Bottle Filler

[BrewStew]

i dunno, it hasn't arrived yet :lol:

i would hope that it's openable so you can clean and thoroughly sanitise it, then close it back up.

i'd like to think that oxidization was thought about during it's design. i guess i wont know till i try it!

 

[Aleman]

I've seen one of these in use. the reservoir is open, oxidation is not an issue as its intended to be used for bottle conditioning . . The yeast mops up any oxygen added during the conditioning phase. When we were using it we flushed the bottles with CO2 with a long pipe to the bottom of the bottle before filling them, and then a quick squirt with CO2 before capping. The beer had been casked a couple of degrees short of its final gravity so that no additional priming sugar is required . . . although this is something that could always be added.

It will not work with carbonated beer.

 

[BrewStew]

thanks for clearing that up mate

saved me from wasting beer :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

I got the filler today, and to be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I opened up the packaging and had a good look at it. it's build quality looks like it was made by a 12 year old chinese slave worker lots of bits that needed work on my part to get fully functional. I very nearly sent the thing back because for £185 I was expecting something ALOT more robust and in thicker STAINLESS steel, not out of something as thin as a tin can. i think it's description is misleading, and will be ringing up Winepress4U tomorrow about it because frankly it is not completely stainless steel as the description suggests. the lid is clearly blued as it has the rainbow colours, and the working pieces are also blued, and showing early signs of oxidisation.

the fourth spout appeared to have had the end stop put in twice (ie it had two end stops crammed in the spout) which obstructed the small cut to let the beer/wine flow through. i had to spend 20 mins with a stanley knife to try and remove the obstruction as it was taking 8 times (i timed it) longer to fill a bottle than the other three. it is now working better, filling bottles to about 3/4 full by the time the others are done. with a dremel i reckon i can remove the last of it and get it working as good as the others.

then onto the pipe connector and it's tap. the tap was seized stuck, and needed pliers to free. but then here comes the oddest bit of the lot. the pipe that the pipe connector is welded to doesn't have anything in the end to stop the beer/wine flowing straight onto the floor. i had to cut down and ram a wine cork in it before i even thought about using it. but this is actually a blessing in disguise because the pipe connector with tap itself is actually of too smaller bore to allow a good enough flow rate into the tank, without having to wait 10 mins for it to fill enough for four bottles. so i will be closing the filler tap off, and mounting a tube to the bigger bore pipe anyways.

then the float. when testing with water, the float didn't seem to want to completely close. had i have left it to it's own devices, it would've spilled water all over the floor. it needed alot of adjusting and bending things :shock: to get it to close properly.

after all that though i though **** it, it now works, it's still made of metal, and with good care should still last a fare few years. so decided i might as well give it a go rather than sending it back to only get another one just as dodgy. so out came the Elderberry wine

it took about 30 mins to do 26 bottles (and corked!) even with a few hiccups and teething problems that were mostly me getting used to the way it works. i had to regularly wait for the tank to fill up too... if i had the correct adaptor i could've attached my bucket to the bigger bore pipe, which would have removed this issue totally. i also had to tip the filler in a funky fashion to get the last 3 litres that sit untouched at the bottom of the filler tank. this 3 litres left in the bottom will come in handy for live beers though as i think it'll act as a sediment trap ... if i find though that i'm not usually getting sediment, i might get a drill and some JBweld out and make a draining tap to get the last few bottles worth of beer out of it a little easier.

i'd also like to know a tip on getting the spouts to syphon without having to suck them. especially when you've got sanitiser about to flow through them... yeugh. oh yeah, you'll definitely want some spray on, no rinse sanitiser to hand.. and this is what slowed me down. If your tank runs too low, the syphon action on the filler spouts gets lost, and you have to suck them to get them going again... but you have to suck them hard to get the air bubble out... which left me spitting half conditioned raw wine all over the place :lol:

i reckon at full throttle, with a bit of a production line type thing of 3 people (one sanitising, one filling, one corking/capping), you could EASILY do 8-12 wine bottles per minute, maybe even 12-16 beer bottles per minute. i also reckon with practise, and everything laid out within easy reach, a single person on their own could have 80 beer bottles filled and capped within 15 mins flat if using the bigger bore pipe instead of the crappy filler tap.

conclusion: really not impressed with the build quality for the price... but i did get it working, and with a little practise it works really well! i'll still be ringing the boys at winepress4u to explain my issues even if they wont take it back now i've used it. but to be honest, i'm happy with it now it's working, so i will keep it :thumb:

 

[A T]

I think i would have just sent it back myself, well done for sticking in there and getting it working

 

[BrewStew]

like i said, i very nearly did, and probably should have... but for the sake of an hour of tweaking it's not all bad :)

in this step up to shiny i'll be teaking, drilling and god knows what anyways to get the brewery just how i want it... it just started early :lol:

 

[BrewStew]

Actually i just had an idea with the filler already.

i was thinking that because it's legs are so short, i'd like to have it sat on a table in the brewery. on a table because sometimes the bottles like to slip off, so i want something underneath like a table top to catch them instead of having smashing bottles. but because my fermenters will be on tables i'd have to pump the beer into the filler. now there lies a problem because the pump will just force the filler's float valve open and beer will spill everywhere unless a close eye is kept. so then i though about attaching a push to break switch onto the float valve... it's easily done i reckon... then hook the push to break up to an SSR, which is then hooked up to a pump... and presto, a super fast table mounted filler without needing to lift or position fermenters higher than the filling machine and no backache either! :thumb:

see i'm already thinking about pimping (butchering) it :lol:

 

[EskiBrew]

Nice idea but I see what you mean about poor quality

I'm surprised about having to suck to get the syphon effect - I can see why but it does seem like a design flaw.

Presumably the bottle stops filling when the level in the bottle is the same as in the header tank. When you remove the bottle, presumably the white thing on the end of the curved pipe is a rubber bung to prevent the syphon - how come when you remove a bottle, the beer/wine in the tube does not dribble out on the floor :hmm:

 

[BrewStew]

the bottle fills to the lip if your header tank is full. if your header tank isnt full then yes it fills the bottles to a level, which can be too low sometimes.

you get a small dribble that runs down the bottle but it does stop. when you take the bottle out the displacement of the filler spout leave exactly the right headspace in the bottle.

the filler spouts dont dribble when finished because as you say, the rubber bung in the tank stops flow. what's left in the tube doesn't dribble out because there is a funny shaped hole 10mm from the end that the beer/wine flows out of (then ends of those tubes are bunged too). when not filling this hole is just small enough that the beer/wine's "skin" for want of a better word, maybe elasticity even, stop it from flowing out the hole.

 

[EskiBrew]

Makes sense BS, cheers :thumb:

 

[Smod]

BrewStew, seeing how you like shinies and stuff you may want to buy one of these !!! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhXP1wgk ... re=related

:drink:

 

[BrewStew]

great tune playing in that i'm on a daft punk week with music this week weirdly.

great device! shame about the amount of head on it... my beers come out with much more when i pour them! :lol: