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-   -   Can you transfer from bottle to bottle w/o losing carbonation? (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/can-you-transfer-bottle-bottle-w-o-losing-carbonation-6227/)

Thor 02-20-2006 12:20 AM

Still bottling, I generally use large bottles (22 oz or 1 liter each). I've been thinking of entering a couple of my beers into local club contests, just for the heck of it.

Is it possible to transfer beer from one bottle to another and still retain carbonation? Specifically, I'd like to move beer from a 1 liter bottle into a couple of 12 oz. bottles, as that is what the club requires for contests. Will the beer still be sufficiently carbonated if I do this? If not, would time and/or a little bit of corn sugar/DME refresh the carbonation?

I know I can just put aside a few 12 oz bottles in the future, but for existing batches, I need to know whether transferring will work.

Baron von BeeGee 02-20-2006 12:25 AM

I don't think so...when you open it you will release the CO2 pressure in the headspace that was holding CO2 in the beer. Also, you would introduce oxygen...if you've ever tried to save beer in 2L bottles from a keg that didn't get killed in a college party you'll know why this is bad. As far as re-priming I'd think that would affect the taste of the beer, and I'm not convinced it work though I'm at an utter loss to explain why.

DAAB 02-20-2006 11:54 AM

I agree with the last post, oxidation would be an issue, repriming would be possible providing a little sediment was carried over from the donor bottle. If you used glucose, the effect on taste shouldnt be that noticable it would just 'thin' the beer ever so slightly.

Why not experiment with just the one to start with.


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