Bottling from Keg 2 months before competition

I have a lagered ale on tap (3rd week) that I brew only one a year. I would have liked to submit to the M.A.L.T but I think it might be stale or lose carb in the bottle by the submission date. I have a counter pressure bottle filler.

Anyone have good or bad experiences bottling too early from keg for a competition?

I only bottle condition so I am bias but you could bottle condition, it which would reduce your DO2 and make it more stable due to the yeast activity and absorbing the oxygen. After 3 weeks bottle conditioning, storing it cold would help. I have never done it but I think some people use citric acid or metabisulfite to reduce oxygen; I would avoid that for only 2 months of oxygen exposure.

Thanks Albert, but I am not sure how much yeast I still have in suspension after lagering and a few weeks in the keg. I have also been drinking it so its been drawing from the bottom where I assume most of the yeast would have settled. I would also have to figure out how much sugar to use not to over-carb since its already full of CO2.

Hi Riccardo, i do bottled using a counter pressure and never had issue losing carbonation over time. It’s mainly the same thing for beers that you buy at the store.

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I suppose it depends on how much you have left, but if it were me, I think I’d try it and find out (maybe even two ways). The competition will take 3 bottles, so I’d fill 5 or 6, then taste as you get close to the comp. If they’re fading, drink em and submit something else.

The two ways I’d be interested in trying would be plain and with just a pinch if sugar. I’d imagine there are still enough yeast even at low levels to eat up some sugar. I wouldn’t add much for fear of overcarbonating but a little might help eat up any oxygen that sneaks in.

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Decided to try your suggestion and bottled 5 counter-pressure and 5 additional with 0.5 g of sugar added to each bottle of precarbed beer. If Brewer’s Friend is correct, that should give me at most another .4 volumes which I think I can get away with. I’ll post results of the experiment in a couple of weeks in case anyone is interested.

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