the flow slows down will fill the headspace with co2. This will make dispensing earlier and prevent the beer from spoiling.

 

[fbsf]

If it's a budget barrel, you'd need something like this barrel cap and CO2 bottle dispenser. You'd use a CO2 bulb when the flow started to slow down, before it starts gulping air back in. Probably use 2/3 bulbs over the course of a full barrel to get all the beer out without spoiling.

But yes, bottling avoids this as you only allow the gas out of the amount you are drinking, i.e. a bottle at a time. However, de-labelling, cleaning and sterilising 40-50 bottles can be a right pain in the derriere so it's horses for courses...

 

[rpt]

This problem is unique to a barrel as once you have opened a bottle you are consuming it all and not keeping the rest. You can bottle some and put the rest in a barrel. Even better is to attach a little bottler to the barrel's tap, batch prime in the barrel and then fill your bottles from the barrel.

 

[Ian...]

@rpt

I like to keg and bottle and your idea of fitting the little bottler to the barrel tap is a great idea. Does it fit straight onto the barrel tap, or do you have to replace the barrel tap with the one that the little bottler comes with?
Thanks

 

[BlackPerks]

I'm not sure what a keg hotter lee looks like could you point me in the right direction please.

 

[BlackPerks]

Sorry just read my post should say * keg bottler :?

 

[BlackPerks]

Is this what I need?
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/ind ... age&pID=61

 

[fbsf]

Yup!

Generally you can detatch the tap from the end of the wand, and re-fit it to the tap on your keg. You might need a bit of tubing to connect both, or it might fit straight on depending on what tap is on your keg.