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Beer Gun Problems

TAHammerton

TAHammerton

Grandmaster Brewer
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Apr 4, 2014
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Location
Wellsboro, PA
So despite the fact I started brewing 20 years ago I only started kegging 6 months ago. I wanted to still put a few beers in bottles so I got a Beer Gun. The first 2 attempts went smoothly. But the last 2 have been complete disasters. I have got nothing but foam. In fact the previous attempt I managed to bottle exactly zero bottles and gave up. I put it down to it being a heavily hopped IPA and the pick-up getting clogged. I cleared it out and put the keg back in the fridge and just finished it with the picnic tap. This last attempt tonight on a Pale Ale I at least got 6 bombers full although they all needed topping up from a 7th as they were foamy. After that the line was completely white and nothing would come out. I checked the pick-up but it had only a small amount of hops in it and was not blocked. Even after cleaning it I got nothing but foam. The keg is back in the fridge.

Both beers were aimed at 2.5 vols and seemed pretty close. The keg was at 13psi and around 37F. I am looking at the carbonation chart now and it seems to indicate 2.7 vols for that which is slightly higher than I wanted but not particularly high.

I realise it is probably something I am doing, but I am frustrated to the point I want to throw the bloody thing away! I have no problem filling growlers from the picnic tap using a foot long piece of PVC tube - not much foam at all.

So beyond telling me what an idiot I am, can anyone offer any advice?
 
This sounds like the line length isn't balanced to the beer's carbonation. As I recall, the leads are pretty short, and its instructions call for 5 psi of dispense pressure. Obviously, you don't leave the keg pressure there after filling bottles.

Aside from that, make sure that you chill your bottles before filling. The less temperature difference between the beer and the container, the less foam. If you're sanitizing the bottles just before filling, there's nothing wrong with adding some ice to the sanitizer bucket, to aid in chilling.
 
Is it the type of gun with the co2 trigger that blankets the beer as it fills or is the counter-pressure type? Did you say you were filling the bottles at 13psi? try purging the keg and dispense at 1 psi. And also chill the bottles in the freezer beforehand.
 
That 5 psi in the instructions always seemed high to me too.  I dial the dispense gauge down till it works,  down to 0-1-2 psi depending on the carb level.  Fill a tester bottle in small amounts first till its flowing right, consuming the contents after each test.  Maybe your ball lock has hop debris,  theres a slot screwdriver spot on the top to take it apart. You can try to put your foil-covered bottles in the fridge with the keg to get to matching temps.
 
I've been using the Beergun for a long time and I encountered the same problem once. I was talking with someone about it and he asked if my recipe had oats which it did. I don't know if oats was the cause but I've never had another beer react that that one did.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I forgot some details: I was dispensing at 3 psi and the beer line is the standard length around 6 feet I think. keg initially on the floor next to the sink were I was trying to fill the bottles.

Should I consider keeping my kegs at a warmer temperature? It seems like it is the difference in temp that might be causing the issue. I pull the keg out of the fridge with and dispense in the sink. I tried putting the keg on the counter (so beer flowing downhill rather than up from the floor) and dialing back to 2 psi but it was too late at that point and did not help.

I have turned the fridge temp up a bit and dialed the pressure back to 12 psi in the keg. Will chill the Beer Gun and lines and try again tonight.
 
I wouldn't warm up the beer and/or move it.  I open the fridge door, burp the keg down to 0, make connections with regulator gauge  at zero, burp it again to be sure, set up 2 buckets, 1 full of sanitizer, the other is a slop bucket.  The gun goes in the sanitizer when not filling, the other catches any overflow.  Fill as slow as you can. Waiting is the hardest part.  I just do a test bottle while slowly tweaking the pressure to get your optimal flow.  Your beer line should be 10'.
 
Are you going to drink it soon?  I haven't had much luck keeping carbonation in growlers for any extended period of time.
 
Jtoots don't worry about that - job done!

I think the problem is directly associated with all the fine hop particles left in the bottom of the keg. It seems that when the keg gets down to a little under 1 gallon and over a month old it gets foamy. I don't know if it is an actually chemical change caused by the hops breaking down or physical nucleation. Anyway I think I will make it a quest to stop the hops getting into the keg - no possible harm there.
 
Ok had a successful beer gun episode tonight. I dialed back the pressure to where the needle just moved off the stop. I also put the Beer Gun and lines (inside plastic bag) in the freezer to be sure they were as cold if not colder than the keg. I filled about 20 bottles from 2 kegs with no problems. But both beers had not been dry hopped and were beautifully clear and mid-keg.

Thanks to everyone who posted here.
 
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