OK, I’ve had a beer gun for a while, use it to bottle ciders and beers when I need to give them away (as around xmas) instead of slurping them out of the keggerator. I brewed up a batch of Weizenbock and in the keg brought it up to 4.25 - 4.3 volumes of CO2. Off the keg (with very long keg line) it is perfect. Going to try to bottle up some in some belgian bottles (cork & keg) for xmas and ran into a problem. I chilled down a keg to 31F and using the blichmann beer gun, can’t seem to get it to go without foaming everywhere. Using a 3/16 ID beer line 10ft long (3psi/ft), I still get a bunch of gushing when the beer hits the 33F bottle (pre-chilled). Any ideas outside counter pressure?
Here is an image of my foam machine. Nothing says the holidays like a 1/2 full corked and caged homebrew!
High carbed beers are definitely a challenge with the beer gun. Are the bottles wet? For me, wet bottles were more important than cold bottles, but both cold and wet produced the best results.
When I attempt to fill highly carbonated beers with the beergun I follow all the steps you have listed above…
Plus, as the level of beer rises in the bottle, I move the beergun rubber tip just below the liquid surface as the beer level goes higher and higher. Yes you still get foaming, but to me, it seems to help more liquid stay in the bottle. I also tilt the bottle at an angle a bit so foam can more easily run down the sides of the bottle when filling.
And yes, it does take considerable longer to fill a highly carbed beer, but it can be done.
I have also learned that pushing the limits with the beer gun and potential CO2 levels kind of peters out around 3.5 volumes or so. When I push 4.0 (or so) I get major amounts of foam and an undercarbed beer in the bottle. Almost better off to go a bit lower with hopes of maintaining the carbonation in the bottle.
Hope this helps a bit. Or at least gives you something else to try. Good luck!
Is there foam in the line as you are filling the bottles or is it just foaming once it hits the bottles? If there is foam in the line as you are filling then you are going to have a ton of foam in the bottles too.
For me the first few bottles are always a little more foamy until the beer line and the gun get cold too. I usually just set the cap loosely on those bottles and then come back and top them off.
When I’m desperate to fill bottles with high carb I just keep pulling the trigger, foam flowing out of the top of the bottle, until the beer runs clear and then slam the cap on it. A lot of beer gets wasted that way though.
I think I now need to build a beer bottle cold water spritzer.
Turn the bottle upside down, shoot a blast of ice cold water inside, lightly drain, then fill with beer.
Perfect for high CO2 volume beer bottle filling.
Could double as a beer glass cold water spritzer!
