Recommend a bottle filler (from corny keg)

[xozzx]

I have a 4 keg keezer and would like to be able to free up a couple of the kegs by bottling the remains. I also plan on making a few batches of stout and force carbing then bottling for long term storage. I am tempted by the Blichmann Beer Gun 2.0 but wondered if there are better products out there. I read a bit about counter pressure bottle fillers, anyone got any recommendations?

Anyone know a good place to buy the Blichmann Beer Gun? Best price I could find with stock available was for £120 with the homebrew shop.

 

[BarnBrian]

I have a 4 keg keezer and would like to be able to free up a couple of the kegs by bottling the remains. I also plan on making a few batches of stout and force carbing then bottling for long term storage. I am tempted by the Blichmann Beer Gun 2.0 but wondered if there are better products out there. I read a bit about counter pressure bottle fillers, anyone got any recommendations?

Anyone know a good place to buy the Blichmann Beer Gun? Best price I could find with stock available was for £120 with the homebrew shop.

There's a Blichmann beer gun just come up for sale on Braumeister Forum for £30, you might get it if your quick.
Brian

 

[xozzx]

There's a Blichmann beer gun just come up for sale on Braumeister Forum for £30, you might get it if your quick.
Brian

Thanks Brian. This looks like it is the first version which had very mixed reviews, it sounds like V2 has alot of improvements over the first model.

 

[BarnBrian]

I got mine from Brew UK, I think they tend to be much cheaper than The Home Brew shop.
Therminator is certainly cheaper, £199 at Brew UK but about £250 at Home Brew shop.

 

[Sadfield]

I have a Beer Gun 2, love it. The Last Straw looks pretty good with the counter-pressure adaptor. However, if you have a kegorator (I don't) I think a fixed counter-pressure bottle filler or tap attachment may be a better option.

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/counter-pressure-bottle-filler/

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
If you use plastic bottles, a carbonation cap works brilliantly.

 

[xozzx]

I like the look of the tap attachment but it would only fit 2 of my taps, still tempted by it as it looks very convenient... Last straw also looks good and a little cheaper... with the foamless finish I think the last straw is looking like the best buy at the moment

 

[peebee]

I couldn't get on with the V1 "beer-gun" because it would create too much foam to make the job easy. The V2 "beer-gun" is supposed to be better according to the marketing bumff, but then they would say that, and the bumff is an admission that V1 was hopeless compared to counter-pressure devices. As far as I'm concerned they shot themselves in the foot with V1 and there is no-way I'm going to trust them and get V2.

The smartest solution is a "Pegas" counter pressure tap from Russia (I've an "Evolution" version, but there is the cheaper "Ecotap"). But they are costly (cheap for what they are, and certainly cheap compared to Blichmann stuff), need properly installing like a bar tap (you can optionally fit beer taps to some), and there is a bit of International dealing to be done usually with Lithuania (harmless and easy, but not for the anxious). They can be a pain to setup (sanitise) at startup but there-after are very fast. They fill PET bottles but can be adapted to fill glass (with a modified washer).

More recently I've been using mini-kegs. The kegs are not that cheap and come in 2, 5 and 10 litre sizes. There's a discussion about them (with counter pressure filling instruction on Pg3) in the "sponsor" section here: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/dark-farm-mini-keg-and-c02-dispenser-15-discount.77134/. Very versatile, here's one (2L) in action with an impromptu hand-pump setup (note "soft spile" or disconnect crammed with cotton-wool):

 

[Tunabeast]

Hi!
If you use plastic bottles, a carbonation cap works brilliantly.

To resurrect this thread - I want to bottle from my pressurised corny keg into 750ml PET bottles. Can you explain how the carbonation cap works and what equipment is required?

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @Tunabeast
Use a carbonation cap with a hose barb attachment and a length of beer line that will reach to the bottom of the bottle. Cut the end at 45° to avoid the line getting impeded by the bottle base.
After that, this video covers everything else:
You might also want to look at this video - longer but informative:

 

[Honk]

The carbonation cap will fit both a gas and product disconnect, you want the type with a barb so you can fit tube to reach bottom of the bottle. Basically flush with co2 then fill your beer loosening the cap to let co2 in. It's probably easier to watch on YouTube than explain.
My cap does not seal that well, have to be careful not to overtighten, it's fine for one bottle but a pain to do lots of bottles. My carbonation cap is great though for quickly carbonating a beer straight from the fermenter to have a early taste. I usually do this into 2 litre coke bottles any beer that won't fit in the corny. For bottling I'm preferring the ' poor man's' counter pressure filler (Google it). I'm not sure it's worth the expense of a beer gun / counter pressure filler for the little bottling I do.

 

[Tunabeast]

Thanks guys.

