Transferring from Pressure Keg to Bottles

[Robbo100]

Hi all,

This is my first post, so please be gentle.

I have recently made the leap from storing my kit made beer in a king keg, to storing it in glass bottles. My first couple of kit batches have been excellent - so much better than kegged beer (it carbonates better, and it is far easier to pour (even after the 20th pint of the day : )).

Unfortunately, the last kit of beer that I put into the keg (a St Peter's Brewery Golden Ale) is stuck in the king keg because there is insufficiet temperature in the garage to keep the fermentation going and I have run out of CO2. I really want to try an salvage this beer and transfer into bottles, but don't want to waste money on more CO2 if I am never going to need it again (and I am a big bottle convert!).

So, is it going to be feasible to remove the lid from the king keg and syphon it into primed bottles. Will I get another secondary fermentation to carbonate the beer in the bottle, or will it be dead?

The beer has been in the keg for about 7 weeks by the way.

Thanks all (I shall shortly be moving to AG, so I think this forum is going to be essential!)

Robbo100

 

[RobWalker]

you could add a little more yeast, reprime and leave in the warm. that should sort it keg wise.

we often syphon into bottles near the end. it's not easy! but definitely possible, just fiddly. and you want to add a few grains of yeast along with the priming sugar to the bottles, in case the yeast has dropped out from the cold which is likely. you can even use generic wine yeast etc, it doesn't really matter for such a small amount of sugar.

:

 

[Robbo100]

Thanks RobWalker,

Unfortunately I don't have any spare yeast at the moment (apart for bread yeast), so I suppose it is going to be a toss up between these four options:

1) Use a couple of grains of bread yeast - probably not a good idea :sick: .
2) Just re-prime without any new yeast and cross my fingers (it probably only been down to +6 deg since it has been out there, so maybe the yeast is still alive) :pray: .
3) Wait another 2 weeks until I have put my AG order in, and get some new yeast delivered then :drink: .
4) Bin it, it is only 20 pints or so (WHAT AM I SAYING :nono:)

Which would you do?

Thanks :

Robbo100

 

[bobsbeer]

My choice would be Option 3 followed by option 2. Chances are the yeast is still in suspension but may need extra conditioning time.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

If there's a little yeast in the keg bottom give it a gentle stir to get it back into suspension then bottle as normal with a little sugar..
Worth a try. :thumb:

 

[Robbo100]

If there's a little yeast in the keg bottom give it a gentle stir to get it back into suspension then bottle as normal with a little sugar..
Worth a try. :thumb:

I only read this after having already transferred some of my kegged beer into some bottles :cry:. I only had 10 spare bottles in any case, and so I thought I would just transfer some of it across and see how it went. When I transfer the remaining 15 pints I will have some yeast and so things should be a little better. In any case, if none of it works, it only cost me 30 minutes, 10 caps and 5 table spoons of sugar, so no major loss!

Thanks all for the advice.

Robbo100

 

[Robbo100]

Well, it has been 7 days since I put some of my old kegged beer into bottles, and since I am not very good at watching beer, and far better at drinking it, I popped a cap on one this evening (having kept the bottles in the utility room at about 20 Deg C for the duration).

I am delighted to say that carbonation has started and that it is already quite drinkable. It is a little sweet, which I expect is because of the low volumes of active yeast in the beer, leading to the priming sugar not all being used up yet (heck, it has only been a week, so it isn't a surprise - another 3 weeks will do it the world of good I am sure).

I have now freed up 13 bottles (how did that happen! : :drunk: ), so have given the keg a gentle mix and will bottle the rest tonight (my AG order is still yet to appear, and I want to get this out of the way before I do AG1).

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys. I really appreciate it.

Robbo100

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Good result :thumb:
Don't stir up too much sediment..

 

[Robbo100]

I gave it more of a swill than a stir, so it is still pretty clear.