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A 2 Liter, Small Batch Force Carbonating & Counter-Pressure Bottling System

Tim Trabold

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I needed a couple beers to enter into a contest. I had some that had been aging 4 months in a carboy which I wanted to enter. I didn't have a free keg to carbonate it in and not enough time to bottle the whole batch. So, I bottled a little bit of it. After a couple weeks it wasn't carbonating enough. I need to do something.

With only two days before turn in, I needed to come up with a way to force carbonate just a small quantity to fill a couple bottles. I made a simple device to carbonate a 2 liter bottle and created a simple process to counter-pressure bottle a small quantity.

This video explains what I did and the processes I used.

This could come in handy for small batches. The counter pressure filling is handy when bottling from a keg.

9 Comments

@KevinWaken 9 years ago

Tim, you've been really helpful with your carbonation videos I recently changed into a bigger format for my brewing and started working with a carbonator designed for soda machines, your videor really helped me understand the process and establish the system for my carbonation step. I really appreciate your videos!

@kyleb2044 8 years ago

Geez lol, you are officially the MacGyver of brewing. Love it. The racking cane setup is exactly how I've been bottling from kegs for years. Saw someone come up with it on YouTube years ago. Works great as long as the carbed beer is settled. Cheers, do you remember how the beer did?

@joseph08271 9 years ago

I haven't tries it yet but will make sure to have a sharp bit . Cheers

@clubshedbrewery3220 9 years ago

I did find this very interesting and useful Tim. Thanks for another great video. Cheers!

@Esmiteee 9 years ago

Another informative vid, Nice work Tim!

@JesusRodriguez-uy8rg 8 years ago

Did you leave the air chuck on at 30psi the entire 5 min?

@67L48 6 years ago

Thanks for the video. Is there anyway to do this in a slightly larger scale? For example, are there any 1 or 2-gallon non-keg vessels similar to the 2L bottles? I’d like to do ~2 gallons ... but that ends up being 4 * 2L bottles. I don’t want a small keg ... I want to bottle like this method. I just want a larger plastic bottle or jug to use that can still accommodate these various caps and fittings. Thanks

@jimp9458 8 years ago

+Tim Trabold Do you add a campden to your beer before "force carbination"? Or, does the CO2 halt fermentation?

@hdjohn11 7 years ago

Tim, so what’s better, the inexpensive carbonator you built before this or this way? Force carbonate with 30# of pressure for a few minutes or running it through the 1/2” SS T ??
Thanks John