WC87
Well-Known Member
Awesome stuff! I just got my drilled #2 stopper via UPS, and will be assembling and testing my BMBF this weekend!
flippindiscs said:Well it's funny, I stumbled upon this blog this morning as I was gearing up to use my new counter pressure bottle filler from Braukunst. I saw the simplified version using a racking cane and a stopper and said to myself
well if I bought the real thing it must be easy and work the best....
ehemmm...
The counter pressure filler is the most stubborn and hard to use piece of brewing equipment I own!!!
I followed the directions and all of the tips I read on the blog this morning and filled 8 bottles in 30 minutes while losing about 6 bottles worth in the process. Now I feel that I am pretty competent in my brewing ability. I have been all grain for 2 years, have been brewing for about 5, and can figure out how to use/build anything I need within my brewery.. (or so I thought)
See if anyone can figure out what I did wrong:
- I chilled all the bottles to almost freezing temps so the bottles were just as cold (if not a little more) then the beer.
- Hooked the CO2 line of the gun into a 10psi empty corny for purging the bottles.
- Hooked the beer line into an Alaskan Amber Ale Clone corny.
- Released the pressure on the keg.
- Brought the beer up to 4psi in the keg.
- Purged the bottle before filling, and gently allowed the beer to enter to bottle.
- The bottle would fill 1/4 of the way up and then turn into a mountain of foam.
- Once the bottle was filled all the way... (after numerous four letter words) I would attempt to have my wife cap it but unfortunately the beer was continuing to foam out of the bottle pushing the cap off the top making it extremely difficult to cap (thank god I have a determined wife to help me with capping). The lag time between filling the bottle and capping it was only a few seconds.
- I then immediately refrigerated the bottles that were filled out of the batch to see if this ordeal was even worth it. After one hour in the fridge I popped one to see No CO2 smoke, and the beer seemed like it was going flat. It did have some carbonation to it but nothing like (not even close) when it is running out of my kegerator.
Here is what I feel might be the problem..
1 - Cold beer with CO2 foams when it hits warmth, thus the filler was room temp when I started and never got to be as cold the beer while I was filling bottles. With the BMBF, it is one beer line with a plastic racking cane so it cools very quickly to the temp of the beer thus minimal foaming/.
2 - The Braukunst filler sucks.
Overall, it looks like I will officially be stripping down my pressure filler for parts unless someone else wants to take it off my hands.
People have done that with good results.SAS98M said:Quick question-Would a wine bottle filler tube-the one with the little valve in the bottom work on this ? The valve would cure the run-off (dribble) concern between bottles no ? And the tube would remain on the bottom (to keep valve open)during filling as the stopper is pinched to relieve pressure right ?
I'm gonna make one too........
Yep... Great idea you had....EdWort said:Great Job Bobby!!!!!! You are a star now!!!!!
BierMuncher said:Yep... Great idea you had....
New2HomeBrew said:...Thanks for the great thread and idea BeirMuncher!
Ah...yes...but friends, neighbors and family of homebrewers are very happy.Kevin Dean said:...Blichman is NOT happy, BierMuncher!
Brett0424 said:I stick the bottle filler in my picnic tap
SAS98M said:BierMuncher YOU ROCK :rockin: ... my great grandfather used to brew his own beer and that He'd be proud...... Thanks again Bier. Shane
Whatever CO2 is in the bottle when you seal it is all there's ever going to be. If you fill from the tap directly, you're likely to lose quite a bit of carbonation as foam - it's pretty much going to be just as flat the same day as it will several weeks down the road. There are ways to minimize and/or compensate for the loss - that's pretty much exactly what the BMBF does.Jonnio said:Is this worth doing for very near term consumption? Say filling a sixer to take to the parents for the weekend or a friends for the night? Or is it just as easy to fill a bottle right from the tap.
Jonnio said:Is this worth doing for very near term consumption? Say filling a sixer to take to the parents for the weekend or a friends for the night?...
Yeah, I tried that method exactly once. Some people may get better results, but I got lots of foam and some very flat beer. I'm sure that with some tweaking I could have gotten it to work a bit better, but I'd much rather just invest the small amount of extra time and just use the BMBF which is practically foolproof.Jonnio said:That's a good point Bier -- I was thinking of putting a hose that is big enough to fit over the tap and put that at the bottom of whatever container I am filling and use that...I might as well just not be cheap and spend the couple bucks to do this.
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