Date: Special Issue: Guide to Kegging
Serving Cask-Conditioned Ale
MEMBERS ONLYAn easy to follow guide to getting your homebrew served on cask.
Benefits of Counter-Pressure Bottle Filling
MEMBERS ONLYThe amount of carbonation lost during filling is heavily influenced by the carbonation level of the beer being filled. Highly carbonated beers lose more carbonation when bottled compared to beers with lower levels of carbonation. It is almost impossible to give hard numbers, but based on personal experience, you will lose a considerable amount of
Storability of Counter-Pressure Filled Bottles
MEMBERS ONLYThis is the question that every brewer who bottles their beer wants answered, and the answer depends on your bottling techniques. When carbonated beer is bottled, the shelf-life clock starts ticking. With very few exceptions, dissolved oxygen increases when beer is transferred to a bottle. Even commercial brewers with the most modern fillers equipped with
Counter-Pressure Bottling Tips
MEMBERS ONLYIf there are problems, what I would check first is the length of the fill tube. One of the most important rules of bottle filling is to gently fill the bottle. There are two types of filler-tube designs used in commercial breweries: long-tube and short-tube fillers. Short-tube fillers fill the beer by directing its flow
Counter-Pressure Bottle Filling
MEMBERS ONLYA counter-pressure bottle filler is designed to deliver a carbonated product into a bottle without excessive foaming. The basic idea behind these devices is to first pressurize the beer bottle to the same pressure as the keg holding the beer. After the bottle is pressurized and the beer valve allowing beer to enter the bottle
Conditioning Kegged Beer
MEMBERS ONLYBottle- and keg-conditioned ales must go through several key steps before they can be refrigerated and enjoyed. The first step is to estimate the volume of beer and to add an appropriate amount of priming sugar for carbonation. Most brewers use less sugar to prime an equivalent volume of beer in a keg compared with
Removing Yeast Before Kegging
FREEOne of the best ways for homebrewers to clarify beer is to simply move the carboy to a refrigerator and hold it cold (38 °F/3.3 °C is ideal, but anything colder than
Cold Conditioning a Keg
MEMBERS ONLYI prefer to cold condition after carbonation, because you can remove yeast by racking the beer from keg to keg without worrying about having enough yeast in the beer at bottling time or having yeast that is too tired to work. The traditional method of lagering, in which the beer is transferred to the lagering
Nitro Beer
MEMBERS ONLYThe process of adding nitrogen to beer is referred to as nitrogenation. This is somewhat of a misnomer since nitrogenated beers also contain carbon dioxide and the gas blend used for the process is usually 75 percent nitrogen and 25 percent carbon dioxide. This mix is used to dispense draught Guinness Stout and is easy
Fix Over-Carbonated Kegs
MEMBERS ONLYI prefer to package beer in kegs for several reasons. Besides being convenient, perhaps the best thing about a keg is that it’s very easy to change the carbonation level in a beer. In your case, you either added too much priming sugar or went overboard with your carbon dioxide pressure during the carbonation step.
Crank and Shake Carbonation
MEMBERS ONLYThe “crank and shake” method to carbonate beer, which has a scrumptious name, is widely suggested and is probably the crudest method imaginable for carbonation. It is simply bad advice given by a fairly large number of people. Carbon dioxide solubility is affected by two variables you can control; beer temperature and carbon dioxide pressure.
Force Carbonating Method
MEMBERS ONLYThe easiest and best way to properly carbonate your beer is to exercise a little patience and to equip yourself with the proper tools. In the case of carbonation, a gas table (see carbonation table below) is a pretty important tool. With table in hand, you can select your desired carbonation level at the temperature