Shiza! I forgot to get Coopers Drops!

[Snotty]

Ok, I have two Scottish Ales that I was hoping to enter into a contest with. I was planning on kegging most of it, but bottling a few for the contest. So... They are high ABV, I would guess in the 9-11% range which is actually part of the contest, and I want to bottle carb them.

How much priming sugar should I use? I was also thinking honey, to help keep things a bit traditional. Oh, 22 oz bottles too.

[xjmatt]

Ok, I have two Scottish Ales that I was hoping to enter into a contest with. I was planning on kegging most of it, but bottling a few for the contest. So... They are high ABV, I would guess in the 9-11% range which is actually part of the contest, and I want to bottle carb them.

How much priming sugar should I use? I was also thinking honey, to help keep things a bit traditional. Oh, 22 oz bottles too.

First off I presume your fermentation temp was around 70F, this matters as you're beer will already have some CO2 still dissolved in it from fermentation. Fermentation temp is what determines how much it will still have. Next how much CO2 you want in your beer? I think the standard is 2.5 volumes so that is what I based my math on. Let me know if you want different and I can run it through again.

For 2.5 volumes of CO2 in 1 gallon of beer fermented at 70F it's .88oz, 22oz is .17 gallons so 17% of .88 is .149 oz. so .15oz corn sugar per 22oz bottle.

Option #2 is use this as an excuse to buy a counter pressure bottle filler :D

[Snotty]

Option #2 is use this as an excuse to buy a counter pressure bottle filler :D

And The Brewhut just happens to have one as well. Bastards...

[xjmatt]

And The Brewhut just happens to have one as well. Bastards...

Local homebrew stores are awfully sneaky that way. If you're planning to enter beers in comp's but prefer to keg then it might be a worthwhile investment. It takes some tweaking as well to get the carb level right but obviously quite a bit easier.

[ColoradoXJ13]

There are several writeups for self-built counter-pressure fillers on homebrewtalk.com that are much much cheaper than buying one...

[Snotty]

There are several writeups for self-built counter-pressure fillers on homebrewtalk.com that are much much cheaper than buying one...New baby, no time...

[Jeepindog]

There are several writeups for self-built counter-pressure fillers on homebrewtalk.com that are much much cheaper than buying one...

It ends up costing almost as much, and once you figure in your time, it's just not worth it. Besides, the cobbled-together versions are not nearly as easy to use, and they are usually much harder to keep clean. Buy the Blichmann Beergun and call it done.

Lachlan

[ColoradoXJ13]

The most recent one involves a racking cane, #2 drilled stopper, and a picnic tap on your keg....personally, I have all those things already.

[_CJ]

I only use honey to carb, usually about 5oz per 5 gallons of beer at 70 degrees. I think the scale is fairly linear, so you could probably go 1oz per gallon.

There's a calculator on this site if you want to check it out.
http://hbd.org/recipator/

[Jeepindog]

The most recent one involves a racking cane, #2 drilled stopper, and a picnic tap on your keg....personally, I have all those things already.


Do you also advocate lift blocks and poly spacers vs. taller springs? Why half-ass something that's worth doing right? Whatever works. I know Bill, and he really doesn't want to half-ass this, and he would get a LOT of use out of a good beergun, and his time is pretty important to him. Not trying to say that homemade setups aren't workable, but it's just not what he's looking for right now. :beer: to those who build their own.

[jwjeep1]

The other side of this discussion that I'm surprised nobody brought up is that Coopers drops SUCK!! Sure, some people have used them and didn't have any problems. There are way too many people that have had infected bottles from them to make them a viable option though. Of course, this is just my opinion so you can do what you want.

On the cheap beer gun side, I know people that have fine luck with a bottling wand stuck into the spout of a cobra tap. I wouldn't bottle beers that way for long term storage, but if you're taking some somewhere, or bottling a couple to send to a contest and they're only going to be in the bottle a short while it's not a bad option. It's also basically free if you've already got a cobra tap and a bottling wand.

[ColoradoXJ13]

Do you also advocate lift blocks and poly spacers vs. taller springs? Why half-ass something that's worth doing right? Whatever works. I know Bill, and he really doesn't want to half-ass this, and he would get a LOT of use out of a good beergun, and his time is pretty important to him. Not trying to say that homemade setups aren't workable, but it's just not what he's looking for right now. :beer: to those who build their own.

Hey, to each their own, I was just adding an alternate option that people seemed to misunderstand. Comparing how one bottles a beer from a keg with the performance of a several thousand pound vehicle that travels at 60+ mph is a stretch though...:flipoff2:

Don't f' with me, I'm a mod!:beer: I'll just edit all your posts:D

[Jeepindog]

Typical mod: out of touch with reality and just doesn't get it. (And no, you don't get the flipoff2 to go with it. Edit it in if you want it.) :beer:

I think comparing you building your rig the RIGHT way to cobbling together a Billybob contraption is a pretty good analogy that even Jethro could understand.

The various beer guns actually work pretty well for those who want to submit kegged beer to comps that they need to ship entries to. Counterpressure fillers are even better for this. Unless you can deliver an entry to the same location where it will be judged, the backwoods yee-hawww method will give you less than stellar results. (Don't listen to 'em, Bill, and buy the Beer Gun at TBH!)

Lachlan