We no need no stinking beer gun...

Yambor44 said:

That is correct.

Click to expand...

Yes. I transferred the last 8 bottles of Wit from my keg to try out my gun and it worked great!

been about one to two weeks. I kept the bottles out of the fridge because there was no room. I took a few to the in-laws and popped one open...

Ugh... Is that an infection I taste??

I tried them all and they all sucked.

I guess I forgot to sanitize the bottles before and after freezing them.. I remember washing them when I took the labels off, but not sanitizing before freezing.

So should I sanitize before freezing, or try to do it after? I can't see how to do it after and still have frozen bottles for filling.

Homercidal said:

Yes. I transferred the last 8 bottles of Wit from my keg to try out my gun and it worked great!

been about one to two weeks. I kept the bottles out of the fridge because there was no room. I took a few to the in-laws and popped one open...

Ugh... Is that an infection I taste??

I tried them all and they all sucked.

I guess I forgot to sanitize the bottles before and after freezing them.. I remember washing them when I took the labels off, but not sanitizing before freezing.

So should I sanitize before freezing, or try to do it after? I can't see how to do it after and still have frozen bottles for filling.

Click to expand...

I do not freeze my bottles. I use cold tap water and StarSan in my bottle flusher that sits on top of my bottle tree. I flush with sanitizerand then hang upside down on my bottle tree to wait for filling. I fill them while still wet and they are cool enough to not cause any excessive foaming.

Could you have left some residue from washing the bottles in them and thats what casued the taste?

Yambor44 said:

I do not freeze my bottles. I use cold tap water and StarSan in my bottle flusher that sits on top of my bottle tree. I flush with sanitizerand then hang upside down on my bottle tree to wait for filling. I fill them while still wet and they are cool enough to not cause any excessive foaming.

Could you have left some residue from washing the bottles in them and thats what casued the taste?

Click to expand...

I doubt it. I also bottled 1 bottle of IPA and drank that within a day or two and it was fine. Somehow I got an infection, either the bottles or the equipment and it had time to do it's nasty magic in my Wit bottles. I star sanned everything, except the bottles.

I've got a Blonde in the fridge and ready to bottling so I might try and fill a few up and perfect the process a bit more tonight. Too many things to do though.

My bottles get rinsed clean in hot water after consumption. (I think that is 95% of the battle right there.) Then they get an indefinite soak in a mild bleach/water solution in my shop sink. Eventually I get around to rinsing them and storing upside down in a milk crate lined with paper towels.

When I'm ready to bottle, they get one more quick cold water rinse upside down and straight to the bucket for filling.

I never freeze my bottles anymore.

Is the long racking tube required? What about just cutting the working end off of a bottle filling tube and going with that 12 inch tube? Easier to store for sure!

Arkador said:

Is the long racking tube required? What about just cutting the working end off of a bottle filling tube and going with that 12 inch tube? Easier to store for sure!

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Mine isn't that long (that's what she said), it was just born of an excess piece of equipment I had laying around.

People have modified to use a bottling wand...with the bottling plunger intact.

BierMuncher said:

Mine isn't that long (that's what she said), it was just born of an excess piece of equipment I had laying around.

People have modified to use a bottling wand...with the bottling plunger intact.

Click to expand...

I removed the plunger, as i did see comments about that creating too much turbulance and creating foam. The wand minus the tip is 3 inches taller than a half galon growler.

what about using the bottling wand with no stopper. Basically making the keg the bottling bucket with the tap left on the "flow" position?

Seems almost too easy, no?

That's what I'm wondering, how much the stopper really does.

gifty74 said:

That's what I'm wondering, how much the stopper really does.

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The stopper provide back pressure to control the fill.

I used this technique over this past weekend and it was so fast i had scheduled about 2 hours for filling 4 growlers of pale 4 - 22's of pale, and 4 - 22's of red ale and it only took an hour!

I have a wing capper still so i tried the tip and cap to get CO2 to buble but i could not cap fast enough and beer sprayer on my bench so instead i just tapped the bottle with a screwdriver to creat a little shock (obviously do as light as possible) and that caused a slow bubbling of CO2 and i could tap and get my hands on the wings of the capper and wait for some foam to bubble out then press the wing down, BOOM capped!

i was so impressed with how this worked i was this close | | to buying a CPF but am glad i saved the money on that and now can buy other things! (probably a bench capper)

Thanks BM!

