Blichmann Beer Gun

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-Dan-

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I'm thinking about getting that beer gun to bottle my stuff; however, I still have a few 'understanding problems' ...

Please correct me if my perception of the following is wrong:
Beer gun gets hooked up to CO2 tank and you fill your bottles with a mix of CO2 and beer … basically the beer gets carbonated while filling up the bottles. Then just cap! No corn sugar is needed etc. Is a keg needed for it? My idea is to hook up the hose to my priming bucket, in which I siphon the beer from my carboy, and bottle…

Does this work like this or not?
 
Well, you have it mostly correct. The beer gun does connect to CO2 and your keg, but the CO2 is simply to purge the bottles before filling. The beer in the keg needs to be carbonated first, though. The beer gun is designed to preserve the existing carbonation.

I love mine and have had no problems. Dude hates his and hopefully will post his point of view so you can get the pros and cons.
 
I love mine after only one use, they are spendy and you need to buy the Beer Gun and the Beer Gun Accessory Kit plus a wye adapter and a 1/4" MFL shutoff valve to hook it up to your regulator.
 
I sold mine after I used it about six times.

It ended up being more work than what it was worth. I wasted a lot of beer with foaming issues. I chilled the bottles, experimented with different dispensing pressures, everything. It never worked that great. I got numerous comments that the beer was flat.

I honestly have better luck filling bottles at 2-3 psi with a cobra tap. I made that for like 7 bucks.

The beergun is sexy, but a POS in my opinion.
 
I neve had any issues with mine. I've only used it a handful of times, but it works great. No forming or anything and the carb is fine. I think there are cheaper, just as effective methods, but the beer gun does what it's supposed to do - at least for me.
 
-Dan- said:
My idea is to hook up the hose to my priming bucket, in which I siphon the beer from my carboy, and bottle…

This isn't going to work... The beergun is for transferring beer from an already carbonated keg (so yes, you need the keg) to a bottle...

As these guys noted, the CO2 isn't carbonating the beer at bottling - it just purges the headspace of oxygen to prevent premature oxidizing of your beer.
 
And pressurize the bottle to eliminate the pressure diffrence that causes the foaming.

The air is purged from the bottle, then the bottle pressure is eaqualized with the dispensing pressure, then some valves are turned and you slowly bleed off the bottle pressure, which allows the beer to flow from the keg into the bottle.


Dude... you try elevating the keg?
 
D*Bo said:
And pressurize the bottle to eliminate the pressure diffrence that causes the foaming.

The air is purged from the bottle, then the bottle pressure is eaqualized with the dispensing pressure, then some valves are turned and you slowly bleed off the bottle pressure, which allows the beer to flow from the keg into the bottle.
That's a counter-pressure filler. The beer gun is not a CPF. The CO2 only purges the bottle.
 
Guess my questions are answered :) Thanks guys...
Since I don't have the opportunity to keg it looks like I will be stuck with corn sugar for another couple of months.
 
So I just got my beer gun, and I'm slightly confused based on a few comments here. From what I had read on the Blichmann site it said that the gun could be used as a counter pressure or to be able to carbonate the beer as you bottle.

I bought it on the assumption i would have to carb in my keg prior to bottling which seems to be what most are saying here and that is the way that I have used it so far. (Carbing my beer in keg and then using a wye and filling at about 5 psi)

What I want to know is, is there any truth to what I read on the website. Can I put my beer into my keg, and using a wye, ahve the co2 going into my keg and the gun and carbonate that way?

Thanks all. For what its worth I have loved this tool the first couple of times I have used it!
 
I'm pretty sure you cannot do that. I don't think people would be taking the time to carbonate in kegs if it was that simple...
 
I'm pretty sure you cannot do that. I don't think people would be taking the time to carbonate in kegs if it was that simple...

I wasn't figuring out a way either, however since it was posted witht eh product info, and on one of the youtube demo videos I figured I would ask.

That being said I don't know why people still wouldn't be carbonating their kegs??? If someone prefers to keg but wanted to fill up a few bottles for travel then of course they would have carbonated their kegs. Since I simply wanted to bottle with co2 but didn't plan on leaving any kegged I was trying to see if there was a way to force carb directly versus having to carbonate wait and then bottle.
 
Nice video!

I have 2 CO2 tanks with regulators attached, one in my kegerator for dispensing beer, the other I use for pushing star san through my empty kegs. If I use that 2nd tank to supply CO2 to the gun, (and I already have a variety of hose fittings and keg connects), would I still need either Accessory Kit?
 
Very nice video!

The blichmann accessory kit basically is just 5ft of CO2 hose with 2 1/4" flare fittings, a ball lock connection, brass 1/4" to 1/4" NPT adapter, and hose flare swivel and clamp. If you already have hoses and corny connectors then you probably have some fittings laying around, and the accessory kit would be a waste of $30 when you could just be missing a few $2 fittings.
 
The accessory kit has nothing proprietary to blichmann.

If you have a fair amount of QDs, gas line, and other kegging stuff, you're likely better off just going to Lowes or Home Depot and grabbing the brass adapter for $2.
 
BigRob said:
The accessory kit has nothing proprietary to blichmann.

If you have a fair amount of QDs, gas line, and other kegging stuff, you're likely better off just going to Lowes or Home Depot and grabbing the brass adapter for $2.

Well why does my accessory kit have a blichmann label stating the parts included, same is my beer gun has?
 
Do you have to use it hooked up to co2 ? If you fill bottle there is not enough oxygen to hurt anything is there? I just think that may be a waste of co2 to purge such a small air space. I am going to order one of these but not real sure about hooking it up to co2, anybody bottle without hooking to co2?
 
You can make your own accessory kit or buy one. You won't be able to use just the gun itself unless you have the necessary parts.

If for some reason you don't want to hook up the co2 to the gun, you'll still need a MFL fitting, clamp and a liquid QD.
 
If your going to spend that much money on a beer gun, you may as well just get the accessories and purge your bottles with co2. Your beer will be better, why ignore an obvious and easy improvement in your bottling process?

I'm a beer judge and can't tell you how many homebrews I've tasted in competition that are loaded with oxidation.
 
Quick question. Buy purchasing the Beer Gun and accessory kits, could the accessory kits also serve as a way to carbonate a 2nd corny keg while at the same time I have my 1st corny keg on tap?
 
Quick question. Buy purchasing the Beer Gun and accessory kits, could the accessory kits also serve as a way to carbonate a 2nd corny keg while at the same time I have my 1st corny keg on tap?

I don't fully understand. Kit 2 does contains a "T" splitter, so you could use parts of that kit to split your co2 line into 2 separate kegs.
 
Ignore my crappy arrows and text, but this shows what is in each kit.

BeergunConnects.jpg
 
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