My BierMuncher bottler

Many thanks for BierMuncher and his thread on how to build these. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/ I did a mod on mine to allow me to easily control the gas flow and the rate of the fill. I just place the rubber stopper in the bottle and instead of releasing the pressure by moving it, I place my finger over the filler needle and use that. The hole in the needle is almost small enough to get a good flow without even adding my finger.

Great idea!

This is awesome. did you make a hole prior to pushing the needle through? if so, how?

Old E , I drilled a small hole in the stopper first. It's still pretty hard to get it through there with the hole. I'm in the process of getting some needles with smaller ID. I think if you could get one with a small enough opening , it would be self regulating. Using my setup I can slow the flow enough that I can fill a bottle and only have a few bubbles of foam on the top. It works great for my bottling.

I made one of these as well, but instead of drilling I used a red-hot sewing needle. Eventually I stopped using the "relief valve" & now simply slow fill. No issues thus far.

-d

GREAT idea.. i have this setup and will be adding the needle to mine! Thanks!

Btw, do you all drop your pressure down to 5 psi like some do? I've been leaving mine at the 10 or 12 that it's at and just fill at that pressure..

I thought about a small drill bit, but wasn't sure how well it would work on that rubber. I was about to ask what other kind of needles there were, but then I thought of turkey injector needles. ???

Great idea! I haven't built mine yet, but will definitely be using this design!

The drill bit was kinda hard to do.. It wanted to twist the rubber.. I thought about the heated method, but didn't have anything that I could heat at the time. The injector needle might work.. I'm trying to remember , but I think the one I have is larger than what I used. There is not a lot of room between the tube and outside of the stopper. If you can fit yours in there it will work. The smaller the hole the slower the flow, and ease of control. I'm getting some different sized medical needles.. These will be easy to use. Just stick them through the rubber, cut off the sharp point, and you are good to go..

Been doing something similar with an upside-down carboy bung that has a hole drilled in it. Works by putting your thumb over the hole to slowly release the pressure and control the bottle fill rate. I've been thinking about using something like a soft rubber tube to capture the overflow beer in a container rather than letting it run down the side of the bottle. For now I just do the filling inside a bucket.

jakecpunut ,, I do drop my CO2 pressure to around 5 PSI.. I want to try it at the normal setting, but haven't had a chance.. I would love to find the right combo to make it work without having to dump the CO2., and then having to refill the keg again.. I have a 20Lb cylinder and it's cheap, but would rather not have to do it every time. I sometimes just want to fill a bottle or two for a friend, and it's kinda a pain to lower it and charge it back up for a bottle or two..

anoldur,, I set my bottles in a glass pitcher to catch the over flow. I pour this into a glass and drink it after I finish. The problem is, after doing 12 beers with this I only collect enough beer to fill a shot glass or two.. If that is a problem.. LOL

Yeah. It's more about the mess than wasting beer. It's not a big deal to rinse the bottles in the sink after capping, but if you don't you'll have sticky beer on the outside.

Nice idea. I especially like the upside down stopper. I have a few of those and will try this method. Right now I just unthread my perlick end and place the bottling wand thru that with a dip tube oring on top to hold the wand in place when I screw the end back on to the tap. I haven't been using a stopper to create back pressure and my beers are losing their carbonation.

Yambor44,

I had the same problem before I used BierMuncher method.. I have a friend that just uses a tube by itself and has great results.. I don't know how he does it, but it never worked for me.. BierMuncher method is the best that I have found. Make sure you read his post to learn all the details.

Try freezing the rubber before drilling it. I've heard various reports on how effective it is depending on the rubber.

I am also wondering if you can fill using 12psi or so. It is no problem when I use heavier/swing top bottles but I am not sure if regular amber beer bottles with withstand it.

Hermit said:

Try freezing the rubber before drilling it. I've heard various reports on how effective it is depending on the rubber.

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I will have to try that if I decide to drill another one.