We no need no stinking beer gun...

I started reading this post but now that I realize it's over three years in the making, I don't have the time to read all of it in just one sitting. I think the idea is great and I just recently used it to bottle a few beers. The only question I have and I hope it's not off topic, but what's the rule for storing the bottles once they are filled. Do they have to be stored cold or can they be stored at room temp?

I don't think temp matters, but you will hear different opinions...Sun does, but how do you think ppl bottle then send there beers off to comps.

I store mine in the basement with no problems

OK, has my first dry run with the BMBF today. I had some trouble at first getting my capper onto the cap after tilting (step 11) so I just put my wing capper over the cap and then tilted. I was able to do a 12 pack in about 10 minutes first time out. I was a bit off frame when I did it, but you get the idea.

Awesome!!

#subscribed

Planning to give this a shot today with an empty Coors Light Home Draft system I've been aiming to use. I have a gallon or so of Pumpkin Spice in a keg that I need to free up so I can keg my Holiday Ale and get it carbed in time for THanksgiving.

I'm planning to use the same process BierMuncher laid out, only with a larger drilled stopper, obviously. I will then add a 16g CO2 cartridge for serving.

What do you guys think? i'll let you know how it works out.

MJDore said:

Planning to give this a shot today with an empty Coors Light Home Draft system I've been aiming to use. I have a gallon or so of Pumpkin Spice in a keg that I need to free up so I can keg my Holiday Ale and get it carbed in time for THanksgiving.

I'm planning to use the same process BierMuncher laid out, only with a larger drilled stopper, obviously. I will then add a 16g CO2 cartridge for serving.

What do you guys think? i'll let you know how it works out.

Click to expand...

Should work fine. I fill growlers using this method with a bigger stopper. No worries.

Not sure if this is covered in the 50 pages, but I used to do this with my picnic taps. Then I got real faucets and the tube was too small to fit on the faucets.

But now I got a 5/8" ID tube (3/4" OD) and it's awesome! Fits snugly on the end of the faucet and fits so tight in the neck of the bottle, you don't even need to turn down the dispense pressure or cool the bottle. After a few ounces, the bottle is pressurized, and there's NO FOAM! It's actually almost too little foam - not even enough to cap on foam. Works great!

And the beer gun continues to collect dust...

subscribed

I'm sure not what purpose the stopper is providing here. It is just helping to keep the beer from foaming? It seems like you wouldn't want to maintain any pressure in there since it is just air. If you fill the bottle with CO2 first, then I can see where you would want to use the stopper method.

I'm also wondering why you would need to pump CO2 into the bottle before displacing it all with beer. I think this is the method of the commercial beer gun, right? Seems to me that if you fill the bottle to the top with beer, there will be no gas left.

Shouldn't you be able to just fill it up, minimizing foam and then cap it while the head is at the top of the bottle?

Am I oversimplifying it or missing something?

Hi Bob. The stopper is to keep backpressure on the beer while filling the bottle. This prevents excess foaming so you don't have to bottle at 1psi.

I actually bottle off the taps at 12psi using this method. Without backpressure, you'd end up with 12oz of foam instead of beer.

-Joe

Is this the only reason? After one beer I can fill at serving pressure out of my tap without using the stopper. However, I thought the reason was to keep the CO2 in the beer. If not, I'll be most happy not to use the stopper!!

nostalgia said:

Hi Bob. The stopper is to keep backpressure on the beer while filling the bottle. This prevents excess foaming so you don't have to bottle at 1psi.

I actually bottle off the taps at 12psi using this method. Without backpressure, you'd end up with 12oz of foam instead of beer.

-Joe

Click to expand...

Ah ok. That makes sense. Thanks!

i too was thinking about tryin it without a stopper. has anyone had success with this? i tried this before and couldnt get the stopper to burp correctly which ended up with excess pressure filling and a foamy mess. i didnt turn off the gas and bleed the pressure as well. is this necessary? i guess i have a fear of turning off gas and bleeding my keg would result in future flat beer or off flavors...