AnOldUR said:

The stopper provide back pressure to control the fill.

Click to expand...

So, what happens if you don't use the stopper? It will foam? There will be O2 in the bottle?

StillBrew said:

So, what happens if you don't use the stopper? It will foam? There will be O2 in the bottle?

Click to expand...

Yep. Yep. (additional Yep for 10 chars)

Cool, I'll give it a shot. I checked and my racking cane does fit snugly into my pony tap. I'd like to make a filling station so I don't have to keep putting it down and picking it back up to fill 2+ cases of beer.

How long does beer last after bottling this way??????

ErinWhite said:

How long does beer last after bottling this way??????

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Treat it like any commercial beer. The bigger the beer (IPA, Imperial Stout, Wee Heavy), the longer it will stay fresh (I have bottles over 2 years old that are fine).

Smaller beers will do just as well, but like any commercial, you need to be mindful of freshness and peak flavoring.

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

dzlater said:

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

Click to expand...

As long as they were sanitized before you started using them, it will be fine. I usually squirt some StarSan up in the nozzle for safe measure.

Just tried this method and I think it worked! I should have used the short bucket as suggested cause I made a mess. I bottled a 6 pack for Friday. Cant wait to try it.

fidjit said:

Just tried this method and I think it worked! I should have used the short bucket as suggested cause I made a mess. I bottled a 6 pack for Friday. Cant wait to try it.

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This worked great so far! Drank 1 each day and they have had equal carbonation.

Thanks! :fro:

dzlater said:

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

Click to expand...

Just remember to sanitize the bottle filler wand if your using that.

Man that is Fing sweet, thanx for the post.

I didn't read through the entire forum, but I figured I'd post pictures of my Poor Man's Bottle Filler. It was a little different from what the illustration shows.

Here's some pics. I used a standard air chuck, but I couldn't find a short length of copper tubing, so I bought a stainless steel racking cane and cut it off to fit a 12oz. bottle. It worked perfectly, but the only problem is that the pressure builds up so much when filling it with beer that the stopper shoots right off the bottle. It works great other than that.

This is a really fantastic idea, i was looking into a beer gun before stumbling across this thread.

Although I am curious if you guys have much if any sediment that ends up in the bottom of the bottles? It was my understanding that this method of bottle filling gave a sediment free result, so I was wondering if this was the normal result from this bottle filler.

Anytime that you bottle off a keg it will be sediment free (as long as you've drained off the first few pints and the sediment has had time to settle). That's the great thing about it. The bottle filler that I posted pictures of above works great. I get no sediment, but it does take a little practice to keep the stopper from blowing out.

If you're planning on bottling more than a 6pk of each keg at one time, I would spend the extra money and get a beer gun or CPBF. Otherwise, the poor man's bottle filler is a great option. Just watch out when you're putting the extra hole through the stopper for the tire valve. I almost ripped a hold right through the side.

Thanks a lot for the info. This sounds like a great alternative to the beer gun since i only plan to bottle a few at a time, if I'm feeling generous enough to share.

OK, I have just read almost the whole thread and I was just curious....my LHBS does not keep those cool little #2 stoppers. I went to Lowe's and the guy looked kinda clueless when I asked him so I asked another in a different isle and they said they don't have it either.

Where the heck can I pick up a couple of these things? Does the Depot have them? Or will I just have to get them online or something?

I would preferably like to just head out to a store real quick to grab one. I wanted to try this thing out over the weekend with a few brews...

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!:rockin:

Does your LHBS carry the small universal drilled bungs made for glass carboys? Those work great if you invert them and make a seal over the top of the bottle instead of inserting into the bottle. If not, online is probably the way to go.

WOW! Great thinking, of course I had an extra one laying around and it fit nice and snug on the bottle...Now I am wondering how easy it would be to depress it to relieve the pressure as you fill like the other stopper. Have you used tried this method with the carboy stopper?

By the way I love this SITE!! Learned so much! Always some resourceful brewers on here!

Ilm not sure that the above stopper would work. I had a hard time with the normal #2 stopper. It's really hard to get a tire valve to fit properly since you don't have enough room to work with. I think with the extra lip on that stopper, you might not get it to fit at all. I could be wrong though.

