What is the story with beers that are bottled off the keg in terms of shelf life. Say using the beer gun or Will's cheaper alternative. Would they be ok for a few months? They seem to introduce oxygenation by their very nature. I imagine a lower carbonated style like an would probably be more suited to it than a higher carbonated? I'd be interested in real world experience with these things.
If leaving for longer and unfiltered, I'd advise adding a small sugar addition to eat up the oxygen and prime a little. That'd improve the shelf life.
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Beer guns, used correctly will purge the bottle with CO2, prior to filling it.
Very little O2 is introduced, probably less than with standard bottle filling.
You will lose some carbonation, typically 25% minimum. A quarter teaspoon of sugar should be sufficient to recarbonate.
I bottled my session beer comp bottles this morning before work. I carbed the keg a bit higher than normal as I knew Id be bottling (14 psi / 8˚c). Purged each bottle with c02 then filled with my diy counter pressure filler (rubber bung & stainless steel tube) then capped on foam. Id imagine those bottles would be good for up to a year?
I did something similar last night too, such a bit of messing! Tap straight into the bottle, wait for foam to die down and repeat... I filled them as much as I could so as to leave minimal space then put the cap on. I wouldn't fancy leaving these too long without carb capping or extra sugar or something ... I don't know in answer to your question! You got a link to Will's beer gun alternative?
I'd prefer not to add sugar in case that didn't ferment out properly. Maybe overcarbing the beer to compensate for ~25% loss would be an option. I guess the issue would be in managing the foaming then though.
I've done the 'fill from tap directly' method but it's not great and it's hard to manage getting it into the bottle with some carbonation and avoiding overflow. I definitely wouldn't have kept any I filled like that for more than a week.
This is the link I referred to by Will http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,284.msg3064.html#msg3064 (http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,284.msg3064.html#msg3064)
Quote from: Hop Bomb on September 27, 2013, 02:07:05 PM
I bottled my session beer comp bottles this morning before work. I carbed the keg a bit higher than normal as I knew Id be bottling (14 psi / 8˚c). Purged each bottle with c02 then filled with my diy counter pressure filler (rubber bung & stainless steel tube) then capped on foam. Id imagine those bottles would be good for up to a year?
Did you use the spear from a keg to make the counter filter?
Shanna
I have filled bottles off the keg and had them in the fridge for 2-3 months. They were fine when I opened them.