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Bottling from a Cornelius Keg using a Blichmann Beer-Gun

P

Paul Bessell

I'm from England, and moved to Colorado just over a year ago. We don't use metal kegs, corn sugar or "beer-guns" in the UK so much, so I'm new to these items, and have a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone can answer.

1. If I have carbonated my beer in a Cornelius keg to 30 PSI over (say) a couple of days, I then release the pressure from the keg, connect a "Beer-Gun" to the keg, then raise the pressure in the keg to around 3 PSI and fill a bottle and cap it, will I get a reasonable head on the beer when I open it, or is it likely to be under/over-carbonated?

2. I recently brewed some bitter that had undergone secondary fermentation in Cornelius kegs, which I'd then primed with about 5 oz corn sugar per 5 gallon keg, and bottled using a beer-gun. When I opened the bottles after a month, they were nearly all 'gushers'. I'm fairly certain that the beer had completed fermentation before being bottled, and am assuming that I over-primed the kegs. If so, bearing in mind that the beer is full-mash (all-grain), and will have some slow-fermenting dextrins in that should produce CO2, how much corn sugar would be the correct amount to add?

3. I've just started a Belgian-style 'dubbel' which I'd like to eventually bottle. Instead of merely priming the bottles with corn sugar, I'd like first to filter the beer beforehand, then add some fresh yeast and some form of sugar (other than corn sugar). Any idea how much yeast I would need to add to a 5-gallon keg before bottling, and what type of sugar would be most suitable?

4. Finally...I've been carrying out my secondary fermentation in the said Cornelius kegs with a) the pressure release valves in place, releasing the pressure every day or so, and b) the valves removed and replaced by airlocks, wedged into place with putty to form a seal!
Advice please...should I be releasing the pressure?...using an airlock?...and if using an airlock, is there some form of attachment available that will get the things to fit the pressure release valve hole!

Cheers!
Paul
 
Greetings!
I think you are making things a little more complicated than necessary.  It seems as though you are under the impression that there is a difference between forced carbonation and natural carbonation.  There probably is, but the amount of labor required seems out of scale to the pain-in-the-butt factor.
1)  30 psi for 3 days at 44F seems to get my beer how I like it.  After the 3 days I do a pressure relief.  You get the beer to the correct carbonation here.  When you're happy with the carbonation, you MAY want to bump it up 2psi or so for a day, then dial down to virtually 0 pressure.  Then a gun isn't necessary.  A cut plastic racking cane fits perfectly into a cobra (party) tap. You put that into your bottle, and dial in enough psi to move your beer quickly enough for your taste.  Head retention will be the same as it was when you made sure you liked the carbonation.
2) Using the above method, the corn sugar and gushers won't exist.
3) Ditto.
4) By secondary, I believe you mean you are putting the beer into a "bright" tank (unless I've misunderstood your terminology).  At this point you want your almost-complete ferment to add carbonation.  I might burp my bright tank once to make sure there isn't too much residual fermentation going on, but I don't do much more.

I apologize if I've misunderstood or if you are really going out of your way to get "authentic" bottle conditioning.  The methods I've outlined work for me and part of the reason to go to cornies is you don't have to deal with figuring out how much priming to do--you just force carbonate it.
 
+1 Henway
I force carb most my beer. I usually only bottle condition my Hef's and Belgian's, and I never add sugar to my Corny's.

When I want to bottle one of them for competitions or to take to a party. I use the cobra tap and my racking cane. I also found that If I use a rubber stopper and vary the amount of pressure in the bottle, It usually does not foam to bad (Found this idea on another forum).

Cheers
Preston
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I may be overcomplicating things. My meaning of a secondary fermentation is after the initial vigorous fermentation has completed, I dump the yeast, and allow the beer to mature for (say) a couple of months, either in barrels, or bottles. This improves the flavour. I was hoping to use Cornelius kegs, rather than carboys.
I'll try out the methods mentioned for force-carbonating.
Cheers!
 
As a small note, secondary fermentation is if you're adding additional yeast at this stage.  I get the feeling 98%+ of the beers (and people) do only a "bright tank" which is putting the beer into another vessel and letting it settle and clear (thus becoming "bright").  Many of the Belgians ferment with one yeast and then add another yeast for carbonation.  That is a second ferment.
Many people use this terminology and it's confusing if you don't keep them straight.
 
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