Bottling from tap with Beer Gun

[TexasWine]

Did a search in this topic but came up empty handed. I've bottled straight from the tap before, but not with a beer gun. Anyone ever try this?

I have one of those doo hickeys you can shove into the business end of a tap and then attach a hose to it. I just bought a beer gun, waiting on it to arrive, and thought it sure would be nice if I could just bottle straight from the tap. I'd drop the keg pressure, connect the beer gun to the tap, open the tap and be on my way to bottling. I have an extra CO2 tank I'd use on the beer gun.

 

[m00ps]

I got a blichmann beer gun to be able to bottle my IPAs with a longer shelf life for competitions and giving out. Once you dial in your process (turn down to low serving pressure and bleed out first pint to get the 10' line running to beer gun cold). It works great. I am able to purge a bottle, fill it closer to the top than I can with a bottle wand without foam, and the carbonation holds great.

I do also bottle from the tap using a low serving pressure to just bring a bottle or two to a brewery or a friends place. But I always use the beer gun for long term bottling and I can definitely notice the difference after a few days.

Well worth it IMO

 

[TexasWine]

I got a blichmann beer gun to be able to bottle my IPAs with a longer shelf life for competitions and giving out. Once you dial in your process (turn down to low serving pressure and bleed out first pint to get the 10' line running to beer gun cold). It works great. I am able to purge a bottle, fill it closer to the top than I can with a bottle wand without foam, and the carbonation holds great.

I do also bottle from the tap using a low serving pressure to just bring a bottle or two to a brewery or a friends place. But I always use the beer gun for long term bottling and I can definitely notice the difference after a few days.

Well worth it IMO

That's good to know.

But what I'm wondering is, can I connect the beer gun to my tap?

 

[ColoHox]

It can't be connected directly to your tap. It can be connected directly to your keg, which is how it is designed to work.

 

[TexasWine]

It can't be connected directly to your tap. It can be connected directly to your keg, which is how it is designed to work.

Is there any reason I can't remove the ball lock liquid connector and slip the hose onto the growler filler?

 

[m00ps]

Im confused...for the above question, where is the beer gun?

To me, the main advantage of it isn't just minimizing foam, but being able to purge each bottle before filling

 

[ColoHox]

Is there any reason I can't remove the ball lock liquid connector and slip the hose onto the growler filler?

I guess, you will have to rebalance your pressure with the increased length of the lines, which may not work out well if the lines are different inside diameters. Is your process easier than just disconnecting one ball lock and reconnecting another?

 

[chickypad]

The only issue I see would be the step down in hose size. The beer tubing that slips on end of the beer gun I'm pretty sure is 3/16" (I still have the original tubing). I'm assuming the growler filler needs larger tubing. If you could get that connected it should work. I would keep the line length, one of the ways it cuts down on foaming is the 10 ft of line it uses. The gas isn't an issue, that connects separately anyway.

Edit:

Is your process easier than just disconnecting one ball lock and reconnecting another?

And there is this too. Not sure it's any easier your way and may be messier.

 

[TexasWine]

The house diameter is exactly what I was concerned about.

Well, I think y'all are right. It doesn't sound any easier to simply pop one off and put another on.

Thanks for entertaining my random question.