We no need no stinking beer gun...

Yakima 728
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Well it's funny, I stumbled upon this blog this morning as I was gearing up to use my new counter pressure bottle filler from Braukunst. I saw the simplified version using a racking cane and a stopper and said to myself…
well if I bought the real thing it must be easy and work the best....

ehemmm...
The counter pressure filler is the most stubborn and hard to use piece of brewing equipment I own!!!

I followed the directions and all of the tips I read on the blog this morning and filled 8 bottles in 30 minutes while losing about 6 bottles worth in the process. Now I feel that I am pretty competent in my brewing ability. I have been all grain for 2 years, have been brewing for about 5, and can figure out how to use/build anything I need within my brewery.. (or so I thought)

See if anyone can figure out what I did wrong:
- I chilled all the bottles to almost freezing temps so the bottles were just as cold (if not a little more) then the beer.
- Hooked the CO2 line of the gun into a 10psi empty corny for purging the bottles.
- Hooked the beer line into an Alaskan Amber Ale Clone corny.
- Released the pressure on the keg.
- Brought the beer up to 4psi in the keg.
- Purged the bottle before filling, and gently allowed the beer to enter to bottle.
- The bottle would fill 1/4 of the way up and then turn into a mountain of foam.
- Once the bottle was filled all the way... (after numerous four letter words) I would attempt to have my wife cap it but unfortunately the beer was continuing to foam out of the bottle pushing the cap off the top making it extremely difficult to cap (thank god I have a determined wife to help me with capping). The lag time between filling the bottle and capping it was only a few seconds.
- I then immediately refrigerated the bottles that were filled out of the batch to see if this ordeal was even worth it. After one hour in the fridge I popped one to see… No CO2 smoke, and the beer seemed like it was going flat. It did have some carbonation to it but nothing like (not even close) when it is running out of my kegerator.

Here is what I feel might be the problem..
1 - Cold beer with CO2 foams when it hits warmth, thus the filler was room temp when I started and never got to be as cold the beer while I was filling bottles. With the BMBF, it is one beer line with a plastic racking cane so it cools very quickly to the temp of the beer thus minimal foaming/.
2 - The Braukunst filler sucks.


Overall, it looks like I will officially be stripping down my pressure filler for parts unless someone else wants to take it off my hands.
 
flippindiscs said:
Well it's funny, I stumbled upon this blog this morning as I was gearing up to use my new counter pressure bottle filler from Braukunst. I saw the simplified version using a racking cane and a stopper and said to myself…
well if I bought the real thing it must be easy and work the best....

ehemmm...
The counter pressure filler is the most stubborn and hard to use piece of brewing equipment I own!!!

I followed the directions and all of the tips I read on the blog this morning and filled 8 bottles in 30 minutes while losing about 6 bottles worth in the process. Now I feel that I am pretty competent in my brewing ability. I have been all grain for 2 years, have been brewing for about 5, and can figure out how to use/build anything I need within my brewery.. (or so I thought)

See if anyone can figure out what I did wrong:
- I chilled all the bottles to almost freezing temps so the bottles were just as cold (if not a little more) then the beer.
- Hooked the CO2 line of the gun into a 10psi empty corny for purging the bottles.
- Hooked the beer line into an Alaskan Amber Ale Clone corny.
- Released the pressure on the keg.
- Brought the beer up to 4psi in the keg.
- Purged the bottle before filling, and gently allowed the beer to enter to bottle.
- The bottle would fill 1/4 of the way up and then turn into a mountain of foam.
- Once the bottle was filled all the way... (after numerous four letter words) I would attempt to have my wife cap it but unfortunately the beer was continuing to foam out of the bottle pushing the cap off the top making it extremely difficult to cap (thank god I have a determined wife to help me with capping). The lag time between filling the bottle and capping it was only a few seconds.
- I then immediately refrigerated the bottles that were filled out of the batch to see if this ordeal was even worth it. After one hour in the fridge I popped one to see… No CO2 smoke, and the beer seemed like it was going flat. It did have some carbonation to it but nothing like (not even close) when it is running out of my kegerator.

