Beer Gun

[brewmeisterintng]

I have lost the portability of bottles since I started kegging. I have read that some bottle fillers are a painful two person operation. The beer gun seems pricey so I am looking for comments on bottle filling from kegs.

[jawbox]

brewmeister,

Are just looking to take some along to a friends house etc? If so, you could pick-up some carbonator caps that fit on two liter bottles. I've used these with great success. Just fill, loosely cap, squeeze out excess air, tighten cap, hit with some co2.
If you are still looking to fill bottles the beergun is worth the money, I've got one and the operation couldn't be easier.

Later,
jaw

[ColoradoBrewer]

I'm not out to knock any particular piece of equipment, but there is a much cheaper to way to get beer into a bottle rather than using a counter flow filler or Beer Gun. Simply use a cobra tap and a 12 foot or so piece of 3/16" beer line. It works quite well. Here's a link talking about it. I think there was a lengthy discussion of it over on the Northern Brewer board too.

HTH
John

[wottaguy]

I agree with Colorado and johnplc's (from the link) method as well. I have used this exact same method but with 1 addition. I'll cut a piece of 3/8 acrylic racking cane so that it is long enough to reach the bottom of said bottle being filled. The cane fits perfectly into the cobra tap's outlet with no leaks, clamps or anything else. I'll turn down the pressure (and release from the keg) then reset the co2 pressure to around 4 psi or less. Just enough to get a nice even slow pour. Stick the device in the bottle and fill her up! This is how I fill my bottles for competitions as well. It's really a no muss - no fuss setup and you can't beat the price!

[brewmeisterintng]

I think I will give it a try on my next batch. I was just concerned that I would loose carbonation and possibly prematurely stale my beer unless I had one of those new fangled gadgets.

[ColoradoBrewer]

I think I will give it a try on my next batch. I was just concerned that I would loose carbonation and possibly prematurely stale my beer unless I had one of those new fangled gadgets.

I can understand your concern, but that really doesn't seem to be the case. I've bottled several beer from the keg, and after several months they were still well carbonated and not stale at all .

[brewmeisterintng]

Has anyone tried a spring active bottle filling wand instead of a cobra tap head? Just wondering if the results would be the same.

[kthorson]

I have a beer gun and I love it. It just makes filling bottles so quick and painless with its one handed operation.

As for a spring active bottle filling wand, I think it would depend on how well the spring valve seals when its not depressed so it doesn't leak all over. Give it a shot and let us know what happens!

Kyle

[ColoradoBrewer]

Has anyone tried a spring active bottle filling wand instead of a cobra tap head? Just wondering if the results would be the same.

Not sure if this answerers your question, but I have attached a spring loaded bottle filler to a cobra tap and it works just fine.