Bowie Bottler help

I finally got around to using this little attachment for bottling. If fits good into the Perlick faucets and I thought it would be easy to use. But when I tried to fill the first bottle I had beer everywhere, the walls, the keezer, the floor, me..

I have about 12 psi on the keg I was pulling from, is this too much pressure? When the beer gets close to the top of the bottle I tried to shut off the faucet in time but beer gushed out around the stopper. I was finding it hard to judge when to turn off the tap. Also was having trouble hanging on to the bottle, controlling the stopper with one hand so I could reach up and turn off the faucet with the other. What a mess! Seems you have to keep your one hand on the faucet handle all the time. Any secrets to this setup?

I was having this problem as well and was quite frustrated initially. Eventually what I found helpful was to (and I believe Bowie did mention something along these lines in his included instructions): shut the tap off just as the beer reaches the stopper, and with your other hand stop pinching/venting pressure and instead hold the stopper down tight! There is considerable pressure and turbulence at this point. But if you hold that thing in there the beer can't go anywhere! After a few seconds with the tap off things should settle down. Now with things under control you should be able to slowly vent the pressure as you did when filling. Some foam may still ooze out, but beer should not shoot everywhere.

yep.. use the stopper to stop the beer from flowing. Also, I put my bottle on a table or something, so I'm not holding the bottle and trying to vent at the same time.

Having some surface to set the bottle on while filling is a VERY good idea. Idealy, you should be using one hand to hold the wand/stopper firmly (not pushing with all your weight, but like you would grip a power tool, with firm control), and using either your index finger on that hand, or your thumb on the other hand to "burp the stopper." Once liquid beer reaches the bottom of the stopper, stop "burping the stopper" and close the tap. At that point, count to 10 then simply remove the stopper and wand from the bottle and move it to the next.