We no need no stinking beer gun...

[arturo7]

so i bottled some beer for a competition tonight using this gun. i noticed some air bubble getting in to the beer at the point where the plastic racking tubing meets the picnic tap. it feels pretty snug, any suggestions?

Did you try a zip tie or a hose clamp?

 

[nootay]

well its not the beer line, its the plastic racking cane part. where the racking cane is shoved up inside the picnic tap. Unless i did this all wrong and the racking cane is supposed to go on the outside of the picnic tap?

 

[NewBrewB]

Naw, you've got it right... Not sure why you'd have bubbles. maybe you could invert the hose/wand (outside cause this might make a mess) and purge the air from the hose before filling the bottle?

 

[kgraber]

Just ordered a West Coast Pale Ale kit and as I was checking out realized I need this setup. So now I have a Pale Ale on the way and all the necessary parts to bottle from my kegs.

 

[Kayos]

One thing I did not see in the instructions......are we sanitizing the bottles or just rinsing them as BM says to?

 

[TheCrowsNest]

One thing I did not see in the instructions......are we sanitizing the bottles or just rinsing them as BM says to?

I just sanitize mine and don't chill them or anything like that and everything comes out fine.

Just an update after using this little creation for several months now - it's fantastic. Every beer that I've opened, even ones that have been bottled for a month or two have been great. There's a nice little CO2 cloud and they hold their carbonation. I have to imagine that if these hold their carbonation for this long they're going to continue to do so.

This is the BEST solution for those that keg their beers but are also interested in setting some aside to do a little aging. Thanks again for the design!

 

[arturo7]

Awesome! I think mine are more like 14mm instead of 8mm :-/ what's your price?

We talked about the project yesterday. The material cost is only around $2-3 /piece in SS. However, the programming and set-up costs would be way to high to make it feasible.

 

[bernerbrau]

OK, so I put this into action for the first time a couple weeks ago. Dialed the keg pressure down to 5 PSI and it stopped filling pretty quick. Ended up having to pull the cork to let the pressure equalize and then start again. Got a little bit of head on the beer doing this. Also when I went to tilt it while holding the cap on, to purge the oxygen, the foam got EVERYWHERE. There just wasn't enough time to seal the cap afterwards.

Then a friend I gave some to drank one a few days later and he said it tasted like olives. They tasted fine on bottling day.

What the hell did I do wrong?

 

[weirdboy]

I don't get why you are tilting it to purge oxygen. How would that ever work?

 

[bernerbrau]

From the OP:

11. Before locking down the cap on each bottles...tip the bottle on its side and back (holding the cap on with your finger of course). This will cause the beer to begin to foam.
12. Place the capper on the cap loosely and as soon as the foam begins to overflow...lock down the cap.

 

[Kayos]

When I did this the other day, I didn't need to tilt it over. I made it foam over a little when I put in the extra shot of beer just before capping. As long as you're capping on foam, it's purged.

 

[Lodovico]

I've been using this method forever with pretty great results. Even in competitions where I bottle and send them away, I've never gotten dinged for carb levels.

I have a question though. Any tips or suggestions for using this method when bottling a REALLY carbonated beer. My Belgian Pale Ale is highly carbonated (to style) and even with the slightest PSI, it is really hard to bottle without a lot of foaming. I always chill the bottles and follow the same routine I do for bottling other beers but I'm having trouble because of the really high carbonation.

Anything else I can try in order to bottle some of these for competition?

Does it hurt your carb levels if you have to let the bottle sit half full until the foam goes down and then continue? By letting it sit, I'm talking like 20 minutes at least for this foam to go down. Thoughts?

 

[Shaggyt]

My Belgian Pale Ale is highly carbonated (to style) and even with the slightest PSI, it is really hard to bottle without a lot of foaming. I always chill the bottles and follow the same routine I do for bottling other beers but I'm having trouble because of the really high carbonation...

Does it hurt your carb levels if you have to let the bottle sit half full until the foam goes down and then continue? By letting it sit, I'm talking like 20 minutes at least for this foam to go down. Thoughts?

I had the same issue with my BPA...most foam ever using this method and my bottles/hoses were all chilly. I'm interested in hearing of any successful attempts with Belgians/high carb brews.

As far as the carb levels after all that foam...lower than expected. I gave some bottles to some folks at work and sampled some for myself (of course). They didn't notice but I thought the carb levels were quite low as a result of allowing foam to subside.

 

[elproducto]

Sorry.. couldn't find my answer but is it s 3/8" racking cane or 1/4"?

 

[RandalG]

Went fairly well for my first time although I need to work some kinks out of my process to make it flow better.

 

[NewBrewB]

I have a question though. Any tips or suggestions for using this method when bottling a REALLY carbonated beer.

Does it hurt your carb levels if you have to let the bottle sit half full until the foam goes down and then continue? By letting it sit, I'm talking like 20 minutes at least for this foam to go down. Thoughts?

