When filling bottles for competition or to take to an event, I usually fill them directly from the tap. However, I need to bottle 10 gallons for a friend’s rehearsal dinner so I purchased a beer gun.
Using the included 10 ft. of beer line, what is the best pressure setting to minimize foaming? I gave it a test run last weekend, and, while it worked pretty well, there was a bit more foam than I would have liked.
To be clear, I’m talking about foam in the actual beer line before it hits the bottles (I know the trick about chilling the bottles first).
I carbonate and dispense at 14 PSI, so I turned the regulator down to 2 PSI and purged the head space. This is what works well for filling bottles off the tap, but I’m wondering if a little more pressure would have been better for the beer gun. The directions state you should use the minimum pressure necessary to fill the bottles at an acceptable rate, but that seemed to cause a fair bit of foaming in the line.
Fortunately, the wedding isn’t until April so I can do a few more practice runs.
Yep - if there is foam in the line, it means CO2 is coming out of solution. 2 PSI is pretty low, so slowly increase the pressure until the beer flows through without foaming.
Steve has a point - cold helps. If you chill the beer down while its on CO2, make sure you account for it in your carb pressure setting.
I usually use from 2-4 PSI, depending on the beer. Start low, then increase until the foaming gets to be too much. The first 10 or so ml are the foamiest, so that’s the dog’s share. I do 12 bottles and then cap, so the dog gets the next 10 ml
When I use the beer gun the foam is worst for the 1st bottle filled. After a few ounces the serving line cools off and foam diminishes. When I stop to cap bottles foam gets bad again on the next bottle. So, I fill 6-12 bottles then cap.
Nope. I was going to reply on the thread asking for how much hops had been used to say that I put two ounces in a ten gallon batch of a big English barleywine, but thought I’d look like a weenie.
Already mentioned I think, but cold line, cold beer gun, cold sanitizer and cold bottles. I run the pressure around 4-5 PSI. Everything at the same temp really keeps the foaming down, and reduces carb loss.
If you can get a partner to help it really improves the beer gun bottling experience. One person on the gun and the other on the capper and you don’t have to stop and get that foaming every time.
I had a test run the other week to reply to this thread.
I Don’t use a kegorator so my kegs are room temperature ish. I found using the gun at this temperature, no matter the serving pressure I got bubbles in the tube and foam in the bottles.
I chilled the kegs as cold as I could get them, didn’t chill the gun or bottles, this way it was perfect. No foam, no bubbles.
I just had enough pressure to push the beer into the beer line and no more.
Corny 1: milk stout
Corny 2: pumpkin ale
Corny 3: best bitter
Corny 4: American ale single hopped - Amarillo
Every time this post thread comes up I think of that little black rubber tip that falls off the beer gun into the bottle that you’re trying to fill. I thought this would be a topic about how to keep it from falling off.
I had to buy one at my lhbs and couldn’t believe how much they charged, so I mentioned it to the guy at the Blichman booth at NHC and he gave me a small handful of them at no charge. It was a nice score.
Yep, I think a bunch of us got a good supply of those tips. And of course now that I have the extra, I’ve never lost one in a bottle. Same with my hydrometer, once I bought a back-up, I’ve never broken one.
And to the OP: Another hint is to ahve the keg at the same height as the bottles. At least it helps me.
