beergun with high carb beer

[ThePope]

i tried my new overpriced blichman beergun the other day on a hefeweizen carbed to about 4volumes, and had a real foamy mess... i bottled 18, and lost about 1L to foam. Dont worry though, i collected the foam as i was going, transfered it to a PET bottle, force carb'd it and drank it the next day, so minimal beer was lost...
how can i avoid this in the future/i need some expertise
my setup was a cold keg 3c, cold beer gun, cold bottles. 6 feet hose. depressurized keg to 1-2psi. i found that i was able to see carb bubbles in the line before it even met the beer gun.

1)my initial thought is i need a longer line to my beer gun to increase backpressure or whatever that does.
2)my bottles were full of starsan bubbles, maybe that had an effect?
3)maybe im out of luck with such high carb beers and i should just work on my filling/foam collecting technique to prevent waste, and recarb and drink the slurp like i did and not complain

the bottles turned out perfect though

 

[anicola]

You need to run at higher psi. Say 10 to 15

 

[TexasWine]

1. Good call. My beer gun came with 10 feet.

Try this. Carbonate at a higher temp and pressure. When you're happy with the level of carbonation, disconnect the gas and cool your keg down another 5 F or so. This should help hold some of that co2 in solution. Bottle at this lower temp.

 

[jmcquesten]

I use 20 ft of 3/32 beer line for my beer gun. I try to make sure the beer is properly carbonated and pouring right from my faucets before filling bottles with the beergun. Then I take the keg out of the fridge and connect it to my spare co2 setup. I have found that the dispensing pressure HAS to equal the original carbonation/serving pressure in order to minimize foam. I tried lowering the pressure to between 0 and 5 psi like a lot of people suggest, but actually get more foam and bad carbonation when doing that. If the pressure is dropped for bottle filling, the gas that's dissolved in the beer rushes out in the form of foam. I was able to see the foam in the line before it even got to the bottle. Now, with the 20 ft line, I can beergun at 12 - 16 psi and get the same quality bottle fill as I can a pint from the tap.

I will add that there is still some foam, but I fill until that leaves the bottle. When removing the beergun, a little foam starts to rise up, then you cap on foam.

The 20 ft line seems excessive, but works the same as balancing your system using line length. I've bottled high carb beers dispensing at almost 18 psi through the beergun.

 

[ThePope]

that sounds like the route im going to take jmcquesten. On my keg line i have 50ft of bevelex line and run my co2 at 30psi and 38-40f fridge. ya thats high volume, but i like my hefeweizen carby. i also have the kegerator in the basement and run the line up to my main floor so that probably lowers pressure too. what ill probably do is use 50ft of beer line on my beer gun next time lol

 

[ThePope]

im still having a lot of difficulty with bottling my high carb hefeweizen. i have my kegs cold in the fridge and at 30psi, so i figure im in the 4+volumes range, and i cant seem to get a good dispense and am ending up with co2 coming out of solution in my line.
ive tried using 20ft of 5/32id tubing (cant find 3/32) which is so small i have to couple it to 1/4id to fit it on the beergun/post.
ive tried using 40ft of 5/32id as well.
there might be something wrong with my technique, but it might also be that my beer is just too carb'd to dispense. im thinking about abandoning this high carb bottling and just doing priming sugar...

 

[jmcquesten]

N

im still having a lot of difficulty with bottling my high carb hefeweizen. i have my kegs cold in the fridge and at 30psi, so i figure im in the 4+volumes range, and i cant seem to get a good dispense and am ending up with co2 coming out of solution in my li.
ive tried using 20ft of 5/32id tubing (cant find 3/32) which is so small i have to couple it to 1/4id to fit it on the beergun/post.
ive tried using 40ft of 5/32id as well.
there might be something wrong with my technique, but it might also be that my beer is just too carb'd to dispense. im thinking about abandoning this high carb bottling and just doing priming sugar...

I meant 3/16" line not 3/32, sorry about that. That's the size you need. Also, 30 psi does seem pretty high. Maybe shoot for 3 volumes. I don't think any beers are carbed to 4 volumes. 3 is still plenty carbonated.

 

[ThePope]

my next batch of 3 kegs is on a spunding valve at 15psi, i think what ill do is after fermentation is complete cold crash and then transfer to new kegs with 2oz priming sugar in them and then bottle off of those. that way ill have around 15psi plus a little extra bottle conditioning to add some carbonation