Here is what I feel might be the problem..
1 - Cold beer with CO2 foams when it hits warmth, thus the filler was room temp when I started and never got to be as cold the beer while I was filling bottles. With the BMBF, it is one beer line with a plastic racking cane so it cools very quickly to the temp of the beer thus minimal foaming/.
2 - The Braukunst filler sucks.


Overall, it looks like I will officially be stripping down my pressure filler for parts unless someone else wants to take it off my hands.
Click to expand...

You need to build a BM bottle filler.. Cut the crap, go with the best. Who's the best? BM's the best.
 
Quick question-Would a wine bottle filler tube-the one with the little valve in the bottom work on this ? The valve would cure the run-off (dribble) concern between bottles no ? And the tube would remain on the bottom (to keep valve open)during filling as the stopper is pinched to relieve pressure right ?
I'm gonna make one too........
 
well got my BM-CPF all made up today and I'm going to try and fill a case on Sunday. Can't wait to try it out!

Cheers,
 
SAS98M said:
Quick question-Would a wine bottle filler tube-the one with the little valve in the bottom work on this ? The valve would cure the run-off (dribble) concern between bottles no ? And the tube would remain on the bottom (to keep valve open)during filling as the stopper is pinched to relieve pressure right ?
I'm gonna make one too........
Click to expand...
People have done that with good results.

Just remember to use the stopper as your "regulator". You really want to control that flow to a nice, steady, slow fill.
 
Great video, Bobby. I like the little opening and closing bits you've added!

I'm definately going to build one of these!!
 
That was AWESOME!!!! I can get my beer to come out and I dont lose much, about a tsp/ bottle... But I've always done it at 20psi.... Screw that, i'm turning it down next time I bottle! AWESOME Video!!!
 
You know, I just realized that this video shows another example of why the autosiphon is just one of the best values going in homebrewing. There are plenty of people with all kinds of alternatives to starting siphons. I probably use mine as a sanitizing pump at least as often as I use it for racking. It's frickin $9 people!! Buy two.
 
I'm going to take this a step up. Try this technique:

No stopper. Just a cane with the end sliced at an angle.

Step 1: turn off your gas line to the keg you're planning on using.
Now, release the CO2 from your tank. Pull the pin a few times and get all that gas out.
Set your regulator for about 5 psi.
Turn the gas back on
Put the end of the cane all the way to the bottom of the bottle.
Fill.
Bottle.
Send to me.
 
Good Job, Man!

It doesn't get any better than that! I love the autosiphon...I'll hook all my tubing and racking canes up in series and just pump through the whole lot!
 
Great vid bobby - just kegged my first beer tonight, building my 4912 tomorrow, and building my BMBF soon after. Can't wait to bottle some beers with it... the video really helped convincing me to get on with this. :ban:
 
well I just bottled up a case last night with this design and it worked like a charm! took me about 45 min.

Excellent post mate! really great idea and phenomenal way to save some cash!

thanks for sharing,
 
Awesome idea and great video Bobby!

I just kegged a 90-min clone and my buddy wanted a half case of bottles.
I was just about to go the individual bottle priming method when I thought I'd scout the best homebrew site on the planet and what do you know....

Why are the cheapest methods always the best and easiest...?

Making my BMBF this weekend...:ban:
 
Just wanted to thank Bier and Bobby, I read the post and watched the video. I bottled some beer for thanksgiving and it came out great. Thanks guys!

Also, just so everyone knows, if you don't have a small stopper you can use a larger one (#10 for example) you just need to control the pressure by pressing the stopper down against the top of the bottle.
 
This is awesome. I tried it for the first time today and it seemed to work great. Granted this is my first time botteling anything, but it went off without a hitch, and I didn't even neeed to buy anything:ban:

Thanks for the great thread and idea BeirMuncher!
 
