Too much beer

[Pawlo7671]

So since getting a Grainfather some of my brews have gone over the 20l that i can shove in a keg, non of them are ready for kegging yet but come a week or so they will...and I hate bottling. Question is, after kegging what can i do with the left over beer, can i transfer it to a 4 liter PET bottle and top up my keg when its about half empty ?
I know it seems lazy but if i topped up my keg last thing at night with the 2 or 3 liters left over and upped the pressure on the co2 it would probably be no different the next day in terms of carbonation, could I do this ?

 

[dan125]

I think bottling is the most disliked part of homebrewing.
Although I suppose you could top-up the corny, you're running the risk of introducing oxygen, and would need to re-purge etc.
I brew 23L batches and only bottle the 6-8 pints I can't fit in the corny, and with a bottle washer & bottling wand its really not much hassle & the bottles are great for giving away to friends, bottle swaps & the forum competitions.

 

[WierdFish]

I don't keg, I bottle everything and agree with Dan125 that since getting a bottle washer and wand it is so much easier. If I can do it for 40 bottles, half a dozen is going to be a breeze.

 

[Pawlo7671]

Thanks for the reply's . I think il invest in some swing top bottles, I have a bottling wand and washer

 

[sdt7618]

Why not just whack it in 2l fizzy drinks bottles( or cheap fizzy water) and carb in them the bottle, then use them first for drinking, you could even just drink a few pints out of them per day, they would be fine over the course of a weekend.

 

[Graz]

Another alternative would be to get a few mini kegs. Whack 5L in one of those, rest in the keg.

 

[essexjim]

I don't keg, I bottle everything and agree with Dan125 that since getting a bottle washer and wand it is so much easier. If I can do it for 40 bottles, half a dozen is going to be a breeze.

Out of interest, what are you using as a bottle washer?

As dan125 has said bottling is a big PIA, I just got myself a rinser/sanitiser thing

and even though it's just a cheapy thing it's helped A LOT.

Bottled a batch over the weekend, shaved off at least 30 minutes.

Also any way to fill bottles a little quicker than a single wand?

 

[sdt7618]

Also any way to fill bottles a little quicker than a single wand?

Just pop a length of hose onto your tap and fill straight from that, quicker than a wand and helps keep the oxygen out of your beer. you should only need about 30cm of hose unless you filling bigger bottles.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0026X1A26/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Cwrw666]

I find bottling wands quite slow. Plus they don't fill the bottles as full as I like so I end up having to top them up with a jug before capping. Plus I've had the bottom of the wand drop off in a bottle and ended up with beer everywhere before I got the tap turned off.
Now I just fill the bottles straight from the tap - it's a narrow bore one meant for having a bottling wand attached, so it fits into the neck of the bottle easily. Run the beer in at an angle so it doesn't froth.
Much quicker.

 

[sanch3z]

interesting, I use a wand and thought it was designed to leave a specific amount of free space in the bottle. Is room not meant to be left?

 

[chewie]

interesting, I use a wand and thought it was designed to leave a specific amount of free space in the bottle. Is room not meant to be left?

There should be some headspace left, this allows for expansion of the liquid as temp increases or decreases either side of 4c.

I've tried 3 wands tee'd together, the middle one is slower to fill when done like that, two tee'd together though works a treat and speeds up bottle filling time no end.

 

[terrym]

Why not just whack it in 2l fizzy drinks bottles( or cheap fizzy water) and carb in them the bottle, then use them first for drinking, you could even just drink a few pints out of them per day, they would be fine over the course of a weekend.

+1 on that.
That's what I do.
Typically two litre bottles of fizzy water are about 17p from Tesco, and I re-use bottles too, just chuck em away when they get a bit used looking.
In my experience once opened, beer will keep for at least four or five days without degrading .
Just store out of direct sunlight.

 

[nicowk]

Too much beer is the best problem ever.

 

[Wilfy]

Too much beer is the best problem ever.

Problem? Blessing more like.

 

[Pawlo7671]

A few weeks ago ( while thinking about the tragedy i'm in and trying to come up with a solution ) I ordered this :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321970714278?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


Don't they make some stuff in China ?

I'd totally forgot that i ordered it until i got a royal mail card in the post

You screw it to a normal PET bottle then carb up with your normal co2 post, I would think leave in the fridge then for an hour or so and then enjoy fizzy home brew with no sediment. Get in

 

[WierdFish]

Out of interest, what are you using as a bottle washer?

As dan125 has said bottling is a big PIA, I just got myself a rinser/sanitiser thing

and even though it's just a cheapy thing it's helped A LOT.

Bottled a batch over the weekend, shaved off at least 30 minutes.

Also any way to fill bottles a little quicker than a single wand?

Ditto, I have the same. Just finished bottling 40 pints of American Pale Ale. I quite enjoy bottling now, so much less of a chore.

 

[Pawlo7671]

Update :

I syphoned the excess beer in to a 2 litre bottle, and i'v just sloshed it in to the keg. could not be arsed messing around