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4 head bottle filler for $275

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  • #46
    Thanks

    Thanks Beerjay, great tip.

    And Tom, please don't blame me for your back aching from being hunched over the bottling machine
    John McKissack
    Texas Big Beer Brewery
    Newton County, Texas

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    • #47
      Nice job!

      I am building one myself as well, but mine is pneumatically operated. I will post a video when it is completed.
      James Romano
      Owner, and everything else . . .
      Fire Cirkl, White City, OR

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      • #48
        this is a great thread

        Has anybody noticed oxidation problems with this kind of bottling approach

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        • #49
          Nope! you're totally purging the bottle of O2 so you'll get very, very minimal O2 dissolving in the beer.

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          • #50
            As far as oxidation, you're IPAs arent going to see the shelf life of a professional double evac system. I am pretty picky about IPAs in general and I say ours go a good 4 weeks before I notice a decline in flavor profile. Then again many people think our IPAs taste great 2 months down the line. With our malt forward beers, I've opened one year old bottles that are still tasting great.
            Beejay
            Pipeworks Brewing Company

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            • #51
              Consistent fill heights?

              How do you manage to get consistent fill heights when there's no auto-shutoff on filling?

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              • #52
                Hard to get em dead on perfect every time, but once you've filled 100,000 bottles this way you get pretty good at it. Fast too
                Beejay
                Pipeworks Brewing Company

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                • #53
                  Dosing with yeast with this setup

                  I'm going to first admit I'm not nearly as imaginative from a system POV as so many of the posters here clearly are. So just gonna ask--can anyone envision a means, using this filling system, of adding yeast for refermentation in the bottle? Having been warned off a couple of the gravity fed bottlers I've considered for this process, I've been trying to imagine how and precisely where to introduce an inline shot of yeast, perhaps from a corny or some such vessel. Being as consistent as possible with the dosage size is among the things that hangs me up.

                  Thanks for any thoughts anyone has on this. I'm talking about pressure rated 750s, corks and cages.

                  David

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                  • #54
                    Originally posted by dallenbrews View Post
                    I'm going to first admit I'm not nearly as imaginative from a system POV as so many of the posters here clearly are. So just gonna ask--can anyone envision a means, using this filling system, of adding yeast for refermentation in the bottle? Having been warned off a couple of the gravity fed bottlers I've considered for this process, I've been trying to imagine how and precisely where to introduce an inline shot of yeast, perhaps from a corny or some such vessel. Being as consistent as possible with the dosage size is among the things that hangs me up.

                    Thanks for any thoughts anyone has on this. I'm talking about pressure rated 750s, corks and cages.

                    David
                    We always just added the extra yeast directly to the bottling tank and roused with CO2.

                    The only way I could see dosing individual bottles is with a peristalic pump feeding into each head and fired by an activator of some sort when you switch the lever over to the fill side of the valve. Those pumps are not cheap either. I don't really see a point in adding yeast to each bottle though. Calculate the cell count needed for refermentation, how many more cells you need than what you have, and add the appropriate amount of yeast to you bottling tank, rouse and bottle.
                    Beejay
                    Pipeworks Brewing Company

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                    • #55
                      Unless you filter yeast should still be in the beer. I have harvest yeast from beers that have been filtered with a 6 micron filter. You really just need to add fermentables prior to bottling, unless you are wanting to bottle condition with a different yeast than what you fermented your beer with. Back in the day, I added sugar directly to the bottles with a measuring device I made from a piece of tubing. It would hold the right amount for the bottle and they carbonated evenly.
                      John McKissack
                      Texas Big Beer Brewery
                      Newton County, Texas

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                      • #56
                        expiration dates

                        Not sure, if the correct place to post, but since this thread is bout diy bottling line, I thougt I might ask here.
                        In my country since we follow the same rules as food, its a requirement to put expiration date on the bottle, not sure if its the same in the US. Are you using this thing??http://shop.gohcl.com/default.aspx?p...&itemcode=4009
                        Or is there something, something simpler/notsougly


                        By the way, awesome thread, im building my own filler based on it.

                        tks

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                        • #57
                          We're a pilot-esque nano on the verge of starting our operations, and have also come across the problem of date coding. I really wouldn't want to use the kind of date gun jrpragnell posted either (because it really does look unappealing). We'll be producing such small batches that having the dates / batches printed on the labels beforehand would make the labels really expensive. We'll be using a semiautomatic label applicator with self-adhesive labels.

                          Any ideas much appreciated.

                          Cheers!
                          Tatu H
                          Hiisi Brewing

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                          • #58
                            Originally posted by kuuteppi View Post
                            We're a pilot-esque nano on the verge of starting our operations, and have also come across the problem of date coding. I really wouldn't want to use the kind of date gun jrpragnell posted either (because it really does look unappealing). We'll be producing such small batches that having the dates / batches printed on the labels beforehand would make the labels really expensive. We'll be using a semiautomatic label applicator with self-adhesive labels.

                            Any ideas much appreciated.

                            Cheers!
                            Tatu H
                            Hiisi Brewing
                            I am in a similar situation. I am a certified organic producer of small lots and my lot numbers have to appear on my packaging. I just buy small labels (less than $.01 ea) and print out the lot numbers using my computer and printer. Placement options are many. When I was using swing top bottles I used longer labels and they doubled as seals. You can leave a blank spot on your bottle label the size of your date coding label and place it there, or you can put it in an open space on the back of your bottle, for example. I am currently just fixing it to the bottom of my bottles. Surprisingly, they remain in place even if the bottles go through multiple chilling and warming cycles. I looked into getting a stamp that would allow me to change the numbers but I could not find one with enough digits, much less one with small enough numbers.

                            Cheers,

                            James
                            James Romano
                            Owner, and everything else . . .
                            Fire Cirkl, White City, OR

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                            • #59
                              Anyone thought of semi automating this with some solenoid valves?

                              you could have it purge and then fill for a set amount of time, then top off manually as needed?

                              Would you need to adjust the head pressure too I guess? You want it open for the purge and higher on the fill?
                              Last edited by greenmtnbrewer; 11-07-2013, 09:34 AM.

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                              • #60
                                One more question, is the hinge (per Reverend Nat's Hard Cider) setup practical? do you spill any "product" when removing the bottle at an angle?

                                I am thinking ideally the filler would come down onto the beer bottle and lock into place so it doesn't pop up when you are filling.

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