Meheen users unite!

[lhall]

When we were running a six-head every day, we would fill a half-barrel with sanitizer and use that. We had a sankey coupler with the handle pin removed, so it wouldn't stay engaged with the keg. We'd push down on the handle to spray sanitzer into the bottles using CO2 pressure, with the sanitizer going to the drain. Just a quick shot was all that was needed. The benefit was that your sanitizer wasn't being contaminated with beer when you reran bottles that didn't get filled or capped properly.

[porter]

That's genious

When we were running a six-head every day, we would fill a half-barrel with sanitizer and use that. We had a sankey coupler with the handle pin removed, so it wouldn't stay engaged with the keg. We'd push down on the handle to spray sanitzer into the bottles using CO2 pressure, with the sanitizer going to the drain. Just a quick shot was all that was needed. The benefit was that your sanitizer wasn't being contaminated with beer when you reran bottles that didn't get filled or capped properly.

That is genius. I'm switching!

What about for cleaning? I can't seem to find anything more durable that isn't way overkill…

[lhall]

For cleaning, we would use a line-cleaning tank. It held about 3 gallons. Like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Liter-Draf...4AAOxyB0VRr3SB

Mix in hot water and PBW, and it was enough for two cleaning cycles. I have a small 4-head now that we use for sour and funky beers. We use a portable CIP pump and a converted 1/2 bbl reservoir, the same setup we use for cleaning fermenters.

[nahual]

Loud bang at crowning

We just got our new Meheen, everything working fine but it think noise at crowning is much louder than it should. I've seen other meheen fillers, even using same caps as ours and none of them are as noisy. This noise is a huge "bang" and itself does not bother me, the real problem is that with only some hundred cases on it, deck is laready hard marked by the bottle bottoms. I did read about this in the manual, so I replaced the supplied little air filter/regulator with a a bigger one that allows me to have no less than 90 psi at all times, but the problem persisted. I talked to Meheen and they recomended to increase psi to 115 ... sound went even louder!!! They also said that if bottles are not being broken or flying while crowning, a very loud sound is normal. Any ideas???

[BrewinLou]

Some times the crowner makes the bang, some times it does not. When they don't is when I check my crimp on my crowned bottles to make sure they are being crowned all the way with a handy Go ,No Go crimp tester. The bang is a good thing from my experience. Do not worry about the bottles marking the deck. The deck will last years. We have had to hit the new decks with sand paper to keep the bottles from sliding forward when the ram pushes the next row forward.

[GlacierBrewing]

We just got our new Meheen, everything working fine but it think noise at crowning is much louder than it should. I've seen other meheen fillers, even using same caps as ours and none of them are as noisy. This noise is a huge "bang" and itself does not bother me, the real problem is that with only some hundred cases on it, deck is laready hard marked by the bottle bottoms. I did read about this in the manual, so I replaced the supplied little air filter/regulator with a a bigger one that allows me to have no less than 90 psi at all times, but the problem persisted. I talked to Meheen and they recomended to increase psi to 115 ... sound went even louder!!! They also said that if bottles are not being broken or flying while crowning, a very loud sound is normal. Any ideas???

"This noise is a huge 'bang'". Do you mean "Meheen Music"?
Seriously though, I've been using various Meheen Merlin fillers for a few decades now and this bang has always been part of the process. I agree with previous posts that if I don't hear it, I know to check that row of bottles because the crowns probably didn't crimp all the way (rarely happens). As far as imprinting the deck top with bottle bottoms; keep an eye of the depth of the imprint. If it becomes a problem, you can sand it down smooth again or flip the deck over and start with a new surface. These decks with last you for YEARS!
p.s. wear ear protection!

Prost!
Dave

[GlennL]

We just got our new Meheen, everything working fine but it think noise at crowning is much louder than it should. I've seen other meheen fillers, even using same caps as ours and none of them are as noisy. This noise is a huge "bang" and itself does not bother me, the real problem is that with only some hundred cases on it, deck is laready hard marked by the bottle bottoms. I did read about this in the manual, so I replaced the supplied little air filter/regulator with a a bigger one that allows me to have no less than 90 psi at all times, but the problem persisted. I talked to Meheen and they recomended to increase psi to 115 ... sound went even louder!!! They also said that if bottles are not being broken or flying while crowning, a very loud sound is normal. Any ideas???

We have 2 meheens and didn't think too much about the crowning bang until we got the 2nd one, because we noticed a very different sound (much louder) on the second machine, even though they were built just a few months apart and were operating on the exact same compressed air setup. Air pressure was good as recommended in the manual. I called Meheen and they went through the standard questions and ultimately decided it wasn't an issue. As has been mentioned i think their biggest concern is the impact on the deck. Our deck got marked up very quickly, but it's cleary superficial and is all over the deck and even the ramp anywhere bottles are set down, drop onto deck etc. I think if you're really making divots in the deck somethings is not quite right, but if you're just getting marks where bottles are, that's normal in my experience at least.

