We no need no stinking beer gun...

[ryanmx48]

do you use star san to sanitize the bottles? If so, do you sanitize, not rinse and then put them in the freezer? Do the bottles ice up? I'm ready to go, just looking for the best sanitization process to use before immediately going to the freezer. Thanks

 

[Schumed]

Yes star San

 

[brettwasbtd]

do you use star san to sanitize the bottles? If so, do you sanitize, not rinse and then put them in the freezer? Do the bottles ice up? I'm ready to go, just looking for the best sanitization process to use before immediately going to the freezer. Thanks

Ya, I squirt the bottles with star san and let them drain, then I put a sanitized piece of tin foil on top and in the freezer it goes. There is a tiny bit of ice, but nothing to worry about

 

[ryanmx48]

great, thanks guys! Looking forward to this!

 

[Goyagon]

Ive been trying to get this to work but i cant my keg to 5 psis without it leaking. Is there anyway else to slow down the flow. Im getting alot of foam and not alot of beer.

 

[AnchorBock]

So I just got back some score sheets from a competition I entered (foamcup.us) The 3 entries I used this method with all had comments about oxidation flaws...from 6 separate judges. I had two other entries where I didn't use this method and didn't get the comments.

I did do the put the cap on flip up over and purge the oxygen before capping. So not sure what was up. I didn't get ding for low carbonation or anything like that.

One of my brewing buddies mentioned he got the same comments using the same method....anyone else deal with this issue using the method...Personally I'm a little shock such a small amount of oxygen can cause oxidation in a week. Put I can't think of anything else that would of caused it...it was great coming out of the keg....maybe bottles weren't rinsed well enough???

Thoughts???

I actually got some oxidation comments before I started using this method (before I was just using tubing to bottle). I have entered 11 beers using this method so far and the only oxidation-like comment was from a dry hopped APA being a bit past it's prime (I got that from the keg also so I know it wasn't from bottling).

How much headspace did you have in the bottles? Did you cap on foam?

 

[WilliamBrewster]

I bottled an entire batch for the first time in seven years with this method. It cost me less than a dollar in extra parts, took 12 bottles to figure out, and another 24 to master.

Thanks all!

 

[mendozer]

did you have any spilling? I imagine for a large batch like yours it was pretty systematical. I filled 8 as bottles to give away so i was spilling quite a bit between bottling capping myself and filling

 

[tsname]

This thing is tits, and it's so cheap and easy! Bottled up my Chai Porter, had a little spillage (a good amount) but finally got a good system going. Plus growler filling works well too. I have my pressure down to 1 or 2 psi and it's perfect.

 

[WilliamBrewster]

I spilled more beer than I liked during the first dozen bottles...enough to pour into a pint glass and drink...although hardly a squirt afterwards.

I filled six bottles up to the bottom of the bung in one pass. That filled up the bottles to about two inches from the top. I backed the filler tube up until about two inches stuck through and went around filling again. That left the beer within one inch of the top. I put on a cap, tipped the bottle 90 degrees and back with my finger on top, took the cover off until the small co2 bubbles flowed up and over, recapped on top of foam and ran the bottle capper.

This method is way easier than the actual instructions to do it! I will make sure I have a whole range of bungs for all my bottle-filling needs!!

 

[schooner427]

Wow...I like cheap!!!!

 

[Toy4Rick]

I recently filled 24 bottles for buddies at work. Didn't use the stopper, used about 1PSI just to move the beer and had virtually no foam. Took about 20 seconds to fill a 12oz bottle.

Since the bottling wand drains out pretty quickly, the first bottle of the next batch would foam up more so I would fill the tube first then stick it in the bottle and fill. I did about 6 bottles at a time, cap them and move on to the next batch.

Guess I could use the bottling wand tiop to prevent it from draining out between bottles/batches

Very easy for sure

Toy4Rick

 

[homebrewbeliever]

For those of you that have used the BMBF, what about purging the bottle with CO2 ahead of time? I would think that this would be important if you were going to store your beer in a cellar for a while, right? I got some money for Christmas and I was thinking of purchasing MoreBeer's counter pressure bottle filler (http://morebeer.com/view_product/18279/104252/Counter_Pressure_Bottle_Filler), as I love the idea of carbonating in a keg and then bottling for cellar storage. Anyone store their beer for a few months in a cellar using a BMBF?

