beer gun

[Pirate Ale]

OK,
I have a problem.
Every time I try to bottle a few from my keg of pale ale, i get a lot of bubbles in the beer line. It happens when the beer is not flowwing, It looks like air is entering the line some how, and I have eliminated all the possible culprits, and can't figure out what is happening. Could the air be entering through the post oring into the line? Anyone else have this happen? I really hate half foam bottle of beer.....

 

[Pirate Ale]

Anyone?....

 

[shafferpilot]

there's no way air is getting in. The pressure in the line would push beer out of any leak. Sounds like CO2 coming out of suspension to me. I've heard of lots of problems using the beer gun. Somewhere on HBT is a home made beer gun like thing that is supposedly far superior. I'll go looking, but if anyone has the link handy, post away

 

[shafferpilot]

found it:

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27171&highlight=beer

 

[mr x]

Sounds like the beer is getting warm in the line.

 

[GIusedtoBe]

Your talking about Bier Muncher's contraption. I used it with picnic taps and it worked great. I just had to turn the PSI way down to avoid too much foam. Your going to lose a bit, I don't think there is any way around that.

Regards,
Al

 

[Gregg Meyer]

I have been told by a 30 yr. veteran of brewing beer at home that the moment the beer is no longer under pressure from the keg ie the lines to the picnic valve or whathave you the beer will begin foaming because the CO2 is coming out of suspension in the liquid. does that thing really work? I've read that they all don't work well at all and you will lose quite a bit of beer when trying to go from a keg to a bottle because of the discribed phyisical problem. I would love to take a beer or two to friends at times but after lossing about a half gallon of beer in the bottom of a pail just to fill one bottle is no fun. I'm not a big drinker so guzzling that down is not what I want to do either. Seems like a big waist when you work so hard to create the stuff.

Oscar,

 

[Gregg Meyer]

I will check out beirmunchers bottler. What is the black part called at the top of the unit and where do you get that. I see the ball inflater deal but fill me in, this thing counter fills the bottle with CO2 first?????

How does that help with the beer wanting to expell the CO2 and the CO2 wanting to excape?

Oscar,

 

[GIusedtoBe]

I will check out beirmunchers bottler. What is the black part called at the top of the unit and where do you get that. I see the ball inflater deal but fill me in, this thing counter fills the bottle with CO2 first?????

How does that help with the beer wanting to expell the CO2 and the CO2 wanting to excape?

Oscar,

BM's device worked for me. THe first time I tried it I got lots of foam and half full bottles. The next time I turned down the PSI until it flowed very slowly, maybe 2-3PSI. This worked very well with minimal foam loss. If you cap them pretty quickly you keep your carbonation. I'm not sure how long they will be good when bottled this way but mine were good for about the five days they lasted at Thanksgiving.

Not sure what you mean on the "black thing" I just stuffed a racking cane in the picnic tap and it worked fine. I'm not sure you need the stopper though.

Good Luck
Al

 

[SenorWanderer]

BM's beer gun works great for me, and i don't lose a drop of beer unless i'm careless! i have a picnic tap on 5 feet of 3/16" line and i keep the keg at ~10psi. i use the stopper like suggested. the first squeeze of the tap fills about 1/3 of the bottle, squeeze the stopper to release the pressure and repeat. as suggested freezing the bottles helps keep foam down, and i even welcome a bit of foam at the end so there is only CO2 in the headspace. once one bottle is full remove the racking cane from the bottle and drop it straight into the next one. i *might* lose a drop of beer there but rarely. it does work best to have a 2nd person capping right away, but if not i fill 2-3 and then cap. i don't use a bucket as is suggested, just right on top of a little wood cart i keep next to the draft freezer in the kitchen. i JUST opened a fat tire clone i bottled at the end of the keg about 3 weeks ago and it's just as carbed as it was from the keg. i can certainly see how people could have problems with this system but once you get everything worked out it works great.

 

[BierMuncher]

Here's the link.

I bottled 2 1/2 cases yesterday for a public event in about 1 hour.

I also popped a few bottles last night for some company. One was a porter I bottled back in April. Perfect.

Couple hints:
Freeze the bottles.
Set the PSI to 4-5.
Make sure to bleed excess pressure from the keg before beginning.
Place all your bottles into a shallow bucket so you can move quicly from bottle-to-bottle.
Once filled, place a cap loosely on the bottle, give the bottle a quick tip, and then cap once teh beer begins to foam. (You want the foaming CO2 to push out any O2 for better preservation.)

 

[SenorWanderer]

I will check out beirmunchers bottler. What is the black part called at the top of the unit and where do you get that. I see the ball inflater deal but fill me in, this thing counter fills the bottle with CO2 first?????

How does that help with the beer wanting to expell the CO2 and the CO2 wanting to excape?

Oscar,

the black thing is the picnic tap. it doesn't counter fill with co2, it just displaces the air in the bottle with beer. like i said in the post above, i like to have just a little bit of foam at the end so that the co2 off gas will displace the last remaining air. this device doesn't prevent co2 loss so much as it maintains pressure via the stopper while you fill. once the filling stops you release the pressure which will of course allow co2 to escape, but then you continue filling which restores the pressure. no one's claiming that this $10 ad hoc bottle filler will maintain perfect carbonation, but if used properly it will fill a bottle without foam and with minimal carbonation loss. if you don't get it, or don't think it works then by all means blichmann would love to have your $80.

 

[Gregg Meyer]

This looks like it is the way to go, Thank you for setting me straight. I will put one together this week. i bought most of the stuff today. Do you use racking cane as the dip tube or do you use a smaller diameter tube? I have racking cane ready to go.

Oscar,

 

[Gregg Meyer]

Thanks for setting me straight, the black thingy was the tire filler valve.

Ignorance is temporary and stupidity is forever, my motto. Ha Anyway I figured it out. I found the perfect tire valve that fits a ball filling nipple perfectly. I just have to burn a hole in th stopper with a hot needle and attach the brass filler valve on my hose assembly and I will be set.

Thank you ,

Oscar