Chapman Fermenter - Closed Transfer To Keg

I modified two seven-gallon Chapman UniVessels to support closed beer transfers several weeks ago. I have since used those closed transfer modifications to fill four kegs. In my experience, the entire transfer process was intuitive and easy to integrate into my brewing routine. The Co2 used to push the beer into the keg also prevented any oxygen from getting inside it. It also eliminated the need to lift beer-filled fermenters out of the chest freezer. The benefits of closed transfers will keep oxygen out and help beer stay fresher longer while keeping my back free of pain.

Before attempting to do closed transfers there are a few things you need to have in place. A fermenter that can hold at least three psi of pressure when sealed. A Co2 regulator that can be set to hold three psi of pressure. These two things are also required when fermenting and cold crashing beer in a sealed vessel. The addition of the gas port on the fermenter serves two purposes. It allows Co2 gas produced during fermentation to escape the fermenter. And adding Co2 pressure to the fermenter during cold crashing as the beer volume decreases.

Using 2 To 3 PSI Of Co2 Pressure To Transfer The Beer From Fermenters to kegs.

When fermenting (5.25 gallon/19.8 liter) batches of 1.055 gravity beers at (68F/20C) degrees the krausen remained well below the gas port in the lid. A plugged gas port would cause pressure to build-up and break the seal between the fermenter body and lid. Creating a mess if krausen were to spill out or worse yet damaging the integrity of the fermenter or lid.

The ball valve outlet port is located (1in/2.54cm) from the bottom of the fermenter. The trub layer remained far enough below the bottom of the ball valve port to allow the transfer of clear beer to the waiting kegs. And the removable lid helped make clean up easy enough to do using hot water and a soft cotton cloth.

Krausen Remained Several Inches Below The Lid Throughout Fermentation

Filling the kegs with StarSan purges them of oxygen before coming into contact with beer. Using Co2 pressure to empty the kegs of StarSan assures an oxygen-free beer transfer. To prepare for the transfer after fermentation completes disconnect the blow-off tube from the Co2 gas post on the lid. Then with the regulator set to 3 psi pressure connect the Co2 line to the gas post on the fermenter. To purge oxygen from the beer transfer line, connect one end to the ball valve on the fermenter. Then loosen the connection to the beer line connector on the other end. To prevent trub from getting into the keg, open the ball valve a little until the beer runs clear. Catching any initial trub laden beer in a small container to be discarded. To transfer the beer, tighten the connection to the beer line connector and attach it to the keg beer post. With the ball valve wide open the closed transfer should fill the keg in about fifteen minutes.

Oxygen-Free Closed Transfer Using Co2 Pressure To Move The Beer

Opening the pressure relief valve on the keg will allow Co2 to escape as the beer volume in the keg increases. The beer will continue to flow as long as the fermenter pressure exceeds the pressure in the keg. Closing the pressure relief valve and disconnecting the beer connector completes the transfer. Close the ball valve and disconnect the Co2 connector from the gas post on the fermenter. Then increase the Co2 pressure to fifteen psi and connect it to the keg to seal the lid gasket. The full kegs can then go into a refrigerator to carbonate and condition.

Still Looking Good As New After Fermenting Two Batches 

The fermenters were easy to clean using nothing more than a steady stream of hot water and a soft cotton cloth. A final soaking of hot Powdered Brewery Wash solution made the inside squeaky clean. Followed by a rinse with clean water and a spray of StarSan on the inside they were ready to dry and put away. The lid needed cleaning once the gas ports, thermowell and hole plug installations. Bar Keepers Friend made short work of restoring the outer finish and making it look like new. Both fermenters will continue to look like new for a very long time with minimal effort.

Screwy's California Steamin' Common Beer

Seven years ago I was invited to fly out to California to conduct some company business. Soon after arriving at my hotel in San Francisco I met up with a friend to grab a few beers at a bar located on Fisherman's Wharf. When it was his turn to buy he ordered up a round of what he described as "a really great tasting beer" brewed at a local brewery. That round of beer was to mark the very first time I ever tasted a beer brewed by Anchor Brewing. I had never heard of Anchor Steam Beer, or Steam Beer, or the California Common Beer style before. As I was about to take my very first sip I could tell that I would be tasting a beer unlike any I had ever tasted before. This beer was delicious, it had a very distinctive flavor and aroma. This was my official introduction to craft beer and I liked it, a lot!

