Beer gun problems...

[day_trippr]

That rig looks like it has a Chudnow regulator. I use a bunch of them, a couple are almost 15 years old now.
No issues, aside from having to use a screw driver to adjust them (I do like the knobs on my Taprite and Micro Matic regs)...

Cheers!

 

[NeoBrew]

I agree with the sound of your CO2 sounding much faster than 1psi.

I had a few struggles with my beer gun when I first got it, but nothing like what you are going through.

Purging the keg is essential IMHO. If it is cold and you purge it gently it will not foam in the keg.

I spray star San in the bottle with a spray bottle, then turn it upside down in a fast rack and put it in the deep freeze. I actually work on a cutting board over the top of my deep freeze right next to my kegerator. I pull out one bottle at a time so they stay cold. Some are frozen by the time I finish.

I also put all the beer line into the kegerator or deep freeze to keep that cold. The beer gun goes in a pitcher down in my freezer between bottles.

When I fill at 1-2 psi it takes significant time to fill a bottle. Maybe 15-20 seconds?

I sometimes get 1/2” to 1” of foam at the top of the bottle when I have things going well. I cap on that foam and seal it up right away.

 

[jmcquesten]

I agree with the sound of your CO2 sounding much faster than 1psi.

I had a few struggles with my beer gun when I first got it, but nothing like what you are going through.

Purging the keg is essential IMHO. If it is cold and you purge it gently it will not foam in the keg.

I spray star San in the bottle with a spray bottle, then turn it upside down in a fast rack and put it in the deep freeze. I actually work on a cutting board over the top of my deep freeze right next to my kegerator. I pull out one bottle at a time so they stay cold. Some are frozen by the time I finish.

I also put all the beer line into the kegerator or deep freeze to keep that cold. The beer gun goes in a pitcher down in my freezer between bottles.

When I fill at 1-2 psi it takes significant time to fill a bottle. Maybe 15-20 seconds?

I sometimes get 1/2” to 1” of foam at the top of the bottle when I have things going well. I cap on that foam and seal it up right away.

What does 1 psi sound like? And, how does the pressure of the purge co2 have anything to do with the foam? The co2 that is being sprayed into the bottle could be at any pressure, and doesn't necessarily equal whatever the keg pressure is set at. I used a separate (5 lb co2 tank) for the purge line on the beer gun while keeping the keg connected to my 20 lb main tank. The pressure that would matter would be the keg being bottled from, and by the looks of it, the flow rate seems pretty low as indicated by the foam (bubbles) you can clearly see moving through the line.

The purging of the keg, along with lowering the pressure is a good way to get a lot of foam and flat beer in a week or 3 when opening the bottles.

 

[NeoBrew]

1 psi sounds like a gentle blowing of breath? Hard to describe! lol. You are right though, the pressure that you purge with doesn't matter, it's what pressure the keg is at that is pushing the beer through the line.

It's really hard to tell the speed of the beer in the line. It looks very fast to me. Now that you mention it the beer is coming through the line already foamy. What ever is causing the foaming isn't in the bottle, it's upstream. Some ideas might include....

• Warm beer line
• a bad poppet in the keg
• Some other obstruction or bend somewhere that is causing turbulence and foaming
• A loose fitting on the line somewhere that is letting air in. (I've never understood how this can let air in. You would think it would spill beer out, right? I have this on my sanke keg adapter. If I don't get it just right it causes a lot of foaming in my beer lines.)
  
• Other?

 

[killian]

That beer is moving fast, I’d try releasing the head pressure. Pull your pressure release valve before you attach your gas to the keg.

 

[WaltG]

Update time (Yay)9

Didn't change anything on regulator but swapped gauge with one from local shop. Old gauge showed 10psi, new one 20psi. So if they should have read the same I carbed that blonde at 25psi or 3.6vol vs my 2.8 vol target.

 

[Nagorg]

FWIW, I haven't had any problems from bleeding keg pressure prior to setting 5 psi for use with the beer gun. Not even with the carb level for the beer I bottled with it.

I slowly release the pressure instead of doing it quickly. This has to help prevent a sudden release of CO2, pretty much like the difference in opening a 2L soda bottle slowly -vs- quickly.

And I've read many comments that suggest your beer wont be good for long when bottled via the beer gun. I think most concerns are from oxygen staling and/or CO2 loss as compared to supposed better results with a counter pressure filler. BUT... My results are different. I enjoyed a beer last night that was bottled ~8 months ago with my beer gun and it had great carbonation and tasted excellent. Made me want to brew that beer again. I also have a few Imperial Stouts left that I bottled in Q1 of 2016. The one I opened over Christmas was fantastic and that beer keeps getting better over time despite having been bottled with my beer gun.

Just wanted to throw that out there... I couldn't be happier with mine and I'm sure that WaltG will have a better experience once things get dialed in.

 

[WaltG]

Our long national nightmare is over. Thank you all for your help. Especially about it sounding like higher psi than it was. You guys are awesome!!

 

[James Delaney]

I've had similar issues (two brews worked fine, two froth up badly). How did you fix yours WaltG? Was it just a new regulator and actually carbing at 10 psi (rather than the 20 it seemed to be with the new regulator)? What technique did you use? I'm trying to work out what I'm doing wrong without wasting too much of my precious brew!

Thanks