REALLY don't need stinking beer gun

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cheezydemon3

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Why can you bottle uncarbed beer without purging, but bottling kegged beer must be purged?

Why not fill the bottle all the way up, purging with beer?

What pressure should I carb a keg to, bottling from a picnic tap and not purging, to end up with 2 volumes or so?

Ideally long term storage contacts no O2, but bottle conditioned beer lasts plenty long as far as I can see.
 
Yeah so I bought the beer gun, set it up, used it once, and have never used it again. Such a PITA to set up that it's not worth it (also a waste of CO2). Might be if you were going to bottle an entire keg, otherwise, NO! What I do when I need to bottle is sanitize the cobra tap and plastic tube from a bottling wand. Then I shove the tube into the cobra tap. Fill the bottle from the bottom and cap on the foam. Capping on the foam is key. The longest I've let a bottle go without opening was right around 4 weeks. No oxidation whatsoever. When I bottle I turn the carbed beer down to around 5 psi. Works great and is super cheap with very little set up and clean up. F the beer gun, waste of money. BTW - anyone want to buy my beer gun? Only used once???
 
AFAIK the reason to purge is to get the pressure inside the bottle to the same pressure as the beer so that you get less foaming during filling. BMBF doesn't purge the bottle but the rubber stopper means that after the first bit of beer goes in the pressure builds up and does the same thing, then vented by the bike valve/pushing on the stopper.
But as far as I can tell you are right we really don't need a stinking beer gun and besides I can't afford the sugery to get another arm stitched on to actually be able to use it ;)
 
I'll give you a dollar, you pay the shipping....;)

Do you overcarb before doing that? I get dialling down to push the beer out, but do you carb to 15 or so PSI before doing that?
 
AFAIK the reason to purge is to get the pressure inside the bottle to the same pressure as the beer so that you get less foaming during filling. BMBF doesn't purge the bottle but the rubber stopper means that after the first bit of beer goes in the pressure builds up and does the same thing, then vented by the bike valve/pushing on the stopper.
But as far as I can tell you are right we really don't need a stinking beer gun and besides I can't afford the sugery to get another arm stitched on to actually be able to use it ;)

Yeah that's what a counter pressure filler does but not the Blichman Beer Gun. The beer gun doesn't pressurize the bottle at all, just purges with CO2. And yes, I bought the beer gun because the cp filler seemed like even more of a pain.
 
I'll give you a dollar, you pay the shipping....;)

Do you overcarb before doing that? I get dialling down to push the beer out, but do you carb to 15 or so PSI before doing that?

Since my main priority is too drink beer out of the keg, I don't do anything different to fill bottles except to turn it down a bit during bottling. I just carb as usual, then fill if I need to. Method works great for filling growlers as well.
 
I have used both methods, the BMBF and the Beer Gun, with success.

The BMBF is cheap and fairly easy to use.
The Beer Gun is expensive, and really easy to use.

I dont hook up co2 to my beer gun, only the beer side. I think the co2 that leaks out the back of the beer gun is a waste, and I have never had oxidation issues from not purging. using it with the 10ft of tubing it comes with gives me zero foaming, and I can bottle an entire batch off a keg in less than 45 minutes without any help.

What it boils down to for me is that the beer gun is basically a shiny stainless version of the bmbf since I dont use the co2. One handed operation and not worrying about sanitation issues from scratched plastic parts wins out for me. When you're not using the co2 side of the beer gun, it's actually easier to operate than a cobra tap on a racking cane. Completely one handed. Plus I got it as a gift so I didnt have to come out of pocket for it.

Anyway, to answer your question: Carb your keg to normal serving pressure, and when it's time to bottle, dial the pressure back to about 5 psi, vent keg so it equalizes at 5, and bottle. If you are successful with your filler you will get very little to no foam, and lose very little to no carbonation in the process.
 
At 5 psi, when I fill a glass, no foaming.

Cold bottle? FOAM

Warm bottle? FOAM

Probably something to do with the geometry of the bottles, do you have a bit of tube attached so you can fill from under the liquid (if that makes sense ;)) If so maybe keep the tube just under the liquid not all the way at the bottom.
 
It helps to put bottles in fridge/kegerator for a while to cool and help with foaming. I never purge the bottles, just drop the pressure in a properly carbonated keg to 4-5psi and go to town. It helps to have a shallow plastic container (I use a square tupperware container) to put the bottles in when filling, you will lose a bit and spill some. I cap right on the foam. I have 2 year old barleywine bottles that are as good as the day I filled them.


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