4 head bottle filler for $275

[kinetic]

Here is an image of our setup with 4 fillers. (Svartå Bryggeri, Finland) The carbon dioxide is connected through all four fillers and then to the beer tank. The beer is carbonated at room temperature in the tank and cooled on the way from the tank to the filler. The beer tank can handle pressure up to 3 bar and for normal carbonation levels, we use about 2,2 bar. Not the optimal setup, but we work with what we have. In the video by "Pilsner kokaren" you linked to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAu5o7QnFs), the filling is rather slow. By adjusting a screw on the backside of the filler you can increase the outflow of carbon dioxide. One person can fill and cap almost 200 half litre bottles in one hour with our setup. With 0,33L bottles, four fillers at once is too much to handle for only one person.

About the oxidation issue mentioned by soia1138. I understand that capping on foam is the preferred method, and a Meheen would be nice to have if it dropped out of the sky. But for a brewery of our scale, that is simply not an option. We considered a CP filler for about 8000 € when instead this solution came up. Does the same thing for a fraction of the cost. So far, we haven't experienced any problems with oxidation. Works well enough for us.

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This is exactly what I want to build. What kind of manifold are you using to distribute the beer among the 4 fillers?
I'm planning on having 2 operators to fill 0.33L bottles out of our 10 hL tanks, it might take the whole day but it's also the cheapest solution I've found, at least while we save some money for a more professional filler.

[morrillt]

Here is an image of our setup with 4 fillers. (Svartå Bryggeri, Finland) The carbon dioxide is connected through all four fillers and then to the beer tank. The beer is carbonated at room temperature in the tank and cooled on the way from the tank to the filler. The beer tank can handle pressure up to 3 bar and for normal carbonation levels, we use about 2,2 bar. Not the optimal setup, but we work with what we have. In the video by "Pilsner kokaren" you linked to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAu5o7QnFs), the filling is rather slow. By adjusting a screw on the backside of the filler you can increase the outflow of carbon dioxide. One person can fill and cap almost 200 half litre bottles in one hour with our setup. With 0,33L bottles, four fillers at once is too much to handle for only one person.

About the oxidation issue mentioned by soia1138. I understand that capping on foam is the preferred method, and a Meheen would be nice to have if it dropped out of the sky. But for a brewery of our scale, that is simply not an option. We considered a CP filler for about 8000 € when instead this solution came up. Does the same thing for a fraction of the cost. So far, we haven't experienced any problems with oxidation. Works well enough for us.

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How do you cool on the way to bottler?

[Svartåbryggaren]

This is exactly what I want to build. What kind of manifold are you using to distribute the beer among the 4 fillers?
I'm planning on having 2 operators to fill 0.33L bottles out of our 10 hL tanks, it might take the whole day but it's also the cheapest solution I've found, at least while we save some money for a more professional filler.

How do you cool on the way to bottler?

A really simple solution: two levels of Y-connections. First split occurs before the cooling device (One of these, used in bars to cool the beer on the way to the tap: http://www.öltappen.se/sv/kylare/) so the beer goes through two cooling spirals. The flow rate would be to small if I used only one. Then they split again, so I get four hoses to the fillers in the end. Primitive, but working.

My experience with working together with someone else on the machine is that using two operators does not double the fill rate. So if you are in a hurry to empty the tank, use two. If you need to optimize the amount of total hours used, use one.

[morrillt]

Perfecting this baby

So I posted before, and was having lots issues with foam, I got it a lot better by just cranking up the pressure to 15 in the bottle 18 on the regulator.... but I still have a couple fine points to adjust.

I think there are 2 points of inspiration from the "Manual Easy filler" that I would love to integrate (video of said filler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui82TaWaWHM)

1.)I feel like there is too much time spent adjusting the cork, and issues when its not perfect, sideleaks or leaks through the top of the cork. I would prefer a solution thats more like a stopper, like above, anyone tried that? Anyone else finding the cork to be a pain point?

2.)Dropping head pressure before pulling cork off. I find myself getting shot in the eye with beer too often. I know i can turn the pressure down on the adjust valve to drop it, but i dont particularly like doing it because then I am just twisting knobs back and forth all day. I prefer to more set and forget the knobs.

3.)Last thing, is venting air in the manifold. I am not sure if this is responsible for some of the inconsistent pressures I am experiencing. Should I be worried about burping air at all?