You "burp" the stopper by drilling a small hole next to the pipe going through the middle of the stopper... then buy a "tire valve" for about $3 at a local auto repair shop and stick it at an angle.... Then, when the stopper is wedged nice and tight in the top of the bottle and you release the beer to start flowing into the bottle (and it won't go because of the pressure in the bottle), just press the valve release and wa-lah, the beer will rise-up to the stopper. (Not my design, but I DO love the diagram I found here on HBT.)

zodiak3000 said:

i too was thinking about tryin it without a stopper. has anyone had success with this? i tried this before and couldnt get the stopper to burp correctly which ended up with excess pressure filling and a foamy mess. i didnt turn off the gas and bleed the pressure as well. is this necessary? i guess i have a fear of turning off gas and bleeding my keg would result in future flat beer or off flavors...

Click to expand...

I've done it for taking beer to party's (short storage) and it worked fine. Not sure about long term and there may be something some where in these pages about it.

I use an old bottling wand with Perlick taps. I remove the tip of the Perlick, slide a sanitized wand through it and then attached a dip tube oring to the end. Then I screw the tip back in. I have the end of the wand cut at an angle so when it bottoms out it doesn't choke the flow.

Just went back an looked as I thought I had asked about this before. Start at post #306.

I have been using this to fill some bottles and it works ok.

True "we no NEED a beer gun" but would anyone say that having a counter pressure beer gun is worth it if they had one?

Would anyone much rather use a Blichmann beer gun if you had the choice?

I would not, mostly because I'm lazy. With the beergun I'd have to disconnect the keg and pull it out of the fridge, as well as have a source of CO2 - also in my fridge.

With this method I just put a hose on my faucet and gogogo. Don't even have to change CO2 pressure.

-Joe

From what I've read, folks that already owned other fillers use this so it sounds like the way to go for me.

I just used my beer gun to bottle a whole keg's worth of beer. But for one bottle here and there, the tube on the tap is the way to go.

I recently made one of these and I'm content with the results. The equipment ran me a little more than I thought it would at ~$50 starting from scratch - this includes the picnic pump, hose, liquid disconnects, racking cane, clamps, etc.

Of the bottles I've opened, I have seen a small white cloud (CO2). I'm assuming/hoping this means that the carbonation will hold for an extended amount of time.

My ONLY complaint is that it can be a little messy and is tough to do solo. It'd be great with someone filling bottles and someone (with clean hands) capping - nice little production line.

Either way, I'm pumped to finally be able to bottle my beers and distribute it to friends. Thanks for spreading the word on this BierMuncher!

I'd agree... I built one of these over the last couple of months, according to that schematic I re-posted. Finally got around to trying it last night, to empty my kegs so I can redesign my Pleaser-Keezer. Anyway, I agree with TheCrowsNest about 'a little messy' but by the 4th bottle, I had a routine:
(1) With one hand, hold the picnic-tap head (pipe wedged into it) while pushing the stopper down into the bottle
(2) with the other hand, push the tire valve release slowly to let the pressure out of the bottle so the beer-level slowly rose-up without foaming.
(3) use one hand to steady the bottle and the other to pull the stopper loose
(4) swished a cap in some sanitizing solution, placed it on top of the bottle
(5) pressed the cap down with my thumb and turned the bottle over twice to start it foaming a bit
(6) just as the foam started to push the cap up, I capped the bottle

During the first 1-3 attempts, I was absolutely convinced to buy a beer-gun but like I said, by the 4th, I was glad I hadn't given-up. (the first 3 just had too much head-space because they got a bit foamy and I panicked and capped them too soon)

Maybe I'll get inspired and post a video on YouTube

I'm not using a valve, just a stopper. I squeeze the side to relieve pressure. This may be a huge contributor to the mess as I let it foam up and around the stopper before removing it. Then cap it right away - no shaking.

My guess is shaking it probably does a better job of purging the bottle of any oxygen. Just make sure your thumb is locked down on that unsealed cap.

Does this need to be done with a picnic tap or has anyone figured out how to make it work with a kegerator in-door perlick tapper? Thanks.

Edit: I discovered this awesome feature called 'search thread'. Oh the wonders of Al Gore's Internets. But seriously I still didn't find an answer for me, my perlick tips dont screw off. I guess I will pick up a picnic tap. Thanks again

I bought the parts and did this today for the first time. It took me a bottle or two to get it down, but it works great! Thanks!!!

