Filling Bottles With a Picnic Tap?

[jlinz]

I want to submit to a local contest, but I don't want to throw down the 100 bucks for Blichmann gun. Can I fill it with a picnic tap or bottle filler somehow, or will this detract from the overall quality of the beer?

 

[homebrewer_99]

If you must, you must.

I would recommend you tap the beer into a pitcher then pour it into the bottles. You'll have more control over the foam and the amount that goes into the bottles.

If it's going to be consumed in the next few days I wouldn't worry about any other issues.

 

[knotquiteawake]

Yup! You're in luck!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun.24678/

We no need to stinkin' beer gun!

Also I've used a larger stopped to do the same thing for growler fills as well.

 

[WFox93]

Yup! You're in luck!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun.24678/

We no need to stinkin' beer gun!

Also I've used a larger stopped to do the same thing for growler fills as well.

This.
Just make sure you don't crack your picnic tap when putting the cut bottling wand or racking cane in. I managed to do that and now I spray beer everywhere when the pressure builds and I get lots of foam from air being sucked in when there is no pressure. Aquarium sealant here I come

 

[mongoose33]

Here's mine:

I do it a little differently than others; I have the piece of tubing on the top that fits tightly over the picnic tap spout for a good seal.

 

[bronzdragon]

I've had success with the tube method that I use filling growlers. I put a long enough hose that will go over the picnic tap end and fill from the bottom of the bottle. I will usually turn the CO2 off of the keg and bleed a little pressure off, turn the filling pressure down to like 2-3# just enough to push it, and then fill the bottles. This is a keg that has been sitting at the proper pressure for a few weeks and is already properly carbonated.
/cheers

--edit, I wanted to say that this is not a good long-term bottling method. This carbonation is good for a week or two. I wouldn't count on it past that.

 

[mongoose33]

Part of the trick to filling growlers and bottles with minimum foam is chilling the bottles first, to 35-40 degrees or so.

When beer warms, it releases CO2 which emerges in the form of foam. Pouring into a warm bottle releases foam. Same with a growler, though the larger volume reduces the amount produced. A warm faucet will take time to chill and that can create excess foam as well.

I'll often fill bottles (and growlers) using a growler filler; as long as the bottle is cold, I've pre-cooled the faucet by drawing off a beer which is then consumed by me, and I control the flow (I have Perlick flow-control faucets), it's really pretty easy to fill them.

Growler filler: http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/843191.htm They differ by the brand and type of faucet into which they're inserted.

 

[bronzdragon]

@mongoose33 - Good call on chilling the bottles, that helps too.

/cheers

 

[cactusgarrett]

Here's mine:

View attachment 563244

I do it a little differently than others; I have the piece of tubing on the top that fits tightly over the picnic tap spout for a good seal.

This!

 

[jlinz]

Helpful! Thanks folks!

 

[balrog]

what @mongoose33 says.
Chill **EVERYTHING**
Really. really. REALLY cold.
Beer, lines, taps, hoses, fingers, toes, shoulders, nose, etc.

Even holding the picnic tap warms after a couple 64oz growlers and starts CO2 coming out of solution for me. Hot hands? Who knows.

But chill the fashizzle out of everything.

 

[JDXX1971]

I have taken to putting my star san keg in the kezzer or outside if it is cold enough and then filling a cold cooler with some of it to sanitize and chill the bottles, holding them there until just before I fill them.

 

[beernutz]

I clean and sanitize bottles and then wrap the tops with aluminum foil held on with a rubber band for good measure. I put them in the freezer and pull them out just before I fill them.

Instead of a beer gun or bottle wand, I use a growler filler tube with a SS connector I put in a tap then lower the gas pressure to around 2psi and fill the bottles so that a bit of foam is out of the opening. Then I cap on foam with a sanitized O2 scavenging cap and I'm GTG. I usually pull a pint or so to make sure the tap is cool before filling bottles plus that makes the filling process more enjoyable.

I didn't invent this method, it was told to me by someone who won a silver medal in the NHC using it a few years ago.

EDIT: I misremembered but looked it up--the person who told me this method won a gold in the NHC in 2014.