How to Bottle Homebrew From a Keg

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

Check out The Last Straw Bottle Filler (bit.ly/34d5ra2) and our Northern Brewer University online course, Kegging 102: Multiple Keg Draft Setup (includes course preview trailer): bit.ly/3rkS1Bs

[@CideryFromScratch]

Hey Guys! We just leveled-up our game and purchased your tap-n-fill kit. Thanks for the video overview…..looking forward to putting all this equipment to the test. Best, David and Rachel from CFS

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

Let us know if you have any questions. Stay Scratch-y!

[@CideryFromScratch]

@@NorthernBrewerTV We may just take you up on that :)

[@paskrell]

You should also check out the ITab. Really happy with it. For the co2 I’m confused by your statement. I’d always increase by a couple points. If I want 2.5-2.6 I’d carb for 2,9 in order to account for the loss while bottling.

[@callumberry661]

Recommend anyone watching this video to get themselves a proper counter pressure bottle filler. The price of these devices have gone down significantly in recent years! I use the Keg King Ultra Fill Counter Pressure bottle filler. Think it was only about £50 and it works on everything from beer to sparkling wine/champagne. I even managed to bottle sparkling wine at 5.5 bar of pressure and no foam whatsoever. Slower than the device on this video but no foam. The counter pressure bottle fillers are way more effective because you use a small button to pressurise the bottles before filling. This equalises the pressure between the keg and the bottle resulting in little, if any noticeable pressure loss or foaming.

[@bobsodman5274]

Where was this hardware 10 years ago?

[@davidthreechinsbrewing6193]

Would love to try this product out in my brewery, how can i get hold of one in South Australia?

[@gleamac]

Boel iTap is a great counter pressure bottling tool. Foaming is kept to a minimum, as is waste. 2 dozen bottles with less that 5oz waste

[@EtherealPrelude]

At the end, you say that the Last Straw isn't recommended for long term storage or aging. What is the typical shelf life for beers bottled with the last straw? Can you elaborate on why it's not recommended for long term storage? I received a Last Straw for Christmas and I was hoping that it would be suitable to bottle beers for long term storage. I'm disappointed to hear that this isn't the case.

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

Before I try to answer the quesiton, let me start by saying what you might be looking for is a true counter-pressure bottle filler (which the Last Straw is not). Here is one we suggest: www.northernbrewer.com/products/counter-pressure-filler. My NB coworkers says for regular gravity beers the Last Straw will be fine for six months shelf life when stored cold. For barley wines and high gravity beers, it could be seen as indefinate shelf life as oxidation adds to the flavor. But personally I wouldn't want to risk my more precious brews. I myself am not the most expert person when it comes to this topic -- mainly because I pretty much only keg and then fill bottles just for sharing locally or shipping to friends who I know are going to enjoy them ASAP. The issue is that any beer bottled from keg via most (non counter-pressure) bottle fillers could pick up some oxygen in the process. Maybe not enough to stale or oxidize a beer in a week or month, but over time that oxygen could have negative effects on the beer -- depending on the beer. The method I suggest for bottling beers you know you want to age would be to bottle them separately (after fermentation and before kegging whatever amount you want to have kegged) and then priming them with priming solution... and/or possibly adding small dose of additional brewer's yeast or cask conditioning yeast if the beer is really clear and likely doesn't have much yeast left. This way there is a mini-fermentation inside the sealed bottle that uses up the potential oxygen and safeguards the quality of the bottle for a much longer time. If you really want to have long-term bottles but don't want to bottle and prime it, a counterpressure filler might be a smarter tool for for the job. (Chip)

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

Two other thoughts from another NB coworker: - If you purge the bottle of oxygen with the bottle filler, you would get rid of the majority of oxygen in the bottle. And, with the closed transfer from keg to bottle, the amount of oxygen you are adding has to be minimal. - You could still use the bottle filler and bottle condition if you are worried about dissolved oxygen. Just put the beer in the keg with the priming sugar, then use a low PSI to transfer into the bottle and bottle condition from there.

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

I'll also ask: have you used the Last Straw yet in the past month? How has it worked for you? Maybe your first batches bottled (if you've done any yet) could be a good test of longevity.

[@EtherealPrelude]

@@NorthernBrewerTV Chip, I really appreciate your in-depth response. I actually haven't used the Last Straw yet but I'm planning on using it this weekend. I brewed a Baltic porter with a friend, he paid for the ingredients and we brewed it on my equipment since he doesn't have any gear. Since he doesn't have a keg, I told him I would bottle half of it for him. I'll report back in with you after I go through the bottling process with the Last Straw if you're interested.

[@EtherealPrelude]

@@NorthernBrewerTV ​ @NorthernBrewerTV Did NB remove the Foamless Finish counter pressure attachment for the Last Straw? I heard that it had some issues with the design but I thought that might be more practical than buying a stand along counter pressure filler.

[@PanEuropeanSTRider]

Do you really need to purge the air with CO2 first? Once the beer is added to the bottle, most of the CO2 you added at the beginning will have been displaced and, as it's heavier than air, run down the outside of the bottle to your work surface, so when you remove the wand and the beer level drops, what gets sucked into the bottle to replace the volume that the wand was taking up? It's not CO2 is it?

[@AC273]

I have had no luck with the last straw. The tip design agitates the beer too much causing excessive foaming. I,ve over chilled the beer, cooled the bottles, tried different pressures, tried different beer types. Nothing but foam.

[@Heathshrdz24]

Wait what?? Is Chip back???

[@NorthernBrewerTV]

I am! I've been back at NB since July 2020 producing all the KZbin content here and our growing catalog of Northern Brewer University online courses. I've also hosted a few videos here during that time that you'll find if you go back through the video listings between now and summer 2020. Cheers! Chip

[@Heathshrdz24]

So awesome! I really learned so much from your chop and brew stuff as well as the old brewing tv. Series.

[@skosamer20]

From personal experience, iTap from Boel is way easier to use + it's isobaric.