You see back home in New Jersey where I lived not a friend, friend of a friend or relative had ever mentioned anything to me about craft beer. My introduction to craft beer was happening at a time when mainstream beer like Budweiser, Rolling Rock and Pabst Blue Ribbon were as likely to be found at barbecues and picnics as ketchup, napkins and mustard. Yet there I was genuinely enjoying my first glass of craft beer while sitting at the epicenter of the American Craft Beer Revolution. It was impossible to know it at the time but this friendly round of drinks would ignite in me a passion for beer that has continued to burn even to this day.  

At the close of each business day I whiled away my free time taking in all of the character, sights and sounds of the San Francisco Bay area. On my previous business trips to the area I returned home with warm memories of tasty Sourdough bread, street mimes, huge delicious Dungeness crab dinners and the playful honking of the Sea Lions at pier 39. This trip would be different. From this trip I would be returning home with a new sense of excitement. I had experienced something profound, a new type of beer that tasted really good and I needed to share what I had found with everyone I knew.

Fritz Maytag Was Just One Of Many Who Saved The Brewery

The California Common Beer Style

There are several paths to follow when researching the California Common Beer style and each of them approaches the style from a different perspective. A well known and respected source of information for all styles of beer including the Common Beer style is the Beer Judge Certification Program Guidelines. The Beer Judge Certification Program, or BJCP for short, is the authoritative source for brewing classic versions of nearly every style of beer imaginable. According to the BJCP Guidelines the Common Beer should finish somewhere between 4.5 to 5.5% ABV and be hopped with enough Northern Brewer hops to add tantalizingly rustic Bay Area aromas of wood and mint. The beer should be clear and the color somewhere between 10 and 14 SRM giving the beer a medium amber to light copper color with an off white colored head and good head retention.

Then there are the historical points of reference that date all the way back to the great California Gold Rush. A German brewer named Gottlieb Brekle first opened his brewery in San Francisco around the late 1850's to brew his Steam Beer. The original brewery was bought by his son-in-law Otto Schinkel and Ernst Baruth in 1896 who changed the name to the Anchor Brewing Company. Anchor is well known for fermenting their original Steam Beer atop the San Francisco brewery roof, using the cold night air to keep the beer cool as it fermented.

Throughout the tumultuous history of the brewery it has managed to overcome the death of two owners and an earthquake and fire that destroyed the original brewery. All of this happening just as America was to welcome in the start of the Prohibition Era. The Anchor Steam brand continues to live on today nonetheless after being rescued by investors who believed in the brewery and the quality of the beer it produced. Included among them was Fritz Maytag, the most recognized and respected name in the history of craft brewing, who in the mid 1960's bought a controlling interest in Anchor Brewing for a few thousand dollars.

The grain bill for the California Steamin' recipe can be as simple as using only two malts, a Pale Ale malt as the base with up to ten percent Crystal malt added to the grist for color and a slight hint of caramel. The flavor and aroma of the California Steamin' recipe comes mainly from Northern Brewer hops and fermentation using a 'California Beer' lager yeast strain. I prefer to use White Labs WLP 810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast, at one and a half times the pitching rate typically used for fermenting Ales. This unique strain of Lager yeast has the ability to ferment at temperatures as high as 65F while still producing a Lager like fermentation. The recipe produces a beer with a grainy malt flavor and a light toast background and should be carbonated within a range of 2.4 to 2.8 volumes of Co2. Finishing at 5% alcohol the recipe produces a beer that has a medium light mouth feel with a bitter and dry finish.

Anchor Steam And Dungeness Crabs At The Crab House

The California Steamin' Recipe

The California Steamin' recipe is my interpretation of how a good tasting California Common Beer should be brewed. The recipe is based on beer style information published by the BJCP and is available for free on their website. The entire beer brewing process is part art and part science and ultimately the best classroom for learning will the brew room. Brew day is when everything comes together. It is where sanitization, yeast handling, pitching rate and fermentation combine with the grain and hops in the recipe to influence the taste of the finished beer.

Every step in the brewing process has some affect on the beer and documenting what went right, and possibly what went wrong, on each brew day will help future brew days go more smoothly. The ability to take good notes is especially important when tweaking a recipe or a new brewing process so that any adjustments made can be referred to when brewing future batches. As for the finished beer having someone other than yourself evaluate your beer and then comparing their impressions with your own is also advisable. The honest feedback received from a home brewer after sampling a previous batch was very helpful to me even though his evaluation of the beer was very positive.

