My keg faucet sucks, and I like growlers....beer gun?

[petep1980]

My keg faucet locks up and I need a pipe wrench if I go a couple days without serving from it. My keg is also located in my basement, and I just assume fill up a growler and stick in the fridge for the weekend.

Am I correct to say a beer gun is just another attachment to dispense already carbonated beer into the vessel of choice, and would simply replace the faucet hose?

If so, just a couple questions..

Should I make sure the hose leading to the beer gun is a certain length to ensure I don't have foaming issues?

Is this how a lot of you guys bottled?

 

[StunnedMonkey]

Well, you could replace the faucet with a forward sealing design (Perlick) and eliminate the sticking problem.

I use the beer gun for bottling and it works very well. I'm sure that someone will point you to biermunchers post on making your own bottling device, but I like the simplicity of the beer gun. To each his own.

To use the beer gun you need a length of beverage tube from the gun to the OUT of the keg, and a length of CO2 tubing from the regulator to the gun. You give the bottle a squirt of CO2 to purge the oxygen, then slowly fill the bottle with carbed beer, then give another little CO2 squirt in the headspace, then cap. Works great. The length of tubing isn't as critical as it is with serving, since for bottling you'll be dialing the pressure down to 3-5 PSI for a slow fill.

EDIT: If all you want is a growler to last for a day or two you can probably just fill from your faucet, with maybe a short length of tubing as they do in brewpubs. You need to drink it in short order once you start though. If you want to bottle for extended storage then a true bottle filling device (beer gun, counterpressure filler, BierMuncher device) is what you'd need.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Well, you could replace the faucet with a forward sealing design (Perlick) and eliminate the sticking problem.

I use the beer gun for bottling and it works very well. I'm sure that someone will point you to biermunchers post on making your own bottling device, but I like the simplicity of the beer gun. To each his own.

I agree on both accounts. I've filled growlers from my forward sealing faucet recently and it goes well. A $25 is Perlick faucet is cheaper than a beer gun, and if there is adequate space under the faucet, you can simply fill your growler in a few pulls.

But then, while BierMunchers bottle filler device is simple, I'd rather go for a real beer gun. I guess for me it'd come down to how much money I wanted to spend.

 

[bmckee56]

I have two tap faucets in the basement gameroom and they gave me the same problem. I made the decision to lose the rear sealing faucets and went with two Perlick 525SS units. I also purchased the plugs to seal up the nozzle of the faucet to keep flying nasties from getting up in there. I am glad I made the switch, no stuck handles now.

I am going to make up a portable 2 faucet cooler to use in the summer for picnics, parties or camping adventures and I will use the old rear sealing faucets for that. They will never see inactivity long enough to cause the dreaded sticky tap syndrome.

I also have a counter pressure bottling unit which I have used, but am not fond of because it takes time to set up and is some what cumbersome to operate until you get used to it. I do very little bottling, but when I need a few bottles to take out, or want to free up an almost empty keg, I use it.

Salute!

 

[beerthirty]

+1 on forward seal faucets. The BMBF is about as simple as it can get for bottle filling and keeping desired carb levels. For the price of a counter pressure bottle filler I and could brew 2 batches and build the BMBF. It is also much simpler to clean as bmckee stated.

 

[petep1980]

Yeah, I usuall fill from the faucet and it's good for the weekend. I just hate dealing with the freezing issue. I may consider the front sealing faucet and not the beer gun then.

 

[SowegaBrews]

i would just go to Lowes and buy a few of these. Since I started using these there's been no more sticking.... and it keeps the little crawly critters out of your taps.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=139550-37672-881324&lpage=none

That's not the size you need, but they should have it in the store. The ones that are the right size are less than a dollar for 2.

 

[Slipgate]

I fill growlers from the Perlick tap all the time. I put the growler in the freezer a couple of hours before (Or just leave it there when you have an empty) and it does not take more than 5 minutes or so to get it full.