There’s nothing like having your own brew on tap whenever you want to knock back a cold one. But what happens when you want to take your suds on the road? When naturally carbonating beer, this isn’t a problem. Priming sugar is added and the beer is bottled. Two weeks later it’s ready to be taken anywhere (aside from over state lines). Kegging beer does have the drawback of a lack of portability; kegs are heavy, CO2 tanks are heavy, beer line gets tangled, kegs are hard to keep cold, etc.
They say necessity is the mother of invention and the need to bottle beer from a draft system has produced the beer gun. The idea behind the beer gun is to reduce pressure in the beer line to gently fill the bottle without losing carbonation. Other equipment needed to bottle includes: caps, a capper, and of course cleaned and sanitized bottles.
Bottling equipment: bottles, capper, caps, beer gun, and line
T0 use a beer gun requires a CO2 tank with a 2-way distributor or two regulators. One line needs to keep the keg pressurized while the other connects to the beer gun. The CO2 that is directed to the beer gun is used to purge air containing oxygen from the bottles before filling them. This is done my depressing a button on the gun.
Line is also run from the keg to the beer gun. As you can see from the picture above, this line is very long. The line must be long so that its resistance removes most of the pressure put on the beer from the CO2 in the keg. This will allow beer to pour slowly and smoothly into the bottles thereby keeping dissolved CO2 in solution and the beer carbonated.
The set up: two lines attach the CO2 tank to the beer gun and the keg.
Another line connects the keg to the gun
Bottles should be chilled before being filled. The cold temperature of the bottles will help CO2 stay in solution. After cooling the bottles, the barrel of the beer gun in placed into them so the tip touches the bottom. The trigger is pulled and beer flows out. When the bottle has been filled to the top, the gun is removed. The barrel of the gun displaces enough beer so when it is removed, the bottle is perfectly filled.
Filling the bottle
The bottle is then capped, and the beer is ready to be enjoyed anywhere!
Capping the bottle Good to go
