We no need no stinking beer gun...

[DanPoch]

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.

I had the same question and was told
"You can cut it with a hack saw and then sand it smooth. Once it's generally smooth, you can even flame polish the edge by holding it over a flame for a couple seconds."

Worked very well. I sanded a few times down to 600 grit.

 

[Rave]

I got to say I've been using this method for about two years now and bottled an extremely large amount of bottles with it. I've never had a issue with it. Lately I haven't even cut the racking wand at the bottom. I just use it as is, lower the CO2 pressure prettly low and pour in slowly, releasing the air as I go along. Tilt the bottle up a bit and cap it when it starts to foam over. I've openned up bottles up to six months later which have still been perfectly carbonated. Another security blanket I started using was the oxygen absorbing crowns.

 

[chemman14]

I had the same question and was told
"You can cut it with a hack saw and then sand it smooth. Once it's generally smooth, you can even flame polish the edge by holding it over a flame for a couple seconds."

Worked very well. I sanded a few times down to 600 grit.

I just tried it with my bottling wand and I cracked my picnic tap faucet. I guess since it was cold it was more brittle. The bottle filled fine though it was just leaking a bit from the faucet. Luckily I have 3 picnic taps and tried it on a warm tap and the bottling wand fit fine.

 

[Chefencore]

I got to say I've been using this method for about two years now and bottled an extremely large amount of bottles with it. I've never had a issue with it. Lately I haven't even cut the racking wand at the bottom. I just use it as is, lower the CO2 pressure prettly low and pour in slowly, releasing the air as I go along. Tilt the bottle up a bit and cap it when it starts to foam over. I've openned up bottles up to six months later which have still been perfectly carbonated. Another security blanket I started using was the oxygen absorbing crowns.

Just started kegging, and realized that now
I can't share or save my beer! Do you store your bottles in the fridge after filling, or at room temp?

 

[DanPoch]

I keep mine in the fridge with the kegs.

 

[Kayos]

Cut the cane with a dremel.

Room temp or fridge.

been doing this the last 4 batches - perfect!

 

[RokGoblin]

Great post!!!

I have also been using this method for a few years. I don't even bother to use the stopper or cut the racking cane at an angle. I use a sanitized picnic tap and racking cane cut in half and chill or freeze a bunch of sanitized bottles then get busy.

As suggested in the OP, I force carb in the keg, then turn down the regulator and relieve all the pressure and dial the pressure up slowly until I see the needle just lift off the peg at the bottom of the pressure gauge...maybe 1 or 2 PSI.

Then I stick the racking cane in the bottle and let it fill nice and slow until it just overflows from the neck and place the sanitized cap over the bottle ASAP.

Fill a few at a time this way then take them to your capping station. You should see a little bit of foam in the bottle as it fills (less than 1/4" to 1/2" at most) and this is fine, if you see more try turning the pressure down or pour yourself a beer (into a sanitized glass) using the racking cane until the foam is reduced.

This small amount of foam has been enough to purge the remaining oxygen from the headspace in the bottle and putting the cap on right away should keep most of it out from there until you seal the cap.

I have some beers in my fridge that are at least 10 months old that were bottled this way and they are still doing fine. The OP and others have also mentioned this. Try to keep in mind that some styles age better than others or cover up faults, and some start to show flaws pretty soon after bottling, and sanitization is also critical.

NOTE: Some of you may have problems with foam if you have multiple kegs on the same regulator and you dont shut off the gas lines going to those kegs. Unless you have check valves, those kegs will still supply a higher pressure back into your gas system. It might be necessary to also bleed off the pressure in the other kegs before you get started.

I hope this helps others and sorry if I am reapeating advice already given in this thread...it is soooo long and I didn't read all the way through. I mostly wanted to comment that I dont use the stopper.

 

[brian74]

Rok,

I just used the exact method as you. I didn't see any benefit from the stopper since you have to purge the bottle anyway in order to keep the flow going. Glad to know someone else thought of this. Nor did I cut an angle at the end of the racking cane; I just directed the end of the cane into the edge if the bottle and the beer flows fine.

I bottled a few for a tailgate party on Wed. in Arlington...Astros vs. Rangers...Go Stros!! Hopefully the carbonation will hold up.

 

[RokGoblin]

...I just directed the end of the cane into the edge if the bottle and the beer flows fine.

Yup....make sure the tip is not obstructed by the bottom of the bottle and the brew flows just fine.

I bottled a few for a tailgate party on Wed. in Arlington...Astros vs. Rangers...Go Stros!! Hopefully the carbonation will hold up.

Your brews should hold up well (in my experience) so long as everything was sanitary and "capped over foam" to (reduce) get rid of the oxygen in the bottle neck.

Remember, a little foam is OK and helps to purge that last bit of oxygen from the bottle during filling if you let it overflow just a little.

(edit) It would be interesting to see what the OP or other bottlers have to say about the functionality of the stopper. As I mentioned I never used it. As you (Brian74) and the OP mentioned it causes you to have to stop and relieve the pressure to keep the bottles filling. If you are not purging the bottle before hand with CO2 then is there any benefit to using the stopper?(end edit)
Go Stros!!!