"The taste was smooth and easy. It finishes with just a hint of the hops. It's not as bitter as Anchor Steam (and I know it wasn't supposed to be a clone so I just use that as a reference point). As it warmed up nearing the bottom of the glass the hops and caramel presented themselves a bit more and gave the beer a rich, yet light and crisp feel. Good stuff.

The bottom line here is that this is a damn fine beer, crystal-clear and tasty. Perfectly carbonated. Very well brewed and very refreshing."       

There was an agreement by us both that the beer produced by this recipe was a very good example of the California Common Beer style, although it could have used a bit more hop bitterness and flavor from the Northern Brewer hops. Only after reviewing the brewing notes from that batch did I realize I had omitted running the BU:GU calculation on the recipe, instead I relied only on the IBU calculation to build the hop schedule. Thanks to feedback on the beer and carefully recorded brewing notes I was reminded to include the BU:GU calculations in the current version of the recipe. This updated recipe increases the amount of hops used and adjusts the hop schedule to add the additional bitterness and flavor found lacking in the prior version of the recipe.   


The Water Profile

The water supply in the San Francisco area is sourced from Sierra Mountain snow melt and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite Nation Park. The area water is considered to be low in total dissolved solids, very soft and low in alkalinity. For brewers like myself who live in an area where the local water supply is unlike the water in the Bay Area, building a brewing water profile for the California Common Beer style takes little extra effort. While it is true that water quality varies from one location to another, it can also vary throughout the year even in the same location. Fortunately there are ways to level the playing field by using water collected from a reverse osmosis filter, or by using distilled water as a base for creating the brewing water profile. Another alternative is to sample and make adjustments to the water available to you prior to the start of each brewday.

Replicating The San Francisco Bay Area Water Profile

Having the ability to prepare your brewing water a day or two ahead of time will leave you with one less thing that has to be done on brew day. Waiting for brewing water to stabilize in between water adjustments and pH readings can prolong a brew day by hours. I start by filling a 15 gallon container with RO water and then stirring in the brewing salts and minerals needed to build my water profile. I prefer to add acid or base adjustments in small increments and then wait 20 minutes for the water to stabilize before taking the next pH reading. Using small adjustments and allowing time in between readings will lessen the chance of overshooting or undershooting the target pH value.

After searching online for a profile designed for use with a California Common Beer I was able to find one water profile that appeared to be a good match. The water profile is designed for brewing a balanced beer that favors maltiness just a bit more. The sodium level of the profile was increased by adding a small amount of baking soda to give the beer a rounder malt finish. The magnesium level in the Common Beer water profile also appeared to be lower than those used in styles like an IPA or a wheat beer.  

California Steamin' Water Profile 15.0 Gallons
06.00 g - Gypsum (calcium sulfate)
16.00 g - Calcium Chloride
03.00 g - Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate)
05.00 g - Baking Soda
05.00 ml Lactic Acid

pH = 5.46 @ 73F (calculated)
Chloride/Sulfate ratio 1.71
Residual Alkalinity = -126
101 ppm - calcium
005 ppm - magnesium
024 ppm - sodium
136 ppm - chloride
080 ppm - sulfate

Mash For 90 Minutes @ 154F

The Bittering Unit To Gravity Ratio

When trying to determine the perceived bitterness level of a beer recipe it is important to look not only at the International Bittering Unit value alone to get that information. In fact in order to get a complete picture of bitterness the calculated IBU value of a recipe should also be weighed against the original gravity units of the recipe too. The ratio of hop bitterness to malt sweetness can be easily calculated using the IBU and OG of the recipe. The perceived bitterness of the California Steamin' recipe falls near the upper end of the BU:GU scale with a value of 0.745. For the purpose of comparison a Wheat beer has a BU:GU value of .500 which is right in the center of the scale while a Standard American Lager has a value of .250 which is near the lower end of the scale.

The math involved in calculating the BU:GU value for any recipe is not difficult to do. For example the bitterness value of the California Steamin' recipe is 38 IBU and that value can be entered directly into the calculation. The OG of the recipe is 1.051 and after dropping the 1. and multiplying the remainder of 0.51 by 1000 the resulting number is 51, which is also used in the calculation.