I'm not sure what design you are using, but I have a tire valve stuck at an angle through the #2 stopper and I keep the stopper jammed down as hard as I can, start the flow of beer with the picnic tap, and then press on the tire valve air release really slowly and watch the beer liquid level rise up to the top of the bottle. When it gets to the top, I let go of the picnic tap and pull the whole thing out. Since the vertical pipe takes up space, that lowers the level of the beer a bit and gives me enough time to grab a sanitized bottle cap. Then, I set the cap on top of the bottle and about this time, the foam is starting to rise up and 'floats' the cap. I cap it right then and rinse off a few drips of beer from the side of the bottle....

I can't imagine that this method would be any different with a "highly-carbonated" beer but maybe you just need a helper to put the caps on faster, while you're setting down your homemade beergun?

 

[TomOliver]

Another happy BMBF user here.

Thanks BierMuncher!

Tom

 

[dallasdb]

I just got my kegging equipment a week ago but with a trip to see family, a backyard to put in and last weeks of spring College semester I won't be brewing until May! I will definitely be trying this.

 

[giligson]

When your beer is carbed to a higher volume then "push" it with a higher pressure (like 15psi or so) this will help reduce foaming inline but beware - when you come off with your bung you must be ready to cap very fast as it will want to gush more out of the bottle.

 

[tomije87]

I know this was mentioned somewhere in this thread, but I wanted to confirm it.

I had a 6 pack filled using the BMBF method that I left in my car for about 6 weeks. There were some pretty significant temp swings that it was subjected to (probably low 20s to low 60s). I opened one up last night and it tasted both flat and oxygenated (couldn't even finish the bottle).

I had a few bottles from the same batch, filled at the same time, that I kept in my refrigerator the whole time. I cracked one of those open and it tasted just fine.

Long story short, I was a bit amazed at how quickly the quality of the beer can deteriorate, but I have to attribute that mostly to the lack of proper storage and significant temp swings. I was a bit nervous after I tasted the first bottle that the rest of the batch was a waste. However, that theory was quickly put to rest.

Lesson learned: store the BMBF bottles at a relatively stable temperature, and enjoy the beer for weeks, months, perhaps years after!

 

[Kidder]

I tried this tonight and didn't have very good results. Most of my problems were from an obstructed beer line. It was a rye IPA (Hop Rod Rye) and a decent amount of hops from the secondary made their way to the keg. It was clogging big time over the weekend but eventually worked their way out. I guess more hops are back in tonight.

I had foam everywhere so I just gave up. Luckily the two bottles I tried I can just drink tonight. Oh well, another time. Here's a take away - do NOT rack hops into your kegs!

 

[kmat123]

I just opened some bottles of a Dead Guy clone that I bottled last August with BMBF and they were perfectly carbed...woo hoo!

 

[Yambor44]

I just opened some bottles of a Dead Guy clone that I bottled last August with BMBF and they were perfectly carbed...woo hoo!

What was your process? Exacting as shown in the video (let pressure build up then press stopper to release)?

 

[Lewybrewy]

This is a great and cheap technique to bring your kegged beer to travel. Although I have one suggestion. When first draining the beer to colol the lines and get the pre-foaming down, don't use a waste bucket, use a pint glass! Fill it up and drink it whilst bottling! The less beer wasted, the better!

 

[Lewybrewy]

Secondary-2, 5-gallon batches of Danny Boy Oatmeal Stout 5.6%
Primary - Amercan style Pils. 4.9%
Keg #1 - Infamous Porter 5.3% (with extra late Mt.hood addition)
Keg #2 - IPA (with same late boil Mt-hood addition)
Brewing tonight- Another American Pils.

 

[greencoat]

I'm in love with BMBF. I bottled a mixed case of Altbier, IPA, and soda last night while listening to Jamil preach on. We'll see in a couple months if the carb levels keeps up.

 

[mrgale]

My buddy and I used this on several occasions per the instructions in this thread and it worked GREAT. I just recently relocated to the Seattle area, so I am replacing the things I lost in our homebrewer team's "divorce" and this is very high on my list of things to make sure I have.

 

[DanPoch]

This is a great and cheap technique to bring your kegged beer to travel. Although I have one suggestion. When first draining the beer to colol the lines and get the pre-foaming down, don't use a waste bucket, use a pint glass! Fill it up and drink it whilst bottling! The less beer wasted, the better!

Doh! Thanks for the idea!
I'll have to try that. I'm going to bottle some to bring to my Dad's family vacation this summer.

I can only get through 5 or 6 bottles at a time before the foaming becomes an issue and then I have to put it all back in the fridge for a while. Is this common, and if not any ideas how to avoid it?

 

[homebrewed505]

I have bottled about twelve beers this way and I love it! It works great and it only cost me about a dollar to get a #2 stopper. awesome!

 

[chemman14]

How did you guys cut your racking cane at an angle? I am not sure how to get a clean cut to avoid places that can harbor bacteria.