We no need no stinking beer gun...

[Homercidal]

That is correct.

Yes. I transferred the last 8 bottles of Wit from my keg to try out my gun and it worked great!

been about one to two weeks. I kept the bottles out of the fridge because there was no room. I took a few to the in-laws and popped one open...

Ugh... Is that an infection I taste??

I tried them all and they all sucked.

I guess I forgot to sanitize the bottles before and after freezing them.. I remember washing them when I took the labels off, but not sanitizing before freezing.

So should I sanitize before freezing, or try to do it after? I can't see how to do it after and still have frozen bottles for filling.

 

[Yambor44]

Yes. I transferred the last 8 bottles of Wit from my keg to try out my gun and it worked great!

been about one to two weeks. I kept the bottles out of the fridge because there was no room. I took a few to the in-laws and popped one open...

Ugh... Is that an infection I taste??

I tried them all and they all sucked.

I guess I forgot to sanitize the bottles before and after freezing them.. I remember washing them when I took the labels off, but not sanitizing before freezing.

So should I sanitize before freezing, or try to do it after? I can't see how to do it after and still have frozen bottles for filling.

I do not freeze my bottles. I use cold tap water and StarSan in my bottle flusher that sits on top of my bottle tree. I flush with sanitizerand then hang upside down on my bottle tree to wait for filling. I fill them while still wet and they are cool enough to not cause any excessive foaming.

Could you have left some residue from washing the bottles in them and thats what casued the taste?

 

[Homercidal]

I do not freeze my bottles. I use cold tap water and StarSan in my bottle flusher that sits on top of my bottle tree. I flush with sanitizerand then hang upside down on my bottle tree to wait for filling. I fill them while still wet and they are cool enough to not cause any excessive foaming.

Could you have left some residue from washing the bottles in them and thats what casued the taste?

I doubt it. I also bottled 1 bottle of IPA and drank that within a day or two and it was fine. Somehow I got an infection, either the bottles or the equipment and it had time to do it's nasty magic in my Wit bottles. I star sanned everything, except the bottles.

I've got a Blonde in the fridge and ready to bottling so I might try and fill a few up and perfect the process a bit more tonight. Too many things to do though.

 

[BierMuncher]

My bottles get rinsed clean in hot water after consumption. (I think that is 95% of the battle right there.) Then they get an indefinite soak in a mild bleach/water solution in my shop sink. Eventually I get around to rinsing them and storing upside down in a milk crate lined with paper towels.

When I'm ready to bottle, they get one more quick cold water rinse upside down and straight to the bucket for filling.

I never freeze my bottles anymore.

 

[Arkador]

Is the long racking tube required? What about just cutting the working end off of a bottle filling tube and going with that 12 inch tube? Easier to store for sure!

 

[BierMuncher]

Is the long racking tube required? What about just cutting the working end off of a bottle filling tube and going with that 12 inch tube? Easier to store for sure!

Mine isn't that long (that's what she said), it was just born of an excess piece of equipment I had laying around.

People have modified to use a bottling wand...with the bottling plunger intact.

 

[Arkador]

Mine isn't that long (that's what she said), it was just born of an excess piece of equipment I had laying around.

People have modified to use a bottling wand...with the bottling plunger intact.

I removed the plunger, as i did see comments about that creating too much turbulance and creating foam. The wand minus the tip is 3 inches taller than a half galon growler.

 

[HoppyDaze]

what about using the bottling wand with no stopper. Basically making the keg the bottling bucket with the tap left on the "flow" position?

Seems almost too easy, no?

 

[gifty74]

That's what I'm wondering, how much the stopper really does.

 

[AnOldUR]

That's what I'm wondering, how much the stopper really does.

The stopper provide back pressure to control the fill.

 

[BK_BREWERY]

I used this technique over this past weekend and it was so fast i had scheduled about 2 hours for filling 4 growlers of pale 4 - 22's of pale, and 4 - 22's of red ale and it only took an hour!

I have a wing capper still so i tried the tip and cap to get CO2 to buble but i could not cap fast enough and beer sprayer on my bench so instead i just tapped the bottle with a screwdriver to creat a little shock (obviously do as light as possible) and that caused a slow bubbling of CO2 and i could tap and get my hands on the wings of the capper and wait for some foam to bubble out then press the wing down, BOOM capped!

i was so impressed with how this worked i was this close | | to buying a CPF but am glad i saved the money on that and now can buy other things! (probably a bench capper)

Thanks BM!

 

[HoppyDaze]

The stopper provide back pressure to control the fill.

So, what happens if you don't use the stopper? It will foam? There will be O2 in the bottle?

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

So, what happens if you don't use the stopper? It will foam? There will be O2 in the bottle?

