Bottling for comps.

[MitchBastard]

How do y’all go about packaging beers for comps? If anyone has dabbled or does dabble?

I’m more concerned about the carbonation side of things.....obviously you can carb drop or bulk prime etc. but is there an easy work around to be able to bottle from a keg and maintain carbonation?

 

TIA

 

[ben 10]

I have entered one or two.

PETs normally primed and all was fine.

I won something

[Dozer71]

From the keg, increase the pressure slightly, say 2psi a day or 2 before to increase the carb level. Without a bottle filler could add a length of tube on the tap to get to the bottom of the bottle. Chill the bottle (helps pevent foaming), reduce the pressure to around 4psi and pour, cap on the foam. The additional carb level will be lost during transfer and head space so should end up about right.

Edit: Also purge the bottles with co2 particularly if it is a hoppy beer

Edited August 4, 2020 by Dozer71

[Beerlust]

1. Know the dates of tasting/judging ahead of brewing the beer you wish to have judged.
2. Time your brewing of the beer to best coincide with how you wish it to be aged & received by the judges.
3. Naturally carbonate to a level inline with the style & more importantly to a level that will present well to the judges on the tasting/judging day.

The rest is in the hands of the beer gods. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, MitchBastard said:

but is there an easy work around to be able to bottle from a keg and maintain carbonation?

I got one of these so I can do bottles direct from keg - screws onto the PET and I have a line with disconnects at both ends.

I've only used it a couple of times and seems to work well. The tip from@Dozer71 about raising the psi before I will try. I found the carb level was OK but less than the keg.

[MitchBastard]

Thanks for that. The increased psi sounds like a good idea. Thanks @Dozer71 

i had a thought....What about attaching a carbonation cap to a PET bottle and just force carbing a bottle?  The plastic carb caps are cheap enough that I wouldn’t might sacrificing a few if it means not having to re seal after?

Cheers!

[Shamus O'Sean]

I have seen folks attach a length of beer line to the carbonation cap long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  Sightly pressurise the bottle, attached the liquid to liquid jumper, then crack back on the cap to let air escape slowly.  Supposed to be able to fill the bottle with very little foam.

Unless the yeast has been filtered out, could you add a gram or two of sugar to compensate for the CO2 lost through recapping?

[iBooz2]

On 8/4/2020 at 8:06 PM, Ben 10 said:

I won something

Yes probably for reaching a CR/LF in a response.   In this case three wins!

Just taking the piss @Ben 10 

Cheers - AL

 

[iBooz2]

18 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I have seen folks attach a length of beer line to the carbonation cap long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  Sightly pressurise the bottle, attached the liquid to liquid jumper, then crack back on the cap to let air escape slowly.  Supposed to be able to fill the bottle with very little foam.

Unless the yeast has been filtered out, could you add a gram or two of sugar to compensate for the CO2 lost through recapping?

Yeah, was wondering how @Journeyman did it with just that cap.  Did he leave the SS cap lose so he could pressure fill the bottle so the air inside could escape, then remove and fit a normal PET lid?  Did he have a length of tube on the end of the SS cap to reach down into the bottle so as not to foam up when filling and then putting a new cap on to seal?  And my thinking also @Shamus O'Sean a few grams of sugar would help the medicine go down as they sing in that olde song, which would help get the lost carbonation over the line when opened at the comp.  Don't know, never entered one but been witness to a few.

Cheers - AL

Edited August 6, 2020 by iBooz2

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

a few grams of sugar

I was thinking about one thing.  When I have added a few grams of sugar to a bottle that failed to carbonate, it still foamed up straight away and you had to get the cap back on real quick.  Doing the same with a 3/4 carbonated liquid could be a more volcanic reaction.

Maybe slightly over-carbonating, as has been mentioned above, is the better idea.  You will lose a bit with the re-capping, but still be around where you want to be.

[Journeyman]

11 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Yeah, was wondering how @Journeyman did it with just that cap.  Did he leave the SS cap lose so he could pressure fill the bottle so the air inside could escape, then remove and fit a normal PET lid?  Did he have a length of tube on the end of the SS cap to reach down into the bottle so as not to foam up when filling and then putting a new cap on to seal?  And my thinking also @Shamus O'Sean a few grams of sugar would help the medicine go down as they sing in that olde song, which would help get the lost carbonation over the line when opened at the comp.  Don't know, never entered one but been witness to a few.

Cheers - AL

Yes, I attached a length of beer line - 5mm ID - enough to curl at the bottom. Then tighten the cap down, attach the disconnect then loosen the cap very slightly to get a slow flow into the bottle. You do get just a little in as soon as you attach the disconnect but by starting slow until the line is under beer it works well. Fill it to the top and when you remove the carb cap the level drops slightly.

The 1st one I tried was good after 2 days in the bottle. I waited a couple of weeks for the next one and the carb level was low. That might have been the one I did first where I got more foam at the start, but a half dose of sugar could be a good idea. However if I want to do bottles for those that don't like the yeast in the bottom, I'd try the trick above of kick the gas level up a couple of psi before bottling.

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, MitchBastard said:

Thanks for that. The increased psi sounds like a good idea. Thanks @Dozer71 

i had a thought....What about attaching a carbonation cap to a PET bottle and just force carbing a bottle?  The plastic carb caps are cheap enough that I wouldn’t might sacrificing a few if it means not having to re seal after?

Cheers!

I thought of that, using the cheap plastic carb caps, then forgot about it. I should take a look at prices - they could literally be the caps on bottles to take to a BBQ or party.

I'd still likely fill from the keg though. Force carb a bottle at a time seems unnecessary work or a lot of gas lines while you wait for them to carb up. I don't think I'd want to put 40 psi into a PET.  So it would take time to carb it.

[MitchBastard]

Lol I didn’t think I’d push 40 psi onto it either. Given it’s only 750mls it should only need about 11psi at 3 degrees for something about the 2.5vols. Roughly. I could be way off tho

[ben 10]

On 8/6/2020 at 10:02 PM, iBooz2 said:

Yes probably for reaching a CR/LF in a response.   In this case three wins!

Just taking the piss @Ben 10 

Cheers - AL

 

dont get it

[iBooz2]

@Ben 10 its your responses mate.  Very short and when I say short I don't mean rude but bare minimum, which is ok and I enjoy them that way.

What I was referring to was, and I get excited when one of your responses is nearly long enough across the screen to force a carriage return and a line feed hence the CR/LF.

Computer speak - Anyway all good.

Cheers - AL

Edited August 8, 2020 by iBooz2

[ben 10]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

carriage return and a line feed hence the CR/LF.

Lol.... thanks for the laugh

[Journeyman]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

to force a carriage return and a line feed hence the CR/LF.

Originally from typewriters.  That lever to the left would return the carriage to the right and force a line feed and ring a bell. Although in this video, the typist has a bell to ring... 

CR/LF became the command for dot matrix and line printers where they emulated typewriter movement across the page.