CIMEC or Meheen for startup...

[Boatrocker]

Hi everyone, I know this may seem like a stupid question, but would love your opinions...
We are weighing up whether we find the extra cash for a small 12/1 head rotary CIMEC machine or go with a Meheen 6 head filler...
With the exception of the ability to change bottle shapes, what other advantages are there with the CIMEC? Am I missing something? Both machines run at ~2000pbh, both have double pre-evac & CO2 purge, but the Meheen is a LOT cheaper...

Cheers,

Matt
Boatrocker Brewing Company

[lhall]

I don't think the Meheens run at 83 cases an hour with the double pre-evac. Might want to check that.

[dfalken]

I'd be curious to hear others' opinions of small rotary fillers vs a meheen. Also sharing experiences with Chinese rotary fillers which are more comparable to Meheen prices for possibly faster fillers would be appreciated.

[Laughing Dog]

Meheen

we run 2 different Meheen bottlers a 22 a 12 oz machine
have run tests with both pre-evac and double pre-evac the difference is so negligible that you cannot tell the two apart while the double pre-evac can slow the machine down we find its about 1.5 seconds per cycle it really doesn’t need to be on with the first evac and the long tubes.
Our 12 oz machine runs at a consistent 80 cases and hour the 22 oz runs right at 120 an hour, we run 2.52 Volumes of Co2 with the pressure on fill to the machines right at 15-16 PSI. make sure the beer is between 32-34 degrees Fahrenheit and your bottle rinse water is cold as well.
we get good consistent fills . we also pre-label our bottles but that does not affect the fill speed

Fred
Laughing Dog Brewing

[Lagergnome]

Laughing Dog:
That is very helpful on the cold water sanitization...pull from the cold liquor when using PAA...Why didn't I think of that!
Thanks for the tip-
JP