Yep. Yep. (additional Yep for 10 chars)

 

[gifty74]

Cool, I'll give it a shot. I checked and my racking cane does fit snugly into my pony tap. I'd like to make a filling station so I don't have to keep putting it down and picking it back up to fill 2+ cases of beer.

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

How long does beer last after bottling this way??????

 

[BierMuncher]

How long does beer last after bottling this way??????

Treat it like any commercial beer. The bigger the beer (IPA, Imperial Stout, Wee Heavy), the longer it will stay fresh (I have bottles over 2 years old that are fine).

Smaller beers will do just as well, but like any commercial, you need to be mindful of freshness and peak flavoring.

 

[user 19629]

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

 

[Edcculus]

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

As long as they were sanitized before you started using them, it will be fine. I usually squirt some StarSan up in the nozzle for safe measure.

 

[fidjit]

Just tried this method and I think it worked! I should have used the short bucket as suggested cause I made a mess. I bottled a 6 pack for Friday. Cant wait to try it.

 

[fidjit]

Just tried this method and I think it worked! I should have used the short bucket as suggested cause I made a mess. I bottled a 6 pack for Friday. Cant wait to try it.

This worked great so far! Drank 1 each day and they have had equal carbonation.

Thanks! :fro:

 

[Yambor44]

I am probably going to give this a try.
I use picnic taps on my kegs. Do I need to disconnect them and clean
and sanitize or can I just fill?

Just remember to sanitize the bottle filler wand if your using that.

 

[Stunna980]

Man that is Fing sweet, thanx for the post.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I didn't read through the entire forum, but I figured I'd post pictures of my Poor Man's Bottle Filler. It was a little different from what the illustration shows.

Here's some pics. I used a standard air chuck, but I couldn't find a short length of copper tubing, so I bought a stainless steel racking cane and cut it off to fit a 12oz. bottle. It worked perfectly, but the only problem is that the pressure builds up so much when filling it with beer that the stopper shoots right off the bottle. It works great other than that.

 

[mpcondo]

This is a really fantastic idea, i was looking into a beer gun before stumbling across this thread.

Although I am curious if you guys have much if any sediment that ends up in the bottom of the bottles? It was my understanding that this method of bottle filling gave a sediment free result, so I was wondering if this was the normal result from this bottle filler.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Anytime that you bottle off a keg it will be sediment free (as long as you've drained off the first few pints and the sediment has had time to settle). That's the great thing about it. The bottle filler that I posted pictures of above works great. I get no sediment, but it does take a little practice to keep the stopper from blowing out.

If you're planning on bottling more than a 6pk of each keg at one time, I would spend the extra money and get a beer gun or CPBF. Otherwise, the poor man's bottle filler is a great option. Just watch out when you're putting the extra hole through the stopper for the tire valve. I almost ripped a hold right through the side.

 

[mpcondo]

Thanks a lot for the info. This sounds like a great alternative to the beer gun since i only plan to bottle a few at a time, if I'm feeling generous enough to share.

 

[elpresidente]

OK, I have just read almost the whole thread and I was just curious....my LHBS does not keep those cool little #2 stoppers. I went to Lowe's and the guy looked kinda clueless when I asked him so I asked another in a different isle and they said they don't have it either.

Where the heck can I pick up a couple of these things? Does the Depot have them? Or will I just have to get them online or something?

I would preferably like to just head out to a store real quick to grab one. I wanted to try this thing out over the weekend with a few brews...

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!:rockin:

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Does your LHBS carry the small universal drilled bungs made for glass carboys? Those work great if you invert them and make a seal over the top of the bottle instead of inserting into the bottle. If not, online is probably the way to go.

 

[elpresidente]

WOW! Great thinking, of course I had an extra one laying around and it fit nice and snug on the bottle...Now I am wondering how easy it would be to depress it to relieve the pressure as you fill like the other stopper. Have you used tried this method with the carboy stopper?

By the way I love this SITE!! Learned so much! Always some resourceful brewers on here!

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Ilm not sure that the above stopper would work. I had a hard time with the normal #2 stopper. It's really hard to get a tire valve to fit properly since you don't have enough room to work with. I think with the extra lip on that stopper, you might not get it to fit at all. I could be wrong though.

My advice when using one of these is...

If you've set it up like me and put a corny liquid-out connector on the end, install a shut off valve in the line from the keg to the filler. The picnic taps probably work nice since you can just stop filling immediately. With mine, the minute I connect it to the keg, the bottle starts filling. If I want to stop it, I have to disconnect from the keg. This is why I installed the shutoff.

Also, you probably won't need to depress the tire valve to release pressure. Mine just pushes the pressure out as it's filling.