Barrels -emptying

[mmussen]

Never used a bulldog. Loved the rack-it-teer when I had one. Fantastic piece of kit.

FYI - we used to attach ours to a pump - that way we'd push with CO2 just long enough to prime the pump then used the pump to get the beer into the brite tank faster. We'd do barrels in just a couple min each. Helps when you've got 100+ to move in a day.

[ziggy13]

I was just about to purchase the Bulldog from GW Kent, then I found this thread. Now I don't know what to do. Thanks for all the great info guys. Anyone else have any input?

[ChristianSA]

We are looking to empty our Bourbon Barrel Stout into our brite tank and are having difficulty using a siphon to do this. Does anyone have any advice , techniques, or specialized equipment to help us? Its taking 5-6 hours to empty a 53 gallon barrel and we are most likely oxidizing the beer. Any help would be appreciated.

These guys seems to know what they're doing :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOiaUfnTGg

[aaron inkrott]

Bulldog....however if you want to splurge, the rackitteer.com is gaining popularity. We've racked well over a thousand barrels using the bulldog. We set CO2 to 10-12psi and barrels are emptied in less than 7 minutes.

[Bainbridge]

Yep. Just be extra mindful of whether the gas is flowing, and whether it has anywhere to go. So for example, if we're emptying just one single barrel we'll jump it into kegs and carbonate in them, then break everything down into sixtels later on. (Our brite's too big to handle just 1-2bbls.) So if you shut the vent valve on the filling head, also shut off the co2 to the bulldog while you swap kegs so it doesn't keep pressurizing the barrel needlessly.

[mikeyrb1]

We've use a bulldog for a few years and I usually shoot for somewhere in the 10-15psi range. Never blown sides out of the barrel, but I've popped the bulldog up to the ceiling once. I empty a barrel in about 20-30 minutes usually.

[Cornbread]

Interesting. I'm just hearding 2-3 psi. I'm skeptical of that being enough to move any liquid. Glad 10 psi is on the upper end of blowing a barrel end out. Thanks!

[Bainbridge]

Actual Bulldogs recommend 15 psi max. So we figure GW's knockoff is probably close to that. I typically run ours at 10psi just to be on the safer side.

[Cornbread]

Sorry to revive an old thread. I have some 20-23 year barrels ready for draining in a few weeks. I have a bulldog from GWKent. What pressures of CO2 should I use to push the beer out?

[fastricky]

This one is very gentle on the product because it is a screw style not an impeller pump.

http://www.flux-pumpen.de/us/type_F550_S.html

This looks like the ticket!

[fastricky]

I used the GWKent unit recently and it sealed in the bung hole just fine. So well in fact the pressure blew out the side of 2 barrels!! Pretty scary, and this was not at high pressure. I swore after that to never use a "bulldog" type of device in barrels again, I'll be looking into one of those pumps.

[kabrewku]

At a couple different breweries we've made our selves a "ghetto bulldog." Basically we take a silicone barrel bung drill two holes and then insert a stainless dip tube in one "port" (old corny dip tube works, although may be short.) And co2 to the other "port" you have to stand there holding the bung in, but it is cheaper then a bull dog.

[DBrewer]

Get the pump...A diaphragm pump. The others may work but I can't say that I have any experience with them for this application

We use one similar and it works very very well. It is fast and can be used for many other applications...They are also fairly easy to CIP.

[ChesterBrew]

Gerard,

There was an earlier thread regarding emptying a barrel, and it seemed to indicate that the Bulldog left much to be desired. I've never used one so can't give an opinion on it, but thought you may wish to see this info if you missed the thread:

http://probrewer.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85966&postcount=6

We gave up on our GW Kent Bulldog. The thing is made in China and basically is a very bad copy of a 'Bulldog' that is made for the wine industry.

There is something even better than the Bulldog...it is known as the
'Rack it Teer'. Matt Bryndilson of Firestone Walker co designed it with the manufacterer.

There are very crucial parts on the device that totally blow away the GWK thing.

Probably most importantly is the bung has a locking lever for the bung which causes it to expand and thus the barrel can be pressurized with significantly more pressure than the GWK thing can handle. To much and the GWK will literally lauch itself.

The Rack it teer will empty a barrel in 3 minutes! No lie! It will completely empty it too!

The GWK thing will not and because the bung doesn't lock you have to mess with it and it wastes lots of time.

Our barrel program is seasonal and we empty almost 200 barrels overf the course of a month. The time saved equaled money as labor and over time was lowered.

http://www.rackitteer.com/product.php

Check it out!

Tash

[Terroir]

Bulldog bullcrap

Any tips on getting a good fit with the bulldog in a wine barrel?
I constantly bust up my knuckles, can't get a good grip; can't get it in deep enough to get it tight enough to hold enough pressure to really move the beer.
...and, I just busted off the co2 port, trying to hammer the whole piece down with a rubber mallet.

I like purging the barrel as you transfer, makes it nice for the next fill and the bulldog sure looks cool. But I think I've had better luck with just drilling two holes in a bung; hammering it down tight, small pipe for co2, and racking cane to push out beer.

-Gerard