Estimated Wort Properties

    IBU  = 38
    OG   = 1.051
    SRM = 12
    FG    = 1.013
    ABV = 5.0%

Calculate the BU:GU ratio for this recipe by dividing 38 by 51 to get .745 as the answer. Basically the higher the BU:GU number the more perceived bitterness the finished beer will have when drinking it.

BU:GU Ratio : 38 / 51 =  .745 (BU:GU Ratio Of Popular Beer Styles)

A Vigorous Boil For 90 Minutes

The Grain Bill

I had originally planned on using Pale Ale malt and Crystal 60L malt to brew this recipe, that is until I picked up my order at the LHBS. They had run out of Pale Ale malt and failed to call and let me know the day before. I had no choice but to change the recipe on the spot to use Pilsner and Crystal 90L malt instead. I increased the boil time from 60 to 90 minutes to drive off the DMS buildup attributed to brewing with Pilsner malt. Modifying the original hop schedule to adjust for the longer boil was not a problem and at this point I felt relieved knowing my morning brewing plans were still on.

02.00 pounds Crystal 90L  (8.75%)

21.00 pounds Pilsen Malt   (91.25%)

-----------

23.00 pounds total grain bill

The Hop Bill

I bag my pellet hops before adding them to the kettle to limit the amount of hop debris that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the kettle. If there is too much hop debris in the kettle it can get sucked up from the bottom and then easily clog a counter-flow wort chiller. Clearing out clogged chiller equipment is not something I want to be doing while trying to cool down ten gallons of boiling hot wort. The hop schedule was pretty straightforward the three additions were added to the kettle at the rate of 1.5 ounces at 60 minutes, 1.5 ounces at 30 minutes and 2.0 ounces at flame out. 

5.00 ounces Northern Brewer (German) pellets

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5.00 ounces Total Hop bill

The Yeast

For the California Steamin' recipe the yeast pitched was propagated in 4 liters of starter wort made from extra light DME and two vials of WLP 810 San Francisco Lager Yeast. The starter wort gravity measured 1.040 after it had cooled down to room temperature. Two vials of liquid yeast were also at room temperature when they added to the starter wort inside the 5 liter Erlenmeyer flask. The starter was then spun on a stir plate for 72 hours before it was cold crashed for two days prior to pitching it on brew day.

WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast™ In 4 Liter Starter

Early on brew day morning I removed the flask and set it out on a counter top to warm up to room temperature. Once the fermentors were filled I oxygenated the cooled wort for a minute, decanted the extra wort from the flask and then pitched the yeast. Yeast nutrient was added to the boil about 10 minutes before flame out just as I would for any beer I brew.

A typical five percent alcohol beer fermented with an Ale yeast requires an optimum pitching rate of approximately 350 billions yeast cells. Pitching the optimum number of yeast cells relative to the original gravity of a beer is a way to insure there will be enough yeast cells to fully ferment the beer down to its rated attenuation. The same five percent alcohol beer fermented with a Lager yeast would require approximately double the Ale yeast cell count, requiring 700 billion yeast cells to ferment the beer down to its rated attenuation. I decided to pitch the yeast for this recipe using a cell count somewhere in between a Lager and an Ale pitch rate. Two vials of fresh yeast added to four liters of starter wort should produce approximately 500 billion cells when using a stirplate and that what my pitch rate was based on.

When making a yeast starter using a stirplate I watch for the yeast to reach high krausen and then wait for the krausen to fall completely before switching the stirplate off. After another half a day passes the yeast cells will have had enough time to complete the fermentation cycle and store up energy before going dormant. Not long after that I cover the flask opening with sanitized plastic wrap and move it to the refrigerator to cold crash. Usually by the end of the following day even the least flocculant cells have had enough time to fall to the bottom of the flask.

White Labs WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast™
---------------
2 Vials In A 1.040 Gravity 4 Liter Starter



Putting It All Together

I set the mash efficiency of my brewing software to seventy percent when developing recipes for my 15 gallon eBIAB RIMS brewing setup. After having brewed at least ten batches of beer on this system, and documenting the original gravity readings from each batch, I know that the actual original gravity closely matches the calculated original gravity. To maximize the brewing efficiency of the system I ask to have my grain double crushed when I order them from my local home brew shop. I also mash the grains for 90 minutes followed by a 10 minute mash out before lifting the grains from the kettle to sparge them with 168F water.  

