[abraxas]

For a few bottles the racking cane burp stopper method works great.  I've heard some horror stories about spraying beer everywhere if your not careful but haven't run into them myself...  Seems like this problem would be minimized by cold temp and/or a splash shield.

[gordonstrong]

I think the Beer Gun is probably the easiest bottle filler I ever used.  I've tried maybe four different CP fillers over the years, but the BBG wins hands down in ease of use and performance.

I got it as a gift (from someone who wasn't just spending my/our money, so it really was a gift), so I didn't have to make the decision if it was worth it or not.  I guess not, since I didn't go buy it myself.  But I rarely bottle a keg's worth of beer.  I don't know that I'd break it out for less than a half keg's worth of beer, though, because I'd spend any time savings cleaning the thing afterwards.

You can rationalize not buying it on cost, but I don't think you can on engineering, manufacturing, or performance.  It works exactly as promised.

[majorvices]

It strikes me as absurdly simple how easy it would be with a few minor modifications to turn a BG into a CPBF. A stopper drilled with a hole adequately large enough to fill the BG post and a smaller hole to let Co2 out slowly (and under pressure) while you fill. Perhaps put your finger over relief hole to get it started under pressure.

[tschmidlin]

It strikes me as absurdly simple how easy it would be with a few minor modifications to turn a BG into a CPBF. A stopper drilled with a hole adequately large enough to fill the BG post and a smaller hole to let Co2 out slowly (and under pressure) while you fill. Perhaps put your finger over relief hole to get it started under pressure.

I agree, it would be absurdly easy.  My question is, why?  It gives great results, and as Gordon said, it works exactly as promised.

[micsager]

I think the Beer Gun is probably the easiest bottle filler I ever used.  I've tried maybe four different CP fillers over the years, but the BBG wins hands down in ease of use and performance.

I got it as a gift (from someone who wasn't just spending my/our money, so it really was a gift), so I didn't have to make the decision if it was worth it or not.  I guess not, since I didn't go buy it myself.  But I rarely bottle a keg's worth of beer.  I don't know that I'd break it out for less than a half keg's worth of beer, though, because I'd spend any time savings cleaning the thing afterwards.

You can rationalize not buying it on cost, but I don't think you can on engineering, manufacturing, or performance.  It works exactly as promised.

Agreed, and I only hook up Co2 if filling for competition.

[majorvices]

It strikes me as absurdly simple how easy it would be with a few minor modifications to turn a BG into a CPBF. A stopper drilled with a hole adequately large enough to fill the BG post and a smaller hole to let Co2 out slowly (and under pressure) while you fill. Perhaps put your finger over relief hole to get it started under pressure.

I agree, it would be absurdly easy.  My question is, why?  It gives great results, and as Gordon said, it works exactly as promised.

I guess for those people who think the CPBF is better - kind of best of both worlds. Plus, it does help keep down on the foam by filling them under pressure.

[marty]

love the beer gun, I wouldn't trade it in for anything

but you do have to keep a spare valve seat around
http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/beer-gun-valve-seat.html

you don't want to start bottling and find out you lost that piece during cleaning

[marty]

I guess for those people who think the CPBF is better - kind of best of both worlds. Plus, it does help keep down on the foam by filling them under pressure.

If someone is getting excessive foam with a beer gun then it's either a too short beer line, or a kink in the line. Adding pressure to the bottle would be addressing a symptom instead of correcting the issue.

The Beer Gun wasn't designed without counter pressure, it was designed to not need counter pressure.

[tschmidlin]

I guess for those people who think the CPBF is better - kind of best of both worlds. Plus, it does help keep down on the foam by filling them under pressure.

I guess I could see that, although as Marty says, you don't need CP to reduce the foam.  That's ok though, whatever works for people.

[susanr]

Have to say I use both a cpf and a beer gun -(Homemade CPF) won the beer gun at a competition and it sat there for about a year - then I discovered how great it is for filling bottles of Mead straight from the carboy. - haven't quite adapted it to filling beer bottles yet - I am a creature of habit - but I can see that it wouldn't be that hard. - I really do love it for filling Mead bottles tho - can do an entire 6 gallon carboy in about a half hour - really a humongous improvement over the Phil's filler that I was using - I push the Mead with CO2 - and even at very low pressure the Phil's filler always dripped and made a mess - the Beer Gun is perfect for this.