Blichmann Beer Gun

I just got my beer gun from Blichmann Engineering today, and I love it.  I’ve been using a traditional counter-pressure filler for a while now, typically don’t bottle but now that we’re going pro kind of have too, and in the time it usually took me to bottle a case of 22’s with the CPF, I bottled 2 1/2 cases with the beer gun.  It’s easy to use with one hand, and no more having to worry about the stopper sticking in the mouth of the bottle or adjusting the filler for different size bottles.  I wanna hear what other people think.

I have the BBG and I love it. I use to dread bottling with my bottle filler but now with the beer gun I actually look forward to bottling. It’s easy and effortless to use and very easy to clean. It’s worth every penny plus some. Like you said, it’s a one handed operation which makes life easy.  :slight_smile:

The thing that surprised me is that they cost right about the same.  I picked mine up from my local HBS and it retailed for 79.99, the CPF that I picked up from them a few years back was 74.99.  The $5 is totally worth it.

I just recently got one after struggling with makeshift bottling techniques for awhile.  I’ve only used it a couple times so far but I love it.  It’s quick and easy to use and there was almost zero foaming.  Some of my previous attempts left more beer on the floor than I got into the bottle, with the beer gun I lost almost nothing and the bottles were perfectly carbed.

I just got mine this week. Hope to use it for the first time this weekend.

I can’t wait to pick one up in the next couple of weeks.  We’re going to bottle up a whole mess of beer to give away for the holidays.

If you are bottling different beers, do you break it down and clean it between beers or do you just run some cleaner/sanitizer through it?

I have the beergun but find it to be a hassle if I’m bottling just a couple bottles of a couple beers to sent to comps.

I run starsan solution through it between beers when I’m doing back to back beers. It’s really that simple. YMMV

I just run a little of the new beer through it into a dump bucket so that the first bottle doesn’t get a big dose of the last beer.  I always do sour’s last (obviously)

I’ve done it that way before. Never experienced any problems with it.

I generally like my beergun, but have had problems with the little black rubber tip popping off at in opportune times.  I’ve replaced the  tip once (expensive  :o), but it still comes off every now and then >:(.  I find the conveniences (especially being able to purge each bottle with CO2) out-weigh this one annoyance.  I do worry about bottling sour beers with it, my nemesis could harbor some critters that I may not be able to clean/sanitize away. ???

Try emailing John Blichmann for suggestions on this issue. He’s very responsive and may have a fix for you.

I have also had the rubber tip fall off into a bottle more than once.  I’m vigilant about checking it before use now.
I also run some of the next beer through it into a container when bottling more than one beer.  Always start with the lightest, least flavorful beers and finish with the smoked and pepper beers.
I don’t run sours through the beer gun.  I’d rather carbonate them in a plastic bottle with a Carbonator Cap and gently pour into cold glass bottles.

I’ve never had a problem with the tip falling off so can’t speak to that but I do the same process for bac-to-back beers. As far as sours go … I just bought a separate tip and hose to use for doing sours. And I soak in PBW followed by StarSan after bottling. Never had a problem.

I had the tip pop off last night while I had it disassembled prior to use.  We bottled two different beers last night, and just like filling pigs when switching beer, just run some of the next batch through and it’s fine.  Still amazed at how fast it is.  We got it dialed in meow.  We did three cases of 22’s in an hour.  Love it.

It works like a dream, I highly recommend it. As far as the tips falling off, I think if you LIGHTLY squeeze the prongs on the tip, this may solve that issue. I had a problem with the trigger not staying attached and that solved my issue. It’s just a friction type fit, so this may be a typical adjustment needed.

if it helps anybody to decide here is a video that I put together about my blichmann beer gun http://youtu.be/yJr89K-vz2s

Holy high production values, batman! Nice job dude.

What is the ID of the steel pipe that goes in the bottle?  Something tells me that my homemade device (bottle filler tub on a picnic tap) is too wide to hold back the carbonation.

Speaking of which, do you adjust your carbonation to a higher level for bottling?  And I suppose you have to cap immediately?  Use refrigerated (but not frozen) bottles?

+1

Fabulous!