Would you say the carbonation cap is significantly slower than the poor mans beer gun?

Have been looking at putting one together using a bottling wand and demijohn bung from Wilko and now wondering which to choose!

 

[Honk]

I

More recently I've been using mini-kegs. ......very versatile, here's one (2L) in action with an impromptu hand-pump setup (note "soft spile" or disconnect crammed with cotton-wool):

View attachment 15657

I know it's a few months ago, but I missed it then, I have also thought about using these mini kegs with a beer engine. (Don't own either as yet but both on Xmas list). Seems like a great way to serve without oxygenating the whole keg. Your the first person that I've seen doing it this way though, how are you getting on? Any problems I should know about? As you say these mini kegs are very versatile and use with a beer engine is one of many uses I can see for these mini kegs.

 

[Honk]

Thanks guys.

Would you say the carbonation cap is significantly slower than the poor mans beer gun?

Have been looking at putting one together using a bottling wand and demijohn bung from Wilko and now wondering which to choose!

I prefer the poor man's beer gun but that might just be the washer on my carbonation cap isn't great. If I was doing one bottle to say post off for a competition I'd use the carbonation cap, if doing several then I'd use the poor man's.

I find beer / gas line works well in my poor man's, the wilco Syphon wand is a little small diameter to properly fit the hole in the bung.

 

[Ghillie]

Just bought one of these from MM. Yet to try it but looks and feels like a solid piece of kit. Not cheap at £75, but I've realised that in this hobby you only really get what you pay for. Buy cheap and you buy twice; or spend a lot of time and money trying to improve the design on something that's ***** from the offset.



I own a v1 Blichmann Beer Gun (Chinese copy) and it's okay for £28. It is a bit of a faff cleaning, sanitising and building it up just for a few bottles. The filler I recently bought appeals to me because it'll be a lot quicker and easier to fill bottles from time to time and doesn't even involve opening the kegerator door. Let alone messing around with venting kegs, swapping QD's, sanitising beer lines, etc - which is superb in itself.

 

[Honk]

@Ghillie looks good, but a bit unclear, is this designed to push fit into the nozzle of an interflow tap?

 

[Ghillie]

@Ghillie looks good, but a bit unclear, is this designed to push fit into the nozzle of an interflow tap?

It will work with intertaps, vent-matics and certain perlicks.

It is too small for the nozzle on the likes of the tap in the below link (used to have them on my kegerator):

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/beer-faucet-tap-kit-with-4-shank-p3330

I've since ordered these to work with the bottle filler:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/intertap-chrome-plated-draught-tap-p3335

You can order the bottle filler for cheaper direct from the supplier:

https://tapcooler.no/en/accessories...e-filler-for-vent-matic-perlick-intertap-p-16

 

[peebee]

I know it's a few months ago, but I missed it then, I have also thought about using these mini kegs with a beer engine. (Don't own either as yet but both on Xmas list). Seems like a great way to serve without oxygenating the whole keg. Your the first person that I've seen doing it this way though, how are you getting on? Any problems I should know about? As you say these mini kegs are very versatile and use with a beer engine is one of many uses I can see for these mini kegs.

Oh yes. Serious problems! You have to drink the entire contents within a day. … Well some might see it as a problem.

The beer in the piccie didn't last long at all. The remnants were well past it in a matter of hours. But it was an exception and the beer was not a very good candidate for hand-pump; which is odd given that it was based on an old recipe (Usher's 60/- Pale Ale from 1886, using Chevallier malt). The piccy shows a cloudy pint, but the method is great for serving clear cask-conditioned beer away from home 'cos all the crud is left behind when transferring to mini-keg (which is also very easy).

Haven't done it for a while because, you might of noticed, it ain't Summer anymore.


(EDIT: What I never got around to doing, and it will have to wait until next Summer now, is mount the working hand-pump outside on a picnic table somewhere ).

 

[peebee]

@Honk. I should give credit where it's due rather than appear to take credit:

The first person I saw using "intermediary" vessels (not mini-kegs) to limit the oxygenation risk using hand-pumps in "Real Ale" fashion was @Dads_Ale. "Racking" off a small sample of a beer (under CO2 pressure) rather than risk the entire batch by letting air into that.

And the reason the remaining beer in the kegs is past it within hours rather than 2 or 3 days like in a pub, is the remnants get transported back and mixed with the, now oxygen containing, airspace. Never really thought of that until you quizzed me. Lesson: Don't leave any leftovers if transporting the mini-keg again!

 

[Honk]

I was thinking s closed transfer into the secondary vessel under co2, then depending on how quickly I intended drinking either C02 by demand or vented like in your picture.

Like your idea of setting up at a picnic table somewhere.