Review: Blichmann Beer Gun 2

I still had some tax-refund money burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought a Blichmann New BeerGun from Home Brewing Warehouse. I had been using a macgyvered beer gun made up of a picnic tap and bottling wand to bottle beer for competition. It seemed to work OK, but the judges consistently pointed out the carbonation was low. The time had come for a purpose-built beer gun.

The New Beer Gun in its case

What's In the Box?

Blichmann has a reputation for making quality stuff, and it was evident the moment I unboxed it. Inside the plastic case is the New Beer Gun, a roughly 6' gas line, a cleaning brush a 10ft beer line with a MFL attachment on one end, a liquid MFL quick disconnect and the ever-important instructions. Most of these small parts were sold by Blichmann as a separate kit, but they've been included here.

The New Beer Gun with gas line, beer line, cleaning brush
and liquid MFL quick disconnect

The New Beer Gun looks more like a gun. It has a molded plastic grip that reminds me of a semi-automatic pistol. It's comfortable to hold, with an ambidextrous thumb lever for CO2 and a trigger for beer. The previous model had exposed pipe, so the operator's hand would slightly warm the beer during filling and cramp up during long bottling sessions. The gas line runs from your CO2 tank to a connection at the bottom of the handle (or - sticking with the semi-auto pistol metaphor - where the magazine well would be). The beer line goes from your keg and slips over the back end of the fill tube (or the breech of the barrel). At first, this seems like a bad idea, but the gun is meant to be used at low pressures (<4 PSI).

Gas attaches at bottom of handle, while beer
line simply slides over end of fill tube

The barrel is two pieces, with the fill tube running inside a larger diameter gas tube. Pressing down on the CO2 lever opens a valve and sends gas down to purge the barrel. (The guys at Brulosophy recently did an experiment putting the older Beer Gun up against bottling with a picnic tap. They purged the bottles for 45 seconds.) Pulling the trigger pulls the beer tubs back from a small rubber ball clipped to the end of the gas tube.

"Muzzle" of Beer Gun barrel with the trigger fully open.
Photo: Blichmann Engineering

Filling bottles

I hooked everything up and started filling 6 bottles for an upcoming competition. I first hooked the Beer Gun up to my keg of Star-San and ran a quick blast through it to sanitize. Mechanically, the Beer Gun worked great. I had the pressure up too high, so I got more foaming than I would have liked. Blichmann recommends slowly releasing pressure on the keg, then putting on just enough pressure to push the beer. I chill my bottles before filling to reduce foam, so I also recommend chilling the Beer Gun and tubing before filling to reduce foaming.

Cleaning Up

This thing breaks down easily for cleaning and requires no tools. The back end of the trigger slips into a notch on the beer tube. Simply pop it out, and then slide the barrel off the handle. The rubber stopper pops off easily. The gas parts stay put, but something would have to go horribly wrong to require cleaning. The cleaning brush is just the right size for cleaning the barrel. Blichmann advises against long soaks in PBW-like cleaners as it can damage the steel.

To Sum Up: It's a Buy If You Bottle A Lot

Like so many brew toys, the New Beer Gun is great if you need it. If you keg and rarely bottle, save your coin. But if you pull off many bottles for competitions or giving away, it's well worth a look.