My advice when using one of these is...

If you've set it up like me and put a corny liquid-out connector on the end, install a shut off valve in the line from the keg to the filler. The picnic taps probably work nice since you can just stop filling immediately. With mine, the minute I connect it to the keg, the bottle starts filling. If I want to stop it, I have to disconnect from the keg. This is why I installed the shutoff.

Also, you probably won't need to depress the tire valve to release pressure. Mine just pushes the pressure out as it's filling.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Also, you probably won't need to depress the tire valve to release pressure. Mine just pushes the pressure out as it's filling.

Click to expand...

I didn't even plan on using the tire valve thing with this method. I was just going to do it like Bobby did in the video by squeezing the side to depressurize...

The only other problem I noticed with using the carboy stopper is that the whole is to big for the racking cane. I guess if I really wanted to I could go back to the LHBS and just purchase a non-drilled carboy stopper and make the hole the proper size for the cane.

It sounds like it would work in theory but has anyone actually used this method?

elpresidente said:

Now I am wondering how easy it would be to depress it to relieve the pressure as you fill like the other stopper.

Click to expand...

You don't really squeeze. Just grab around the stopper and sort of tilt it to the side a bit to break the seal. Hard to describe, but you will know what I am talking about if you do it. Just be sure to keep pushing down.

Ok, cool! I will just have to try this myself and see what works...what stopper sizes would you guys suggest besides #2 stoppers? If I am going to order it off the internet I might as well pick up a couple other stoppers for various different projects as well. Any suggestions on other size stoppers and what they could be used for?

I used this method to bottle my kolsch for a local competition. Bottled 16 days before judging. It took 1st place among 20 entries in public judging, and 3rd place in BJCP sanctioned judging. Quite pleased.

The only downside really is that it is a little messy. I might try to shorten the piece of racking cane I use. It tends to drain a bit between bottles. It is much simpler than using a counter-pressure filler though.

Thanks for the great tip BM!

I dont feel like I got an answer to this fully.

My problem is, I am moving back on campus, and unfortunately, I can't have alcohol in my room due to a university policy. Therefore, I'd like to have my minifridge to use for normal stuff. This means I either need to finish two 3/4 kegs, or leave the fridge here.

Would bottling this way cause the beer to spoil if I bring it back to room temp, or even cellar temp? Id like to throw them in bottles for possible "long term storage" at a friend's house. (like the remainder of the semester)

As long as I am cleaning and sanitizing my bottles and picnic tap, should I have a problem bottling the rest of this PA and Apfelwein?

I've had brews bottled this way over a year old with no issues.

Built this, used this, I love it.

POL APPROVED

Great idea, great explaination.

tspilker said:

I dont feel like I got an answer to this fully.

My problem is, I am moving back on campus, and unfortunately, I can't have alcohol in my room due to a university policy. Therefore, I'd like to have my minifridge to use for normal stuff. This means I either need to finish two 3/4 kegs, or leave the fridge here.

Would bottling this way cause the beer to spoil if I bring it back to room temp, or even cellar temp? Id like to throw them in bottles for possible "long term storage" at a friend's house. (like the remainder of the semester)

As long as I am cleaning and sanitizing my bottles and picnic tap, should I have a problem bottling the rest of this PA and Apfelwein?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't count on it for long term storage. This is a technique that would work if you're trying to bottle them for a month or two. I could be wrong. I've never left them for longer than a month.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

I wouldn't count on it for long term storage. This is a technique that would work if you're trying to bottle them for a month or two. I could be wrong. I've never left them for longer than a month.

Click to expand...

I have some 1+ old beers in the basement brew shop and they're fine.

One thing is that if you rushed the beer from fermenter to keg...chilled and then bottled and returned to room temp, any residual sugars will resume fermentation and you'll have some highly carb'd beers. So anything you plan to bottle for longer term...make sure you've given those beers plenty of time in the fermenters.

I, too, have many beers that are over 6 months old using the BMBG. Perfect carbonation, just like it came from the faucet.

If you cap on foam and, like BM said, condition the beer right, I see no reason why these shouldn't last a long time.

Why do you think the carbonation level will drop? Same caps, same crimp, CO2 foam...?