Kegging question

[Soddy1]

Hi guys , switched from bottling to kegging this year and wondering what everyone else does with the remaining 2-3 litres of beer in the fermenter after kegging ??

I have been bottling the last 2-3 litres but thinking about dropping fermenter volume to 20 litres instead of 23 .. thoughts ??

 

[ozdevil]

Bottle a couple 

[Tone boy]

Hey Soddy, I don’t keg but if I did I would keep it at 23 litres and bottle the remaining few litres. It’s good to have a bottle or two to take to a bbq or wherever…

[Popo the Reprobate]

30 minutes ago, Soddy1 said:

Hi guys , switched from bottling to kegging this year and wondering what everyone else does with the remaining 2-3 litres of beer in the fermenter after kegging ??

I have been bottling the last 2-3 litres but thinking about dropping fermenter volume to 20 litres instead of 23 .. thoughts ??

 

Give it a go on a familiar brew and see how you like it. Lots of people reduce the volume. Slightly stronger. Slightly more flavour.

[Classic Brewing Co]

21 minutes ago, Tone boy said:

Hey Soddy, I don’t keg but if I did I would keep it at 23 litres and bottle the remaining few litres. It’s good to have a bottle or two to take to a bbq or wherever…

I would agree with that, I have only been kegging a short time but as @Tone boy says it's nice to have a few spare bottles.

[Soddy1]

Yeah I guess I could keep bottling an extra few , I have found that they seem to taste so much better on tap though

[Shamus O'Sean]

11 hours ago, Soddy1 said:

Hi guys , switched from bottling to kegging this year and wondering what everyone else does with the remaining 2-3 litres of beer in the fermenter after kegging ??

I have been bottling the last 2-3 litres but thinking about dropping fermenter volume to 20 litres instead of 23 .. thoughts ??

 

Hey, Soddy.  I started with kegging the same as you.  I was doing a couple of bottles as well as a keg.  Lately I have gone a slightly different way.  I am making 27 - 30 litre batches.  I can fill a keg and the bigger batch makes it worthwhile to put 8 - 11 litres into another keg.  I mostly brew all grain, so it is pretty easy to do bigger batches compared to using kits.

[stquinto]

I'm new to kegging too, and I have some 19l cornies, some 10l and 5l kegs. For a 23l brew I would fill a 5l keg then a cornie. Might get 4l or so in the 5l one, and maybe 18l in the cornie, but that's fine. Otherwise I'd bottle.

But I am also going to experiment with filtering from a pressure vessel to the kegs so bottling wouldn't work. I'll let you know.

Edited July 5, 2022 by stquinto
typo

[ozdevil]

6 hours ago, stquinto said:

But I am also going to experiment with filtering from a pressure vessel to the kegs so bottling wouldn't work. I'll let you know.

  Stquinto

in fact Pressure fermenting makes it alot easier to bottle in a sense  but you will need some form of counter pressure filler

Pressure fermenters will carbonate while fermenting and at the end of ferment just increase the amount to your desired carb level. Then line your bottles up
pull the trigger on ya counter pressure filler   and cap beer  

Basicly a Pressure fermenter is a unitank which can be used like a keg and not just for fermentation.


The good thing is if you have your pressure fermented wort all carbonated  and you have filled your bottle  its ready to be drunk

however though  if your wanting to age the bottle for a long period longer then 3-6 months  this is not the ideal method





 

[stquinto]

7 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

  Stquinto

in fact Pressure fermenting makes it alot easier to bottle in a sense  but you will need some form of counter pressure filler

Pressure fermenters will carbonate while fermenting and at the end of ferment just increase the amount to your desired carb level. Then line your bottles up
pull the trigger on ya counter pressure filler   and cap beer  

Basicly a Pressure fermenter is a unitank which can be used like a keg and not just for fermentation.


The good thing is if you have your pressure fermented wort all carbonated  and you have filled your bottle  its ready to be drunk

however though  if your wanting to age the bottle for a long period longer then 3-6 months  this is not the ideal method





 

Good points Oz mate. I’m going down the following path - kegged beer from 4.5 to 6% (with an exception for Duvel clones at 8% or so), and “speciality” beers that are either stronger or that require longer bottle conditioning.

I reckon I’m gunna take a step back and go for some quality control - like proper temperature control, paying more attention to yeast etc. Since I’m pretty much the only one boozing in the house (HB at least) I can make a few and store them till they are nicely matured. I’m on a keg of Coopers XPA that’s been sitting around for a while: it might not be the same as expected if drunk young, but it’s a beaut!

 

[ben 10]

22 hours ago, Soddy1 said:

 

I have been bottling the last 2-3 litres but thinking about dropping fermenter volume to 20 litres instead of 23 .. thoughts ??

 

I do bothm sometimes drop the volume but other times bottle it - for the holiday house.