I've bought a bottling machine.

[Bodger]

My wife and I went to The Welsh perry and Cider Show a few weeks ago and while we were there, we picked this up.

Its a four bottle bottle filler for bottling cider, apple juice or any other liquid. Its gravity fed and uses a ballcock to govern the flow into each bottle.

We picked it up in Hereford and I was really chuffed to get it. A couple of days before, I'd popped into the Vigo showroom and seen a similar model with a price tag of £1600 plus vat on it. I paid less than a quarter of this without the vat.


I've had this piece of equipment for a few weeks now and although its nice and shiney to look at, now I've got to incorporate it into a system.

I need to site it so that there's a header tank above and then be able to run apple juice down from it into the bottling machine. The header needs to be a bucket or tank with a capacity of around five gallons with a tap in it.

I'll also need to be able to pump juice into the header tank. The juice will have to go into buckets from the press and stand over night while the sediment sttles before it can be pumped up to the header tank.

I need suggestions on making a suitable header tank and on which sort of pump to use. I'll be dealing with around 50 gallons of juice at a time.

 

[aneray]

Lovely piece of shiny there Bodger :clap:

I can't say that it would be much use in my brewing shed when it is built in the next few weeks :mrgreen:

 

[Bodger]

I've got to try and make it twinkle within the next couple of months.

 

[Bodger]

Help.

In the next week or so, I need to buy a header tank with a capacity of between 15 and 25 gallons.
The apple juice needs to stand in it for a few hours, possibly overnight, before we run the juice down into the bottling machine. I need it to have an open top but with a lid to keep fruit flies etc out but it needs to have easy access, so that the sediment can be taken out easily and the tank cleaned.
Then it needs to have a tap on it about two inches from the bottom so that the sediment thats collected isn't disturbed when the juice is run off down to the bottling machine.
Help! Finding and deciding on a suitable header tank is the main thing holding me back. Plastic is going to be my best option at this stage but if I make a go of this scheme then stainless steel will be the next step.

The tank needs to be above the bottling machine so that gravity can do its work and somewhere between the two vessels, I'll have to have a funnel with a straining sock

 

[screamlead]

If it were me m8 - i would start the juice off in a barrel or something to let the juice and sediment settle out, then syphon or pump into a header tank. Maybe one of those used for hot/cold water systems in attics? B&Q maybe??
Also 25 gallons is going to be quite heavy too - 100kg so would need some serious bracing to hold it up for gravity feed - maybe a pump from ground level to filler may work better?
As for keeping flies and stuff out - i always use large sheets of muslin tied on with knicker elastic to keep the critters at bay - not had a problem yet and do my ferments that way too.

 

[guyb]

thinking cheaply to see how it goes you could use a 5 gallon wine fermenter with a tap - as said previously 25gallons is some serious weight.

You could use some speefit pushfit fittings - tank connector, elbows etc - these are pretty cheap and versatile and can be re-used if you need to change it.

as an idea Wickes do a 25 gallon header tank for £42, and lid for £16 http://www.wickes.co.uk/heating/heating ... cylinders/

As Screamlead asked, do you need to let the sediment settle out in the header tank? it might save you supporting 25gallons unnecessarily.

Just a thought.

 

[brewzone]

200L plastic fermenter third from bottom of page

Hope this is of some help.

 

[Swift Pint]

Or theres the ex-chtuney drum route, would just need to fit a tap.

http://www.smithsofthedean.co.uk/miscellaneous.htm