Bottling From A Keg

I've been fortunate over the years to not really need a large number of bottles of beer for any particular event. Kegs are convenient enough for get togethers and for storage in the brewery. Needing the occasional bottle to share with friends and family was never a big deal.

However, the exception to needing a large number of bottles comes annually for the holidays. Specifically for the annual release of the Rosbrugh Family Holiday Ale. This year we needed at least a couple of dozen (half a keg) worth of bottles. Minimum. And the number seemingly increases until the beer is gone.

So what are the options for bottling from a keg? Here's what I've tried (in no particular order):

a) Pour directly out of the tap and then cap with an O2 absorbing cap. Talk about messy with lots of foam. Can lose a lot of beer with this method.

b) Jam a length of thick walled tubing into the tap and then pour and cap with an O2 absorbing cap. Not quite as wasteful or messy with foam. However, quick and easy and most importantly, seemed to work. The method I've used in the past for competition entries.

c) The bottle filler pictured here:

http://strangebrew.ca/Drew/cheap.html

and then capping with an O2 absorbing cap. I found that the tube jammed into the cobra tap never seemed to stay in place. Took me too much time. Messy. Only tried it once.

d) The Blichmann Beer Gun and then capping with an O2 absorbing cap.

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/BeerGun/BeerGun_features.htm

I never had much luck with it. Beers always foamed quite bit for me. And setup was a hassle and a pain. Especially when compared to "jam-a-tube-in-the-tap-and-go" method. I'm sure it was just user error. Lots of people love these things.

e) Lastly, and the method that I will be using for filling up a sizeable number of bottles from now on, is a slightly different take on c) above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwIbFQcHYyo

The key difference is the use of a cut racking cane instead of a piece of vinyl tubing. It made ALL the difference. Snug fit, no leaking, and it didn't fall out. In fact the whole process caused no foaming, it was relatively quick, definitely clean, cheap, and last but not least, efficient (no wasting beer!). This is how Ellen and I bottled this year's holiday ale. And it worked out quite well. No complaints of oxidation. Yet. Guess I could purge the bottles with CO2 first...nah.