 

[BierMuncher]

For those of you that have used the BMBF, what about purging the bottle with CO2 ahead of time? I would think that this would be important if you were going to store your beer in a cellar for a while, right? I got some money for Christmas and I was thinking of purchasing MoreBeer's counter pressure bottle filler (http://morebeer.com/view_product/18279/104252/Counter_Pressure_Bottle_Filler), as I love the idea of carbonating in a keg and then bottling for cellar storage. Anyone store their beer for a few months in a cellar using a BMBF?

I have.

Purging the bottle with CO2 before filling is really not necessary. The exposure to oxygen is negligible and it is the beer that actually purges the air as you fill. If you give the bottles a quick tip holding the caps on with your finger....the beer will begin to foam. Just cap on foam and you're capping on CO2.

I've had beers in storage for months (and some barley wines and RIS's for years) using this method and there are no issues with oxidation. The only issue I've had is when I rushed the kegging process and as a result, when I returned the beers to room temperature in bottles, they resumed some minute fermentation and became over carbonated.

 

[Intheswamp]

Wow, wow, wow...what a thread!!! My hat's off to you BM, lovely KISS design.

I'm new to all things brewing. I'm a beekeeper that got interested in mead and have started a couple of batches started...a JAOM that's 2+ months old and a traditional that was 1 month old on Christmas Eve. Both are coming along nicely. BTW, over the last several years I've just about stopped drinking...I think the mead has tweaked my interest again.

Anyhow, in regards to carbonation and foam I would like to make some of my mead sparkling...will mead foam as much as beer during the bottling stage? Should the BMBF work good for mead? I've pretty much gathered up the equipment to keg with, just gotta get my co2 tank filled now...and order some #2 drilled stoppers.

Thanks for the design again, BM!
Ed

 

[BierMuncher]

Wow, wow, wow...what a thread!!! My hat's off to you BM, lovely KISS design.

... in regards to carbonation and foam I would like to make some of my mead sparkling...will mead foam as much as beer during the bottling stage? Should the BMBF work good for mead? ...
Thanks for the design again, BM!
Ed

I've carb'd and bottled every conceivable beer style, hard cider, water (club soda) and hard lemonade using this method with success. No reason to think you can't apply the same practice to mead.

 

[homebrewbeliever]

I have.

Purging the bottle with CO2 before filling is really not necessary. The exposure to oxygen is negligible and it is the beer that actually purges the air as you fill. If you give the bottles a quick tip holding the caps on with your finger....the beer will begin to foam. Just cap on foam and you're capping on CO2.

I've had beers in storage for months (and some barley wines and RIS's for years) using this method and there are no issues with oxidation. The only issue I've had is when I rushed the kegging process and as a result, when I returned the beers to room temperature in bottles, they resumed some minute fermentation and became over carbonated.

Thanks so much for your reply, BierMuncher! That totally makes sense, and I bet you can even be extra sure if you use some oxygen-absorbing caps... I'll have to just forego buying a counter-pressure bottle filler and just make one of your BMBFs!

 

[Ricochetbrew]

Good info. Im gonna try this out!

 

[jtkratzer]

I haven't read all 89 pages, but I'm guessing my interpretation of the instructions is off - you don't fill the bottles all the way to the very top with liquid and then cap, right? Sounds like you'd fill to a normal level for bottled beer, get it to foam over, and then cap on the overflowing foam.

Is there any disadvantage to this method compared to the beer gun, bought or homemade? Biggest advantage seems to be that it's cheap and doesn't require the purchase of much of anything.

 

[osagedr]

I haven't read all 89 pages, but I'm guessing my interpretation of the instructions is off - you don't fill the bottles all the way to the very top with liquid and then cap, right? Sounds like you'd fill to a normal level for bottled beer, get it to foam over, and then cap on the overflowing foam.

Is there any disadvantage to this method compared to the beer gun, bought or homemade? Biggest advantage seems to be that it's cheap and doesn't require the purchase of much of anything.

Yes, leave some space and cap on foam.

I used the BMBF before I had a beer gun. With the beer gun you can purge with CO2 easily before filling. This may not be that big a deal. You could have a second BMBF for only CO2 if you cared enough.