I have found that the percentage of alpha acid in hops can vary quite a lot depending on the year they were harvested and even between the different brands available for purchase. This difference makes it important to set the alpha acid values up in the brewing software so that they match the alpha acid value of the hops used in a recipe. The closer you can get the brewing software settings to match those of the brewing system and the ingredients used in a recipe better the chances are that the finished beer will come out as expected.

The Original Gravity Sample Color Looks Perfect

The first time I brewed using an electric brew in a bag system I had to figure out how much grain and brewing water would fit inside my kettle without causing it to overflow during the mash. With eBIAB systems heating the strike water, mashing the grains, sparging and then boiling the wort are all done in a single vessel. Before being able to successfully brew beer on an eBIAB brewing system, after having brewed for years on a traditional three tier brewing system, I had to learn a different set of calculations. Having a separate hot liquor tank, mash tun and brew kettle made calculating mash thickness and preboil volumes pretty straightforward because the three vessels combined provided more volume to work with. The volume calculations when using only a single vessel took a little more thought since all three processes had to share the same space.

With eBIAB brewing the strike water and grain used in the mash are added to the kettle at the beginning of the mash. The grain is placed inside of a fine mesh bag so that the sugars can be extracted into the wort while preventing any grain from getting into the kettle. At the end of the mash the mesh bag and grain are raised above the wort, rinsed with sparge water and then discarded. Once the wort is heated to a boil the remainder of any eBIAB brewing process is exactly the as any other type of brewing process.

The 1.056 Original Gravity Reading

It may take a few brew days to become familiar with all of the volume calculations involved when first attempting eBIAB brewing. I found that using brewing software like ezBIAB Calculator© helped to make all of the kettle size, water, grain and hop volume calculations easy to do. After entering the kettle size in gallons and the amount of grains and hops that will be used in the mash, brewing software makes it easy to run what-if type calculations to answer all eBIAB brewing questions related to kettle size, water, grain and hop volumes.   

11.75 gallons: Pre-boil Volume
10.00 gallons: Packaged Volume
Efficiency: 70%
Estimated Wort : IBU=38, OG=1.051, SRM=12, FG=1.013, ABV= 5.0%
Actual  Wort : IBU=38, OG=1.056, SRM=12, FG=1.012, ABV= 5.9%
BU:GU Ratio     :         38      /        56 = .6785 Range: 0.25 (sweet) to 1.0 (bitter)

Mash at 154° F for 90 minutes
Mashout at at 168° F for 10 minutes
Sparge at 168° F until 11.75 gallons of wort has collected in the kettle



Summing It All Up

I like to record the highlights of each brew day soon after I finish brewing. After transferring the fermented beer into kegs I was able to take a good look inside the fermentors. I noticed how tightly packed the WLP 810 yeast was on the bottom of the fermentor, it appeared to had the consistency plaster. The remaining beer that was sitting on top of the yeast cake remained clear even after it had been sloshing around over it. The other thing I noticed was how hard and tough the krausen ring created during the fermentation was. The ring was hard and crusty unlike the rings left behind when fermenting beer using other yeast strains like US-04 or WLP-400.      

Yeast And Beer Stone Left In Fermentor After Kegging The Beer

Near the end of the boil wort was pumped through a counter flow chiller to sanitize the inside of the chiller and to create a whirl pool in the kettle. The hops used during the boil for bittering, flavor and aroma were removed from the kettle before adding the final knock out hop additions. It took about fifteen minutes for the wort to settle down inside the kettle allowing the cold break to fall below the valve opening. Once the wort had cleared it was run through the counter-flow chiller and then collected in the fermentors.

The 1.012 Final Gravity Reading

The fermenting beer was held at 65F throughout most of the primary fermentation before the temperature was raised one degree each day for three consecutive days. Once the final gravity had been reached the beer was cold crashed at 36F for three days it and then kegged and force carbonated using 15 psi for ten days. While California Steamin' will be ready to drink ten days after kegging allowing it another four weeks to condition will help the beer to achieve peak flavor before serving it. 

Screwy's California Steamin' Common Beer

The preferred serving temperature for the California Steamin' beer really depends on your own personal preference and can vary from one beer drinker to another. For a crisper pour I like to serve my beer at 36F and then finish the glass before the beer reaches 45F. As the beer warms above 45F the crispness will begin to fade allowing more of the malt flavor and hop aroma to become noticeable. Pour yourself a tall glass and then savor every sip as you enjoy the full range of crispness, flavor and aroma this beer has to offer. You will be glad you did!

