Blichman Beergun.

What I always did to clean it was a kind of modified CIP. I bottled from kegs and after bottling would rinse out keg, fill with hot PBW to 3 gallons ish, shake, let sit 15 mins, hook up rinsed beer gun flush the remaining beer into sink and then the rest of the ~3 gallons I would set the trigger open with a pre measured hose clamp and let the beer gun run into a bucket of the PBW. This flushes the lines and the gun soaks for a few mins in the PBW. Rinse again, then same thing with iodophor soln.

 

1. Thorough rinse with starsan (under pressure from spare keg). After about every third time, a thorough BLC cleaning followed by starsan rinse.
2. Leave the starsan in the gun/lines, with QD connected it's not going anywhere. Pretty much ignore the exterior when storing.
3. Pretty steep, the hardest thing to learn is to get the gun/bottles/lines/hands very cold before starting.
4. Absolutely not. Any kegger has all the parts laying around except the 1/4" npt x 1/4" flare that you can get from HD for a couple of bucks.
5. That damn rubber tip has a tendency to come loose at the worst possible time, has been known to "walk off" when the gun is stored. Cost six bucks to replace.

FWIW: I found getting feedback from competitions to be very valuable.

 

1. I keep a keg full of One Step Cleaner/Sanitizer. I dispense that for a few seconds, then store it away leaving it full of One Step. A quick rinse and a spritz with StarSan and it's ready to use. I flush it with beer for a few seconds before use - enough to empty the warm line.
2. I rest it on the edge of the sink, with the business end not touching anything. I give it a quick spritz with StarSan before filling the next bottle, just to be sure.
3. One or two bottles. It's really pretty straightforward.
4. No. (see PortLargo's comment, above)
5. None so far.

 

1. I use oxiclean after every keg kicks so ill just clean my keg as normal but run the oxiclean through the gun as well and let each hang out for an hour. I then rinse both with hot water, after the keg is clean I'll push that hot water through the gun. At that point it's clean and I store everything "dry" till the next use.
2. I put the beer gun into a growler with a little star San in it between fills.
3. I thought the beer gun was real easy to pick up. Just make sure you depressurize your keg first with the gas off. Then after hooking the gun up turn the gas back on to about 3-5 psi. I don't get the gun or my bottles cold prior to filling and plan on losing maybe 1 vol of co2 because of this.
4. I bought the accessories pack but I'm not real savy with DIY keg accessory type things.
5. Beer gun works awesome and is a very reliable unit. That God damned black nipple will either fall off or lose its seal at the absolute worst time possible and you will have a holy mess on your hands. I suggest buying an extra right out of the gate. They are 5 bucks through more beer which for what it is sucks, but it's the only part I have had a hard time with. Just got a new one and have yet to have a problem with it.



With all this being said if I'm filling bottles to take to friends places I'll still use the red neck filler (broken racking cane/rubber stopper). Comparitively the beer gun is way more time consuming to set up, but having the ability to flush bottles with c02 is a pretty nice piece of mind.

 

Mis-read your No 2; between bottle fillings I find it difficult to rest in a bottle of sanitizer. It's bottom-heavy, all the weight is in the pistol grip with two lines which tips over every bottle/pitcher I've attempted. I ended up like mikehartigan, just rest the pistol grip on the edge of counter and leave the business (clean) end suspended over open air. Squirt with starsan as you see fit.

Not usually considered, but if you wish to bottle carb you can add sugar to keg and dispense with the gun very easily(no CO2 off-gassing). The gun is overkill for this task but certainly works. When you watch the NB video of the gun in action you can be PDS they are dispensing flat beer. Just bottled some Belgians (3.0v) which worked, but that's about the limit of the guns ability . . . or maybe my remorse limit over split beer . . .

 

You should break it down so you can brush it out. Stuff can build up in the CO2 tube.

How do I know this?

Assembly can be trial and error the first few times. You get faster. You should see John Blichmann do it. He says he is nowhere as quick as the lady that does it all day long in the shop.

 

Great post. One of my New Year's goals is to get better with my Blichmann Beer Gun. It was a gift from a brewer friend that is now commercial. I've had it less than a year, and used it 2-3 times. I still feel real clunky with it, and would use (in my mind) more often if I had a better "system" down. Any tips, tricks, hacks...you've come up with would be greatly appreciated.

 

I've never heard of a Blichman beergun but now I have to have one!!! I might get two and a holster to wear one on each side.

 

Here's some helpful tips.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-gun.153564/

All new Blichmann Beergun'ers go through the "holster phase" . . .

 

I like mine.. works great for filling bottles and growlers.. Granted, it's not SUPER perfect for filling on the fly for taking something to go, but if I'm sending them to people, or think it might get stored longer than a couple day- I beergun it.

Really like mine, I haven't bought an extra tip, keep meaning to order a couple. Well worth it, and I don't chill my bottles, or anything.. I leave them in starsan, dump them and drain, and then fill. Keep the pressure low on the keg is the key, and perhaps if you have a higher carbed beer, maybe the need to chill bottles.

 

I suppose it's kind of late but I was gonna ask if you had seen/considered this thread.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

I'm not kegging yet but when I do I think I am going to try this out.

 

Fellas fellas fellas ...

http://www.bohack.com/2011/09/how-to-make-a-simple-counter-pressure-bottle-filler/

 

Word. I don't know much about the subject. I guess one benefit to the gun is that you don't have to mess around with the pressure in the keg?

 

Very nice gadget, but about the only time I use mine any more is for comps (once or twice a year if that). I've found the PET growler (32mm) carb caps to be much more convenient, purgeable, and better for carbonation if I want to go mobile.

I just fill off my taps with a couple of growler fillers that fit all 4 of my Perlick faucets. 5 minutes and done.