MikeRoBrew1 said:

Does this need to be done with a picnic tap or has anyone figured out how to make it work with a kegerator in-door perlick tapper? Thanks.

Click to expand...

It just takes a bigger tube to fit over a faucet. Measure the faucet OD and then buy a tube with that ID.

This post sold me on becoming a member when I was searching for a beer gun. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the kick ass ideas and saving me my $$$!

Brew-Drink-Repeat said:

This post sold me on becoming a member when I was searching for a beer gun. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the kick ass ideas and saving me my $$$!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I can't imagine the folks that manufacture beer guns are happy with the Google search results.

It just takes a bigger tube to fit over a faucet. Measure the faucet OD and then buy a tube with that ID.

Click to expand...

I thought of that but if the tubing was bigger, the other end of the tubing would not be the correct size to fit on my racking cane...

This may sound dumb, but will this only work when filling from a keg? Would it work and be any better than from a bottling bucket and wand?

sheeldon said:

This may sound dumb, but will this only work when filling from a keg? Would it work and be any better than from a bottling bucket and wand?

Click to expand...

The object though is to bottle already carbonated beer that is in your keg.

TheCrowsNest said:

I'm not using a valve, just a stopper. I squeeze the side to relieve pressure. This may be a huge contributor to the mess as I let it foam up and around the stopper before removing it. Then cap it right away - no shaking.

Click to expand...

I still have the stopper on my 'bottling cane' but a I never use it anymore. I just fill the bottle until the foam reaches the top, remove the cane, and cap on foam. No burping or squeezing or anything, very little foam and very little headspace. The keys are to chill the beer to <35* F, use cold but not frosty bottles, and use low pressure to push the beer.

Exactly 19 each 12 oz bottles fit perfectly in an old 4 gal Aluminum pot I have so I usually bottle in batches of 19 plus a growler or two (the growlers are to get the beer flowing perfectly clear). With all the bottles in the pot you can just go from one bottle to the next without ever closing the tap or worrying about the spillage getting on stuff.

Just tried this method and it works GREAT! I have never owned a beer-gun and do not plan to buy one... this method is extremely easy and fast.

I was able to get by with very minimal spillage...used a small shallow rubbermaid container to do the bottle fill - this worked perfectly. Burping the air was simple - I simply held the rubber cork on tight enough to keep a seal but then just pulled the whole cork out to burp.

Couple things to consider.

1. If using different size bottles - start with the taller ones first and adjust the rubber cork accordingly.
2. If using different geometry bottles - make sure the capper does not break the bottle!! Learned this trying to re-use some anchor steam bottles.
3. Use a loose koozy to hold the bottle during filling and capping - helps out with possible tipping.

MikeRoBrew1 said:

I thought of that but if the tubing was bigger, the other end of the tubing would not be the correct size to fit on my racking cane...

Click to expand...

I guess I don't do the official BMBF. I just use a tube, no racking cane or anything else.

ksbrain said:

It just takes a bigger tube to fit over a faucet. Measure the faucet OD and then buy a tube with that ID.

Click to expand...

Alternately, if you have the Perlick 425SS you can get one of these spouts I worked with Mike at Centerline Machining to design. Here's the thread on it.

I don't know if I posted this in this thread yet (that's a lot of pages ) but here's a video of me doing the BMBF thang off the taps. Make sure to stick around for the closeup at 2:08.

[youtube]7IgVx3h5llA[/youtube]

-Joe

This works awesome! I just tried it yesterday here's a I found if anyone needs more clarification.

Nostalgia thanks for pointing out your awesome perlick threaded adapters these are genius and I DID find these when I searched the thread, but I posted that I do not have the perlicks with screw off tends. Thanks again for replying to me!

ksbrain I dont know why I thought I HAD to have the ranking cane on the other end.... You sir are brilliant and I will get that tubing ASAP! Do you know the inner diam? Thanks everyone!

I think it was 5/16" but I'm not sure. I just used a tape measure to measure the OD of the faucet. I hope the tube works well for you!

+10000000

Just tried mine tonight. It's possibly the best thing I've made so far!