Beer Gun

This is the easiest part of the whole process. Here's what is in the accessory kit. If you keg you'll have most of this stuff laying around/surplus. If you already have a shut off valve on your dual primary (solo side) then this will take all of 10 minutes to set up. With the money you save by not buying the complete accessory kit install a quick-disconnect (on the gas side) . . . not only is this practical, your brewing friends will bow to you .

 

I started with a CP, and have moved to a beer gun. It is just easier. I didnt think the CP complicated, just more work. I sometimes got the order wrong. You also have to keep it steady or it would foam up, or worse. CP is probably better for very long term aging, so I might use it for just such occasion.

 

It works best for a malt forward beer. Oxidation can be an issue if it's not going into a glass within a few weeks. I've noticed that pressure has to be WAY down and the bottle needs to be VERY COLD. Otherwise you end up with beer everywhere. Cutting a slant in the wand and taking 30 seconds to a minute per bottle is mandatory.

 

A bit of a learning curve but easy ... 1-3 psi moves the beer gently with nearly no foam. Bottles at room temp. Best to plan on bottling a dozen or more ( from 1 or more kegs) to make it worth the setup time. I like.

 

I love my Beergun. I use a growler half filled with Starsan to put the wand into between filling bottles. I tried a counter pressure filler and always ended up with more beer on the ceiling than in the bottles. Using a hose straight from the Perlick does about the same as the CPF, more foam and less beer into the bottle.

 

Purging 12 oz bottles with CO2 sounds stupid.

 

So when you guys freeze your bottles to fill them off the keg you sanitize them first, then cover them with cling wrap or what? Usually if I sanitize before a normal bottling day I do that to keep stuff out but wasnt sure how to go about it when freezing or chilling the bottles.

 

Yep . . . simple as that.

 

How long do you let them sit in the freezer, how long is enough and how long would be too long? I suppose there's not much going on in the freezer but there has to be something...

 

Never really timed it . . . but 30 minutes should let them approach terminal freezer temp (~0°F). I've left bottles in overnight with no ill effects. Practically speaking you'll pull your bottles from the freezer before filling (I keep mine on ice in a cooler) which lets them get a bit warmer. If bottling indoors you could just snatch 'em out of the freezer as you fill them . . . more better.

Unrelated, but the Beer Gun is also useful to fill/purge bottles if you have already racked to a keg (uncarbonated beer) and are bottle conditioning.

 

Another beer gun user/lover here. That thing is great, much more intuative then a CP filler. Much faster to use and easier to clean/disassemble/etc.

I've used a homemade CP filler a buddy had and it seemed like more work than it should be, the beer gun kills it.

I've used it to fill bottles with keg carbed beer and also to fill bottles to be bottle conditioned/carbed. Works splendidly for both.

I freeze the bottles for about about an hour prior to bottling a keg carbed beer and have not had any foam issues other than a few times when I had the PSI set higher than I thought and just had to adjust the PSI down to cure the foaming.

I'll pull a 12 pack of bottles from the fridge at a time. Bottle/cap them quickly and then grab another 12'er.

After the first time I used a beer gun I was hooked. Blchmann makes great stuff, the beer gun turned me on to more of their products; and helped me justify the high cost. Definitely get what you pay for.

I was wondering what others do when they purge/fill the bottles.

I purge the bottle with C02, then fill with beer, then I purge the headspace with C02 upon removing the beer gun nozzle and then hand the bottles to my wife to cap immediately after filling.

I also keep a growler full of star san to hold the beer gun if I need to set it down for any reason.

Everybody else do the same or have a different process/steps?

 

I don't purge the headspace afterwards, but everything else sounds about the same.

 

Happiness is a beer gun
(bang bang shoot shoot )
Happiness is a beer gun, yes it is
(bang bang shoot shoot)

When I hold you in my arms (oh yes)
When I feel my finger on your trigger (oh yes)
I know nobody can do me no harm
Because
happiness is a beer gun, momma
Happiness is a beer gun
-Yes it is.
Happiness is a beer, yes it is...
Gun!
Well don't ya know that happiness is a beer gun, momma?

- apologies to John Lennon

 

I finally put together my Beer Gun -- I bought it six months or so ago, but I haven't needed it before now. I had to do it now for this Spring's competition season.

The Accessory kit that I bought was a waste of money, IMO (obviously, YMMV). I have in-line quick disconnects for CO2 to allow me to swap Corny and Sanke kegs, for purging, etc, so that part was a no-brainer. I also have spare keg connectors (I'm a firm believer that, if you're serving kegged beer, you need spares of everything, especially the plastic parts). I've also got plenty of liquid and gas vinyl tubing and hose clamps on hand. So my marginal cost for a home-made accessory kit was zero (actual cost, maybe $15), and it's simpler and less cluttered than the kit that Blichmann sells -- not that there's anything wrong with it if you need it.

 

So nice when a plan comes together . . .

One word of caution: the weakest point of the gun is the tip (stopper). With only minimal abuse the rubber tip likes to take a swim in the largest bottle/growler you are filling, always at the most inopportune time. Also, the small friction clip that holds the rubber stopper likes to take an occasional stroll and rarely comes back on its own.