 

[jtkratzer]

Yes, leave some space and cap on foam.

I used the BMBF before I had a beer gun. With the beer gun you can purge with CO2 easily before filling. This may not be that big a deal. You could have a second BMBF for only CO2 if you cared enough.

I suppose the advantage is you don't have to get the beer to foam and cap on it when you purge.

 

[kombat]

you don't fill the bottles all the way to the very top with liquid and then cap, right?

I fill right to the very top with liquid, but with the bottling cane still all the way in the bottle. Then, removing the cane produces some headspace in the neck of the bottle (equal, obviously, to the amount of beer displaced by the cane when it was inserted in the bottle).

 

[jtkratzer]

I fill right to the very top with liquid, but with the bottling cane still all the way in the bottle. Then, removing the cane produces some headspace in the neck of the bottle (equal, obviously, to the amount of beer displaced by the cane when it was inserted in the bottle).

Right. That's how I bottle when I bottle condition/carb. Usually a good final volume that way and consistent.

 

[Intheswamp]

I suppose the advantage is you don't have to get the beer to foam and cap on it when you purge.

When you withdraw the beergun or the BMBF from the bottle this will lower the liquid level. When the level lowers it will draw outside air (oxygen) into the bottle. I would think you would still want to bottle on the foam so that you push out the oxygen that was drawn in.

Ed

 

[jtkratzer]

When you withdraw the beergun or the BMBF from the bottle this will lower the liquid level. When the level lowers it will draw outside air (oxygen) into the bottle. I would think you would still want to bottle on the foam so that you push out the oxygen that was drawn in.

Ed

If you purge with CO2 first, there shouldn't be O2 in there as the CO2 is going to stay below the oxygen. Just a guess. Otherwise, what's the point of purging with CO2?

 

[Intheswamp]

If you purge with CO2 first, there shouldn't be O2 in there as the CO2 is going to stay below the oxygen. Just a guess. Otherwise, what's the point of purging with CO2?

If you have the nozzle/stem of the gun/BMBF inside the bottle and fill to top of the bottle this will push CO2 or any other gas (oxygen) out of the bottle. This leaves liquid and the nozzle inside the bottle. The problem that I see is when you withdraw the stem/nozzle of the beer gun or BMBF. The nozzle has displaced a bit of liquid and when withdrawn the surface of the liquid will drop to fill the space where the nozzle had been. The dropping of the liquid level will create a space that has to be filled by "something"...that *something* is a very small amount of CO2 that is being released but mostly it is the air outside of the bottle that is pulled inside to fill the newly created empty space.

In my newbee mind, the reason I see for purging with CO2 is to prevent the beer or other product from being heavily aerated by splashing and swirling in the presence of the oxygen that would be present in an unpurged bottle. If there is no foam after removing the nozzle then there will be oxygen that has been drawn into that space. Either cap on the foam or use CO2 again and purge that small space.

Maybe I'm missing something that you're seeing?

Ed

 

[jtkratzer]

I was talking about the beer gun that allows one to purge before filling. If you have to foam the beer and make a mess with the beer gun even after purging, I really don't see the point of buying one over using BM's method with a bottling wand.

 

[AnchorBock]

I was talking about the beer gun that allows one to purge before filling. If you have to foam the beer and make a mess with the beer gun even after purging, I really don't see the point of buying one over using BM's method with a bottling wand.

I dont think you need to cap on foam with a beergun since you can purge bottle, fill bottle, purge headspace, cap. I still see no need to get one and use the method in this thread.

 

[Intheswamp]

I dont think you need to cap on foam with a beergun since you can purge bottle, fill bottle, purge headspace, cap. I still see no need to get one and use the method in this thread.

So as you withdraw the beergun and the tip is just inside the mouth of the bottle you are able to put a little co2 in it to purge any oxygen drawn into the bottle? You are able to add the little bit of co2 in the same motion as taking the nozzle out of the bottle? I'm just not sure of the procedure for using a beer gun.

Ed

 

[AnchorBock]

So as you withdraw the beergun and the tip is just inside the mouth of the bottle you are able to put a little co2 in it to purge any oxygen drawn into the bottle? You are able to add the little bit of co2 in the same motion as taking the nozzle out of the bottle? I'm just not sure of the procedure for using a beer gun.

Ed

Check out this video: