I recently purchased the Blichmann Beer Gun to bottle from my keg. I followed the instructions for cleaning, assembling, getting the empty bottles cold, etc. and bottled my brew into 22oz bottles.
First, I noticed that while filling the bottles, the fill rate was extremely slow (filling a 22oz bottle in ~60 seconds +). I was filling while using 4psi. There were no kinks in the beer line, etc. Both the keg and bottles I was filling were around 37F.
I made sure when placing the gun into the empty bottle to press the button to purge the oxygen from the bottle, then filled till foam hit top, then again as removing gun, pressed the c02 to purge any remaining oxygen.
Several days later now, I got to open one and the beer is flat. I randomly choose another, pop the top, no psst and flat again. My wife helped me cap the bottles and verified they were capped tightly (as we have bottled many times prior to kegging).
I know there must have been something we did wrong and would like to avoid ruining future batches, so any insight on this process would be greatly appreciated.
Please let me know if any of the above information is not clear or if you need additional information.
The really odd thing is that before filling the bottles, we used the gun to fill a pint and it was well carbonated, nice head and lacing, etc., so thought for sure the bottles would turn out well. Help a keg-to-bottle newbie out
I’d like to help you out but there are a few items that I just cannot understand for the life of me why someone would buy them. Beer gun and sparge arm.
I cannot explain why your beer went flat. My best guess is that it filled so slowly that the co2 left the beer during the 60 second fill. I would usually fill a whole growler in 60 seconds with no foaming except for the last inch.
This is a short clip on how I bottle if that helps. Return the beer gun if you can. I’ve been doing this for many years. Short term bottles get cold rinse and long term bottles come out of a bucket of ice water with Iodophor mixed in.
Thank you very much for the great information and video. I bought the gun as being new to the process, thought this was the way to go, but see there are other ways.
From your video, you do not have any c02 running as you bottle? If I were to fill 220z bottles using that method, would I go about the same way with the c02 off?
I do not have a spout, but the regular “foam free tubing system”
Right, my co2 was off because the bottle is small. When I do more than one, I turn the gas on for a second or two every so often. A 22 oz bomber may need a shot of gas in the middle. The foam free tubing you bought is fine and will work.
Thanks again for the info. I contacted my local NB and they said they have no issues with returning the beer gun and accessory kit for store credit. I will use that to purchase a couple of faucets and will fill bottles from there.
Thanks again for the info. I contacted my local NB and they said they have no issues with returning the beer gun and accessory kit for store credit. I will use that to purchase a couple of faucets and will fill bottles from there.
Thanks![/quote]Glad to hear that! That’s a nice gesture too to spend the credit there. They sound like good people.
I have actually used the beer gun a couple of times when volunteering at a local brewery. Seemed to work fairly well, though I’m sure they were happy to upgrade to a more automated machine.
Was 4 psi the recomended preasure for bottling? Seems a little low to me, but might depend a little on the line length. 60 seconds to fill a bottle seems very slow. A higher preasure may have worked better.
Is it possible the beer was undercarbonnated to begin with? Obviously at the commercial brewery I helped out at, their beer was propperly contitioned over a period of 4-6 weeks. All gas would be properly disolved and hydrated.
I moved from the filler-stuck-in-the-end-of-a-party-tap method to a beer gun a few months ago, and I’ve found I’m happy with the change. I could never get the filler to dispense without a LOT of foam, and a corresponding loss of carbonation in the filled bottles. That may simply be due to the geometry of the filler I was using, but still. Beer gun seems to work well. I adjust the pressure to fill as fast as I can without generating too much foam, the exact setting varying depending on the carbonation level of the beer.
It is important to make sure the beer is fully carbonated before you start bottling from the keg, and that the bottles are as cold as you can get them.
I, too have a beer gun and love it. I typically bleed the keg of co2, take the serving pressure down to 2-3 psi and bottle. Typically fill six bottles at a time and then cap. I have a 10 ft line though.
you aren’t supposed to hit the CO2 purge button with the gun submerged in the beer. that’s going to force a lot of CO2 OUT of the beer. only use it to purge head space.
