I have been gradually getting away from bottling and for the last half dozen brews or so, I have just kegged and not bothered with any bottles at all.
It is handy to had a few bottles on hand though, so I am wondering what is the best way to fill a dozen or so, when I am kegging the rest?
Does anyone have/use a beer gun?
Are they any good, or would I be better just separating 5 litres or so and priming it when I am kegging the rest?
Beer gun is OK for transferring beer to a bottle and consuming fairly quickly. For longer term storage of this beer you best use a counterpressure bottler as you get to remove more air by burping the bottle twice or thrice with co2 before you fill.
Yeah, I second Dempsey, I use a counter pressure jobbie and have opened beer a few months after bottling and it was perfect
Any recommendations of best one to use?
or where to get one?
Beer guns are great and much more convenient than counter pressure for comps and meets you just have to remember to put 10-20% more carbonation than you want as they loose a little in the process and like counter pressure best to have everything cold.
Advantage CP have is less foam but both flush with c02 and both fill below the co2 lines, both will draw a head of air in as you remove filler stem. I used to withdraw the beergun as I was filling which helped.
For the couple of bottles I fill a year now I use use a CP filler. Can be real fiddly and slower until you get the hang of it.