Thanks again BeirMuncher! Filled up the rest of a case last night for my trip this upcoming weekend. Glad that I finally will be able to share my efforts with my friends and family.:tank:
 
I used this setup yesterday to bottle some cider for SWMBO. Worked like a charm. I was thinking... I could drive a 14G IV cathelon or needle into the stopper, attach some IV tubing with the sliding closure, and regulate the filling speed that way instead of trying to deform the stopper each time.
 
One of the enemies of bottled beer is oxygen. It won’t necessarily cause an infection, but even slight oxygenation can impart some off-flavors in a beer.

BJCP Description:
Oxidized - Any one or combination of winy/vinous, cardboard, papery, or sherry-like aromas and flavors.

This is especially true if the beer is a light-medium style like a Blonde, Kolsch…etc. For short term storage (party, tail gate, gift giving), this isn’t generally a problem. However, if you are going to store these beers for any length of time (3-4 weeks or more), it’s worth making every effort to push out as much O2 as possible.

One of the easiest ways to purge oxygen from your bottles using the BMBF is to cap-on-foam. That is, get the bottle to slightly “gush” and cap right on top of the foam. The foam after all is very near 100% CO2. Getting your bottles to foam consistently is a bit tricky so I thought I’d share my technique. (This technique is also used by our local micro brewery that fills their 22-Oz bombers by hand.)

Here’s my process for getting the bottle to foam, without loosing too much CO2 or beer.

1) Fill your bottles normally. Follow Bobby’s technique for removing the cane and squeezing in a bit more to get a slightly higher fill. (Don’t go too high if you’re planning on entering this into a competition…you’ll get dinging a bit.)
2) Once you have your bottles moved over to the capping table, place a cap on the bottle, hold it on firmly with your index finger and tip the bottle upside down and back (rather gently)…once.
3) Set the bottle down and wait a moment and have your capper ready. You’ll see the cap burp once or twice as the O2 is pushed out.
4) Once you see the cap actually start to rise on top of the foam…cap it. There will be minimal foam spillage depending on the CO2 levels.
5) You’ve now capped a bottle that should be devoid of all oxygen, and captured most of the CO2 that was in the foam (this will be reabsorbed into solution.)

As an added safety measure, I’d recommend using O2 absorbing bottle caps. Between the CO2 purge that occurred using the above method, and employing O2 absorbing caps, the shelf life of your beer will be indefinite.

Hope this helps. (I had to learn the hard way about oxidized beer)
 
Just want to chime in here.
I put together one of these and bottled the last gallon or so of my 14month old Eisbock in little 6.3s Worked like a champ. My own observations. Get more than 3-4 ready at a time as the beer in the line and cane slowly foams up and an ounce or two needs to be purged b4 the next set of bottles. Even still, the first one foams a bit more than the subsequents. I had my EB pretty fizzy (about 3volumes) and quite cold so even loosing a bit during this will be fine I think.
I pulled the tip off of my bottling wand as the length was about right already. Can't wait to take one to Pokernight/HB meeting this week.
If BM PMs me his addy, I would send him a couple little Christmas presents to express my appreciation.
 
I just built one of these today, and I must say it works fantastic. Thanks for the tips!
 
The owner of my LHBS game me a discount because of this baby. :) I bought my #2 stopper and a #3 (I have a 60+ Grolsh swing-top collection) and he questioned why I was putting a stopper in the Grolsh bottle. After the explanation he looked wonderfully amused and I'm sure he'll be showing other this.

Blichman is NOT happy, BierMuncher!
 
I've been doing this for quite some time and know several people who have been as well. I stick the bottle filler in my picnic tap rather than the racking cane. The trick is to keep everything as cold as possible so the c02 will be retained in solution as much as possible and, like said before...cap on foam. I have worked on a brewery bottling line and capping on foam was the most important factor in the process.
 
