Beer Gun is it worth it?

[SouthernBrewlady]

OK, just read Hop Runners post on his Beer Gun. I was all hot n heavy a while back to buy one. But have my reservations. Hope this doesn't get too long. I have a counter pressure filler I used a few times. I read all the info, watched John Plise's video and anything else I could read or see on it. I did everything as instructed. Right pressures. Chilled bottle, chilled beer, chilled equipment. It was a pain in the ass to set up. When I did get it working I got sprayed in the face several times and wasted way too much beer. Cussed worse than a drunken sailor. And I wondered how the filled bottles held the carbonation. I'm guessing not well. It should't be 1/2 day ordeal to fill a few bottles. I then started just attaching a a bottle filler to a picninc tap. But of course this isn't for long term storage. I finally decided I would rather botlle a couple of six packs from each batch. But this has it's limitations too. Althouh I am enjoying comparing my bottled to kegged beer. Another idea I had is just to attach a hose to my co2 tank fill the bottles. (CO2 sinks anyway)Then fill them with beer. Wouldn't that work for long term storage? I know about that thumb on the stopper deal - not for me.

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

I use a beer gun. I like it. Easy to assemble and clean. But no matter what you use there is a technique to it. So don't give up on you CPF so easily. But if you buy a beer gun, it should be faster to set up and easier to use.

[stadelman]

My beer gun is great. After doing a couple of cases, I have very little waste.

I can purge and fill with my left hand and cap with my right hand.

[Mylo]

Beer Gun vs. CPF..... they accomplish the same task. The CPF probably has a larger learning curve. But is not that hard, once you get the hang of it. I love mine. I think that if you set it up properly, that it would foam less than a beergun - which doesn't have any mechanism for providing some backpressure on the head in the bottle.


Mylo

[crupp]

I’m a new CPF user. I’ll admit that I hated the damn thing when I first got it, but now I love it. You just have to think about your process. It is true, it will take you a few times to get used to it, but once you do…it’s smooth sailing.

[HopRunner]

I'm a pretty happy camper now that I understand how to get the proper carbonation in suspension. I bottles almost an entire keg of APA Sunday and it was cake! I left the keg under pressure in the basement for a week at 15 PSI, then moved it to the refrigerator for another week at 12 PSI. The Saturday I turned the fridge to max cool and Sunday I bottled. Dropped the pressure to @2 PSI and filled all the bottles. Almost no wasted beer.

Still a pain in the ass to clean all those bottles but that is another story.

On the 16th there is a local competition and I have four beers to enter. Two are bottle conditioned and two are bottled with the beer gun. Two of the brews, Jamil's Oatmeal Stout and my own APA I think are very good so I am curious to see what they do. The other two, my Old Ale and Jamil's Scottish 80 are good and clean but to my taste lacking something. Could have been my mash or my fermentation temp... Curious to get the feed back on those also.

[SouthernBrewlady]

Hmmm... thanks guys, One day when I'm really bored and feel like cussing I might just try that CPF again. No beer gun for now though.

[Bhodi Li]

Love my beer gun, but hate that frackn' little rubber tip. Isn't that always the problem though
Any figure out a way to make it stay? I heard someone made one out of silacone...isnt there anything that stuff cant do? Mmmm....boobs