 

[rossthefireman]

just put together and used the BMBF and a couple observations....

1) After trial and error I also found that rinsing the bottles with cold water was more effective than freezing.

2) When bottling a saison/Belgian/ highly carbed beer, I was getting too much foam at 2psi and getting too much foam at 15psi. I ran it at about 10 psi to fill and it worked perfectly. (the 15psi from a previous posters suggestion)

3) I only lost about a 1/2 gl of beer

4) I am so glad the total set up was less that $10.....

 

[elproducto]

I cannot get this thing to work.. way too much foam.

I'm using it exactly as described with a stopper, and racking cane. I have 5' of 3/16 beer line, which works fine when I take my kegs to a party, etc.

I'm rinsing with starsan.

 

[Big10Seaner]

Try venting the keg before each pour, make sure your pressure is just pushing the beer out as well (less than 5 psi)

 

[TrainSafe]

Did you try pre-chilling the bottles?

 

[elproducto]

Did you try pre-chilling the bottles?

Yes, I've tried that and rinsing.
I'm going to try 10' of beer line which matches what I have hooked up to the faucets.

 

[elproducto]

Ok, going from 5' to 10' of beer line has solved my problem.

Thanks all, now to bottle!

 

[beerkrump]

Try this to reduce foaming...

 

[danomy]

Wow this is really similar to what I do. I just use a bottling wand instead works great to cut down the foam. Added benefit no cutting and I already had the wand from my bottling days!

 

[TripHops]

Wow, this is some cool stuff. I am certainly going to try this process soon.

Trip

 

[randomostiar]

Hmm, the principle seems right, using a long wand to reduce foaming........

The only thing I'm wondering about it the fact the the air inside the bottle isn't purged with CO2 before filling. I wonder if it would lead to spoilage over time. Your post states that you kept one bottled for ten days without a problem.

Hmm I sense an experiment in the works. You could bottle, say a twelve pack or eighteen beers, and open one every two week till they're gone or spoiled, whichever comes first. It's certainly worth looking into, what with beer guns costing close to a hundred bones.

Rinse the bottles out with peracetic acid instead of chilled water. This will both eliminate foaming (as with water) and sterilise the bottles.

 

[frydogbrews]

this looks sweet, but all i did was cut off a picnic tap.

then, to shut off flow of beer, you click it off the keg, takes about 1/4 of a second. i use it to fill all my growlers and several bottles of beer off each batch. seems to last a long time and i had 4 fully set up picnic taps that i wasn't using after getting faucets.

 

[LVBen]

I just tried this for the first time on Sunday. It worked great!

 

[cjever19]

This looks real similar to what i am doing with a piece of stainless tubing hooked up to the picnic tap with tubing.

subscribing, thanks

 

[tesilential]

this looks sweet, but all i did was cut off a picnic tap.

then, to shut off flow of beer, you click it off the keg, takes about 1/4 of a second. i use it to fill all my growlers and several bottles of beer off each batch. seems to last a long time and i had 4 fully set up picnic taps that i wasn't using after getting faucets.

You mean to say you just let it slowly flow out directly from the cut tube? Interesting, it should work though because that's how garden hoses function without attachments, slow calm flow. Hmmmm.

 

[Coff]

Just did this last night with great sucess, this is awesome.

One question though, one of my kegs is a converted Pin Lock (to Ball Lock) and it does not have a relief valve. Is it still possible to do this at all? I figure if I cant purge a little bit Im going to get a ton of foam...But Im not sure if there is some trick Im not aware of.

I have an American Wheat I would love to bottle up for a competition.

 

[dinnerstick]

can't you put a picnic tap on the in post and open it?

 

[Coff]

If I could do that couldnt I just bottle right off the Perlicks? Or is that too un-sanitary?

 

[BeNNeS]

i do have a keg that to not have any relief valve i use the tip of a marker pen and press the in post with it to let pressure go... put a scott towel around it when the keg is near full to avoid making a mess!

And no its better not bottling right off the perlicks it always make some foam even if you drop your pressure. You will have hard time filling your bottle to the needed level and because its foaming oxydation occurs so it would not be good bottle to keep.

But i do make this when i need to go fast at my friends house and bring some beer but i use a quarter jug so even if it foam i would still have 3/4 of it filled and because i drink it right away i dont care about oxydation and the sanitation of my perlicks.

 

[Yambor44]

If I could do that couldnt I just bottle right off the Perlicks? Or is that too un-sanitary?

I bottle off of mine and haven't had any problems. I've even had some now I have tested that are over a year old.

I have experimented with using the stopper and not using the stopper. Using the stopper seems to hold/have more carbonation. JME YMMV.

 

[TuefelHund]

BM (hahaha ya gotta admit that is funny dude!)
You rock!!! I followed your instructions to the letter (chilling bottles, burping the fill, etc) and it WORKED LIKE A CHARM!

You da man, brohana.
~TuefelHund

 

[jamnw]

I tried this method and I must say it was very easy.

I have a problem though. I just opened two different beers from two different kegs and they are flat.
Two weeks old.
Anyone else had this problem?
Not sure what went wrong.