Well well well! Seeing as how I'm still buying brew stuff for this ever-growing hobby (I started last June, currently on batch #9), I was probably going to get around to buying a beer gun, and now I don't have to. Thanks so much everyone! Also, I found that vid on YouTube before I saw it posted here. Very well done, explains the concept perfectly. :)

Since I'm trying to build a small stockpile of homebrew, I've been bottling AND kegging each batch (12 22oz bottles, the rest in the keg) and it's a PITA but I've sort of gotten used to it. The only one I've ever force carbed and not bottled I WISHED I'd had some in bottles because it turned out so great... After a quick trip to the LHBS tomorrow for a clear racking cane and an autosiphon, I think I'll be force carbing a lot more often.

Thanks so much for this. Great forum, btw!

Cheers~
 
BierMuncher YOU ROCK :rockin: I assembled one of these(didn't use the valved filler tube though as I asked about in a prior thread) and tryed it out...

This thing is slicker than whale snot-I mean it...... froze the bottles,turned the keg psi down and filled away,no waste-no fuss, had a six filled in just over 5 mins. then capped and hauled.
Best part is I took the six to my 85yr.old grandmother in Md. whom hasn't drank a homebrew in over 50 years,she pured one out and was amazed with the appearance,the carbonation and the flavor-she couldn't get over the fact the I brewed it.Said my great grandfather used to brew his own beer and that He'd be proud...... Thanks again Bier. :mug: Shane
 
Is this worth doing for very near term consumption? Say filling a sixer to take to the parents for the weekend or a friends for the night? Or is it just as easy to fill a bottle right from the tap.

I was thinking of getting a couple growlers or a 6 pack or two of swing top bottles to do this with.

It also seems to me like you could be a little less concerned with the sanitizing and just use clean dry bottles. Is that true or will even a very short period inside an unsanitized bottle ruin the beer?
 
Jonnio said:
Is this worth doing for very near term consumption? Say filling a sixer to take to the parents for the weekend or a friends for the night? Or is it just as easy to fill a bottle right from the tap.
Click to expand...
Whatever CO2 is in the bottle when you seal it is all there's ever going to be. If you fill from the tap directly, you're likely to lose quite a bit of carbonation as foam - it's pretty much going to be just as flat the same day as it will several weeks down the road. There are ways to minimize and/or compensate for the loss - that's pretty much exactly what the BMBF does.

The BMBF will help you just as much whether you're planning to drink it the same day, or store it for weeks or months. You're right, you don't need to do much by way of sanitization if you're going to be drinking the beer within a couple of days (as long as everything's CLEAN at least), which will cut down a bit on the time it takes to bottle.
 
For same day or next day consumption when I'm going to be there, I fill up any old PET container off the faucet, purge the air, then recompress it with CO2 using a tire filling valve (schrader) installed in the cap. This holds the carbonation until you open it again.
 
Jonnio said:
Is this worth doing for very near term consumption? Say filling a sixer to take to the parents for the weekend or a friends for the night?...
Click to expand...

I always fill more than I think I'll need and more often than not, end up bringing a few bottles home and tossing them in the fridge. That's why I'd hesitate to do a tap-direct fill. Any spare bottles will need to be disposed of pretty quickly.
 
That's a good point Bier -- I was thinking of putting a hose that is big enough to fit over the tap and put that at the bottom of whatever container I am filling and use that...I might as well just not be cheap and spend the couple bucks to do this.
 
Jonnio said:
That's a good point Bier -- I was thinking of putting a hose that is big enough to fit over the tap and put that at the bottom of whatever container I am filling and use that...I might as well just not be cheap and spend the couple bucks to do this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I tried that method exactly once. Some people may get better results, but I got lots of foam and some very flat beer. I'm sure that with some tweaking I could have gotten it to work a bit better, but I'd much rather just invest the small amount of extra time and just use the BMBF which is practically foolproof.
 

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