Using The Blichmann BeerGun™

This month I share my very first experience using the Blichmann BeerGun™ to fill up some 12 ounce bottles. Previously in last month's update I documented how I connected the BeerGun™ to my existing kegging system. Since getting the beer gun connected I was able to brew a batch of my Orange Sunshine Belgian Witbier and put it on tap. This beer tasted so good and I enjoyed drinking it so much that I decided to bottle it up and take it with me on vacation. So with ten gallons of this delicious tasting beer force carbonated and ready to drink all I had to do was sanitize some bottles, hook the beer gun up and fill them up for the trip. 

I started to appreciate the benefits of filling bottles with carbonated beer right away. Having the same level of carbonation in your bottled beer as you have in your draft beer is definitely a huge plus. For one thing you no longer have to wait weeks for natural carbonation to occur then hope the beer had carbonated the way you planned. Bottling beer cold right from the same keg you've been pouring your drafts from eliminates any inconsistencies in carbonation levels. Another added bonus is not having to worry about the trub produced from priming sugar clouding up the beer. This becomes even more important when transporting or shipping bottles as they lay on their side getting jostled around.

Blichmann Beer Gun All Ready To Fill Some Bottles

Getting A Handle On The Handle

The first time I used the BeerGun™ to fill bottles it took me a little while to figure out the best way to maneuver it around the brew room. At first I wasn't used to working with something that trailed beer and Co2 lines behind it wherever it went. It didn't take long before I learned how to grip the gun comfortably enough to try and fill a few bottles. Soon after filling those first bottles it was easy to remember how the gun worked. Pressing the small button valve released Co2 from the tip of the beer gun into the bottle to purge it of oxygen. The flat handled valve when pulled back slowly released cold carbonated beer from the tip of the gun filling the bottles from the bottom up.
 
The steps required to fill the bottles were simple enough. Stick the beer gun barrel into the bottle until the tip touches the bottom of the bottle. Press the button valve for a few seconds to release Co2 inside the bottle to purge any oxygen from the bottle. Pull the flat handle valve to release cold beer into the bottle filling it up from the bottom to the top. With the bottle filled with beer remove the gun from the bottle and then place the tip of the gun even with the top of the bottle. Press the Co2 button valve and release it to replace any oxygen in the neck of the bottle with Co2. Lay a bottle cap on top of the bottle loosely to prevent anything from falling inside and to hold the Co2 in place until you're ready to cap the bottle.

Co2 Connections Go To Beer Gun And Keg

Get Organized And Keep It Cool

I found it much easier to move the gun and tubing around from place to place when both the gas and beer lines were neatly twist tied together. In this way the two lines acted like a single line with both bending and flexing together at the same time. Doing this kept the lines from twisting and kinking and putting a lot of unwanted strain on the gun itself. When filling six or more bottles at a time having as little resistance as possible on the gun makes the job of filling bottles much easier to do.    

When filling the bottles I recommend putting the bottles in a container deep enough to hold any beer that is sure to be spilled. I didn't use one and had to hose down the unpainted brewroom floor once I was done bottling, that's probably not something you will want to do inside your home though. Another thing I did was to setup my filling station so that the beer in the kegs would stay cold inside the refrigerator the entire time the bottles were being filled. The beer and gas lines sneak out through the small opening left between the refrigerator and the door's gasket. Filling chilled bottles with nice cold beer is the best way to reduce or eliminate foaming when bottling.

Cold Carbonated Beer In The Refrigerator And Beer Gun Ready To Go

I came up with a brilliant idea for chilling down bottles after they have been sanitized without having to put them inside a freezer. A large cooler holds about 30 twelve ounce bottles standing up with bottle caps loosely covering their tops. With the bottles covered so nothing falls inside them I carefully laid mats of frozen ice packs on top of the bottle caps and closed the cooler lid. By the time I finished sanitizing the beer gun and connecting the Co2 and beer lines the bottles had all been chilled down nice and cold and were ready for filling. I found that filling the cold bottles with the inside of the bottles still slightly wet with sanitizer helped to reduce foaming even more. 

Sanitized Bottles With Loose Bottle Caps On Top

The cold ice packs placed on top of the bottle caps does a great job of cooling down the bottles in preparation for filling. When filling them I was surprised to see that many of the bottle caps had sealed tightly to the tops of the bottles creating a slight vacuum that could be felt when lifting the caps off. It's always important to maintain good sanitization practices during the filling process especially if you plan on storing your bottled beer for several months before drinking it.