I would double check the air supply though. Really watch the meheen mounted gauge and see what it bottoms out at. My working knowledge of compressed air systems is "intermediate" at best, but unless you went with a heavy duty high flow regulator on the meheen I'm not sure how much swapping out that supplied regulator would affect things. I'd think the pressure upstream (at the compressor itself, air dryer, or wherever) or the line size supplying the machine would be a more likely culprit to starving the meheen of air... just something to consider.

[GlacierBrewing]

Howdy all,
Our crowning head on our six-head has started, very recently, to become slightly sluggish when it rises. This is causing some of the crowns to not seat properly and they then get crushed or kicked out. The mufflers are clean, slides are clean, air pressure unchanged. Any thoughts on how to increase the crowning bar rising speed?

Prost!
Dave

[Naked Flock]

Meheen bottle conversion

I have seen (not on mine) row partitions from bottle ramp to output table, to maintain bottle alignment throughout the cycle. The owner claimed this helped a lot. He also modified his 22oz machine to fill 12oz bottles!

This is an old post but anyone heard of doing this to bottle 12oz bottles on a 22oz Meheen?

[GlacierBrewing]

I am in urgent need of a MAC valve, 47-L10-HDAA-1MA. Does anyone have an older Meheen or have one of these valves sitting on a shelf?

Prost!
Dave

[hillseythekiwi]

Spare parts

Hi,

We are based in Colombia South America and have a six head 2007. I was wanting to know what spare parts (With Part Numbers) you would recommend that we purchase immediately for keeping in stock, as we dont want to be left with a broken down bottler and waiting weeks for parts.

Thanks
Dan Hill

[mrfrost]

Meheen Fill Head Tubing

Does anyone know the McMaster Carr part number for the tubing required for 3/8 ID tubing? I believe the correct dimensions are 5/16 x 9/16

[SecondLineBrew]

Pre-Sparge for Meheen

Someone asked me the other day about my pre-sparge setup for our 2007 6-head 12oz Meheen. Thought I'd post on this group since it is a fantastic resource for Meheen owner.

With this set up we can get our DO from packaging down to between 60 - 80ppb using a double evacuation (our model does not allow for any adjustment beyond a double evac...at least for now)

The sparger is basically a bunch of 5/32" push connect tees strung together to minimize a pressure differential across bottles. I rigged up an extra SMC pneumatic valve to provide CO2 to the sparger. This SMC is activated when the fill valve is opened (just split the air line using a tee).

To minimize the differential, start with one 5/32" tee connected to a 5/32" to 1/4" reducer, the 1/4" line feeds to the SMC valve and should provide adequate CO2 flow. From this first 5/32" tee you are going to add two more 5/32" tees; these tees will be connected to the final manifold as pictured (left side of manifold pictured).

I added a few cm of 5/32" hose to go into the bottles. When the fill head goes down the next row in line gets a good sparge before being advanced for filling. You may have to muck about with the CO2 pressure. I found that 25psi works best.

Cheers,

Mark

[pmejiar]

Heritage bottles to foreign 12 oz long neck bottle mod

Hi everyone

I am seeing the possibility of picking up a meheen filler fabricated in 2000, unfortunately our brewery is not in North America, so its impossible to get heritage bottles. I've been reading the forum and it seems that at least the crowner bar would have to be replace or spacer added (I think the difference inour available bottle size would make it difficult to just add spacers). The most similar bottles we have available in my country are 2.5 cm taller than the heritage bottles and the bottles we are currently using are 3 cm taller. Also US Long neck bottles seem to be slightly taller than our long neck bottles 0.5 cm (to for example Coronado, Odell, stone, etc)

In order to get the machine working would we only have to modify the crowner bar? It seems that on the filling side something would also have to be modified but I haven't found much information on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers

Pablo

[SecondLineBrew]

Heritage bottles to foreign 12 oz long neck bottle mod

Pablo,

In addition to the height of the crowning bar, you may also want to consider the impact of switching bottles on the fill height. I would suggest reaching out to the folks at Meheen with the specs for your bottles. They are generally very helpful and will work with you on a solution.

Also, in my opinion you may want to go with a Meheen that is of a more recent vintage then 2000. From first hand experience I can tell you that the Noshok transducers that were probably stock on this year are pretty horrible and the MAC valves used in the pneumatics are not the most robust. Plenty of affordable Meheens of recent vintage out on the market.

Cheers,

Mark