Beer Gun Question

I have the Blichmann V2 Beer Gun.

After following the directions, my bottle completely filled with foam. The psi was around 5, and the beer in the line appeared to be clear (free of bubbles). But when the beer was dispensed into the bottle, nothing but foam.

The beer in the line would start to “boil” if it was not flowing.

Again, the directions were followed. I ended up filling the bottles with a 2 cup measuring cup, the way I have done it in the past. Works better!

It did a great job of purging the O2 from the bottles.

What am I doing wrong?

I can’t see what you’re doing wrong but I relieve the keg of pressure, and dispense at 2 psi… wish I could be of better help…

How did you carbonate the beer?

Did you clear out the pressure in the keg after you switched to 5 psi? Residual pressure sitting in there would foam the beer pretty quickly in the bottle.

Following

Yes, bled the keg to zero psi, then added 4, maybe 5 psi.

Started the pour into a pint glass to clear out the bubbles. The line looked clear, and bubble free at this time.

Proceeded to fill the bottle, and the beer foamed up immediately after entering the bottle.

When the beer was not flowing, it would begin to bubble in the line. You could see bubbles forming as the beer was stationary.

The keg was force carbonated, over a period of 5 days. Normal serving psi is around 12.

This Beer Gun is brand new, first time out of the box.

I find that when I force carbonate it takes my kegs about 1-1.5 weeks to settle out regardless of the serving pressure. So I stopped force carbing over 25 psi

Does it foam in the pint glass, or only in the bottles?

It foamed in the glass, until about 3/4 full.

Then switched to the bottle, same thing…foam.

Of course, this is not a problem when pulling a pint from the Perlick tap.

I have the original beer gun, but found I had better luck when I sanitized my bottles, stuck a piece of foil over the top, and let them spend a little time in the freezer to get them nice and cold.  The temp difference between my beer (35F) and the bottles and room temp (68-70F) always resulted in the beer releasing the CO2.  It still seemed like such an art, and tough to get it to not foam if it was a higher carbonated beer like a Belgian.

Art is a good description. I have good days and bad with my beer gun. Counter pressure is probably better for less foam.

Next time, the bottles will be chilled to 34 degrees. Maybe that will help. And the pressure will be backed off to 2 psi, down from 5 psi.

I don’t have a beer gun but use Denny’s method using picnic taps on the beer and co2 lines.  I put the sanitized bottles in the freezer and cover with foil or a paper towel. I also put ice cubes around the bottles in the baking pan that I put the bottles in. This keeps the bottles cold longer and keeps the co2 from coming out of solution as much due to beer warming. Also bought a small plastic trash can to put the beer line and fittings in the fridge to cool them before bottling.
The last few bottles seem to have more foam as they warm.
You have to release the pressure on the keg several times as the pressure seems to creep back up a few times.

It’s not a process of settling. It’s actually due to the process of hydrating the CO2 where the gas combines with the water in the beer and the bubbles become fine. That chemical process takes time.

A beer gun is a compromise, but it’s easier to use than a counter-pressure filler. It sounds like the OP has overcarbonated the beer and needs to condition it for a couple of days at lower pressure to get the carbonation level down. I prefer my CP filler when bottling competition samples.

I always freeze my bottles before filling them from a keg.

+1. That’s why I asked. A recent podcast between John Blichman and Brad Smith talk specifically about over carbonation and beergun use.

You want the beer, the bottles, and the beer gun to be cold. I will put the beer gun in the freezer with the bottles for a little while.

Yep if you’re using room temp bottles I can easily see them foaming up on you. Keep them in the freezer and pull them a few at a time as you bottle. I’ve never had to chill my gun though, the cold beer gets the lines cold enough. Cold bottles and JUST enough psi to push the beer will solve your problem.

Thanks for clearing that up I was wondering what the hell was going on with my beer!

The beer in question is not over carbonated, not at all. If anything, it is under carbonated.

Normal serving is at 12 psi. This is a Marzen style beer.

I’ll do all of the above next go around, and see what happens.