Thanks a bunch!
Todd

[morrillt]

also

i am laying out our brewery floorplan right now and planning on bottling 10bbls a day, what would be an adequate amount of space (assume I store bottles offsite) for bottling

[Smlsound]

i am laying out our brewery floorplan right now and planning on bottling 10bbls a day, what would be an adequate amount of space (assume I store bottles offsite) for bottling

Not sure what you're asking but I'll take a stab. If you're asking how much space that would be to store bottles it would be a lot. 10 BBL of bombers is about 150 cases. Most pallets only get stacked with a max of 120 if they're "double stacked" that puts the pallet at about as tall as the inside of a truck container. Which come with around 21 of those depending on how good the packer is. You'd need a full container every 3.5 weeks

If you're asking operationally how much room it takes to bottle by hand it takes enough to room to have a sanitation section usually a sink or large basin to fit the pump and bottle racks. Then the bottler and some space to go in between sink and bottler. Then enough space to cap and label. I also would count on enough space for two pallets. One with empty bottles and one empty pallet to stack filled cases on. Plus, keep in mind, unless you have crazy distribution you need LOTS of cold room space. Can't let that beer get warm. We usually have distro come get the stuff the day we package it so it never toucheseen our cold space.

Hope that helps

[soia1138]

i am laying out our brewery floorplan right now and planning on bottling 10bbls a day, what would be an adequate amount of space (assume I store bottles offsite) for bottling

You plan on manually bottling 10bbls per day? How big is your staff? Do you plan on brewing at all? Have you ever manually bottled 10bbls?

[HitB Brewery]

cans

Anyone try using this to fill cans? If one took an appropriately sized bung for the can, i see no reason why it wouldn't work.

Thoughts?

[WitsEnd]

Anyone try using this to fill cans? If one took an appropriately sized bung for the can, i see no reason why it wouldn't work.

Thoughts?

The pressure might be a bit more than the can bung can handle. On a bottle, the ~12psi has a very small surface area due to the smaller bung.

A bung the size of a can is quite a bit larger and will have much greater force on it.

Not saying it won't work, just something to be aware of.

[kinetic]

The pressure might be a bit more than the can bung can handle. On a bottle, the ~12psi has a very small surface area due to the smaller bung.

A bung the size of a can is quite a bit larger and will have much greater force on it.

Not saying it won't work, just something to be aware of.

For that same reason, wouldn't something like a beer gun/last straw make more sense for filling cans? If you are on a tight budget you can build something based on that and get a manual can seamer.

[AndrewF]

Anyone had success with 12oz longnecks on this set up?

Up to now we have just used it for 22oz bombers and it has been great - I would be interested to hear about 12oz bottling rates and issues.

[Soul Squared]

Anyone had success with 12oz longnecks on this set up?

Up to now we have just used it for 22oz bombers and it has been great - I would be interested to hear about 12oz bottling rates and issues.

We've done lots of 12 and 22 oz bottles with ours. 12 oz can be a little more of a pain to get dialed, but fill fine once everything is adjusted. It seems that any issue you have with 22 oz (foaming, etc) is exacerbated with 12 oz. Obviously they fill faster too. I've run thousands of 12oz bottles, and I would say running two heads is about all one person can keep up with if you are filling at a decent rate.

[DallasW]

We've been swapping out the heads as the valves start to leak (even after switching the hex side to the liquid side). On our latest order we found something strange, the valve is now reversed from what it usually is (ie. when you turn the valve to the left it opens the right side). Because we have a mix of each we've flipped the gas/liquid lines left to right so the valve functions the same as the other old ones.

I'm hoping this means they've reworked the valves so they last a bit longer, but I don't have high hopes as they look almost identical and still are chinese junk.

[AndyHannas]

PRV replacement

Has anyone had any luck swapping out the PRV/bleed valves on the MoreBeer fillers?
I like the look of this one that someone posted, but worry that the range is too large and I'll spend too much time fiddling with it

https://www.amazon.com/Control-Devices-Series-Pressure-Adjustable/dp/B007GDY3CU

[AndyHannas]

Has anyone had any luck swapping out the PRV/bleed valves on the MoreBeer fillers?
I like the look of this one that someone posted, but worry that the range is too large and I'll spend too much time fiddling with it
https://www.amazon.com/Control-Devic.../dp/B007GDY3CU

I just swapped one of these in to one head on our 6 head filler and it seems to work perfectly thus far. The lock nut is great as it keeps the set relief point from wandering too much.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#48935k25/=159l3ud

The other 5 heads still have the PRV from MoreBeer so they still need some tweaking to balance the whole system but I'm ordering more of these today to replace all of them which will hopefully resolve this. The body is brass which I am sure will degrade over time, but at $7.50 each, i don't mind replacing them occasionally.