Reusable Ice Packs Are A Good Way To Chill Bottles

Settle In And Get Comfortable

I like to fill my bottles while I'm sitting in a chair and the bottles, caps and capper are on the floor next to me. This way I can reach into the cooler and get six or so bottles ready to fill and then cap them without having to get up. Once you get yourself organized the plan should be to rip through the filling process as quickly as possible. Even when using a beer gun the process of bottling beer is not exactly in my top five list of fun things to do.

Getting Comfortably Setup And Organized Saves Time

For my setup I turned the Co2 gauge down to read between 3-4 pounds of pressure. I found that setting worked the best to push the beer into the bottles without foaming while providing enough force to purge the bottles of air before and after filling them. I first inserted the barrel of the gun down to the bottom of the bottle and pressed the Co2 button for a few seconds to replace any room air in the bottle with Co2. Doing this will help to preserve the beer and prevent it from oxidizing while stored in the bottle.

Purge Room Air From Bottle With Co2 Before Adding Beer

Filling The Bottles With Beer

With everything needed for bottling laid out and within easy reach it didn't take long for the process to develop a nice rhythm. Remove the cap then purge the air, fill with beer then purge the air, replace the cap then do the next, then cap, then cap, then cap... In between all the filling and purging eventually you'll need to put the beer gun down for a while to use both hands for something. Having a bottle or container that's filled with StarSan and sturdy enough to hold the gun without tipping over comes in handy. I also kept a small dump container nearby to use when emptying beer from the gun or bottles if needed.

In Between Fills Put Your Gun In A Holster That Won't Tip Over

The barrel diameter of the beer gun is designed so it will leave just the right amount of headspace above the beer once the bottle has been filled and the gun removed. By placing the tip of the barrel just above the top of the bottle and giving the Co2 valve a short squeeze any air in the headspace will be replaced with Co2. This extra step is recommended especially if you plan to store your bottled beer for an extended period of time. After only a few tries the task of purging room air from the headspace in the bottles became intuitive and very easy to do.

Purge Room Air From Headspace With Co2 Before Capping

Simple Care And Maintenance

Soon after a bottle filling session it's important to clean out the beer line and gun in order to keep it working like new. Cleaning the gun and line is no different than cleaning out your beer tap and serving lines. A corny keg connected to a Co2 gauge and filled with a half gallon of StarSan works perfectly to flush any beer out of the gun. After pushing about a quart of StarSan solution through the beer line and gun replace the StarSan in the keg with clean warm water and repeat the process.  

One brewer I know reported having an issue with the little rubber stopper on the end of the beer gun. He claimed the rubber stopper on his gun became soft and sticky after an extended time sitting in StarSan. For that one reason alone I prefer to give the gun and lines a good rinse with clean warm water after running StarSan through them. Another brewer claimed the rubber stopper on his gun came off and landed inside the bottle he was filling. Once that happened the only way to stop the beer from flowing was to disconnect the beer line from the keg.

After filling about 60 bottles I haven't had either of those things happen to me. Fortunately replacement parts for the Blichmann BeerGun™ are readily available in case you need to order additional parts at any time. The replacement tip can currently be ordered from the Adventures In Homebrewing website for less than $3.00 USD. You can also order Blichmann BeerGun™ replacement parts from any of their many authorized dealers.


It's All Good

It's been nearly a week now since I returned home from vacation where the real test of the beer I bottled took place. Out of the 30 bottles I took with me only three of them found their way back home. The rest of the beers were shared with some of my beer loving family members who really liked it a lot. The Orange Sunshine Belgian Witbier is a nice refreshing session beer that's just perfect on hot summer days and warm summer nights. More than that each beer was evenly carbonated and very clean tasting right out of the cooler even after a 110 mile drive down the Garden State Parkway.

Looking back I have nothing but fond memories of a vacation shared with family, filled with good food and plenty of great tasting beer. For me nothing could have been more rewarding than to have tested out a new bottling method and knowing it passed with flying colors. Going by the results of a long holiday weekend get away I have every reason to think bottling beer for long term storage will prove to be just as successful as this short run. In fact I have ten gallons of my Hiphopapocalypse IPA that's nearly ready for packaging and plan on using my Blichmann BeerGun™ again soon.