Meheen users unite!

[shovelheadbrew]

Meheen fill detection

Hi newby here,

I've been reading this thread with much interest but don't quite understand the mechanics of how the filler works. Possibly you all could enlighten me on a few points:

1) How does the filler detects fill heights in the bottle?

2) In regards to the pre-evac and counter pressure, does the co2 enter the bottle from the bottom of the down tube or at the top of the bottle. It looks like it enters at the top of the bottle (from the photos on the Meheen website).

3) What happens to the beer in the down tube? Does it have some port at the top that allows it to drain when lifting off the bottle or does it just dribble out? It would seem that the displacement of that volume of beer would be alot.

Thanks in advance. Looks like a good filler.

jK

[shovelheadbrew]

Meheen errors

Heyall,

I'm curious what kind of errors people are getting during their runs?

Also how effective is the vacuum system?

Reading posts on here is seems the vacuum system sucks out foam, but does it pre-evacuate the bottle effectively?

Should an external vacuum pump be used?

jK

[Sauce]

Filler tank hose runs

Hey all, Looking to find out what is the longest hose run (kept cool and or insulated) that has been successfully used from tank to bottler.

We're in the process of reconfiguring our space and we may need to have such a long run if its feasable.

Thanks,

JackK
TBK Production works

[froptus]

We routinely use a 50 foot non insulated hose to bottle beer from our brite tank. Our Meheen is a 1999 model. The beer in the brite is around 35 F.

On occasion we will also bottle using a 60 foot non insulated hose from a grundy tank in the cold room which is about 45 F. About 40 feet of that hose will be running through the warm brewhouse and bottling room. This setup works well enough. We'll often have to slow the fill rate down on the machine but we'll still do 20 cases an hour which is fine for our 7 bbl brewery

[mbd79]

general questions on meheen filler/capper

We're looking at purchasing a used meheen and have a couple basic questions if someone has a moment -- our product (a brewed tea) has some pulp from added fruit, would pulp cause any issue with the filling lines? Also, is it possible to use twist crown caps? Any advice on what to look for in terms of wear and tear on a used machine/ what things are easy to replace/ not easy?

Many thanks.

[martyl]

Meheen Bottle Rinser - Sanitizer of choice

What are you using for sanitizer and at what concentration? We are using Rapidyne - iodine at 6ppm Thanks for your responses in advance.

[rudge75]

would pulp cause any issue with the filling lines? Also, is it possible to use twist crown caps? .

We used to run our unfiltered coffee stout thru the meheen and not think anything of it... until we found bits of coffee clogging up some of the equipment. Have no idea if pulp will react the same, but surely there will be places it will settle and cause problems.

We use twist crowns on our system, but I believe that's what our meheen was originally set up for. If you do use twist bottles, make sure your crowns are the thinner metal twist crowns appropriate for capping. If your machine was set up for something different, you should be able to purchase the proper capping heads from Dave and install them on your machine.

[Justin Viale]

Has anyone ever used a Meheen to bottle directly from a keg? It seems like flow rate might be an issue. We're looking to do small runs of some beers that are not normally packaged. Thanks.

[TripelD]

North Caroli na Meheen Users

We are bringing our 6 head Meheen online in the next few months and so I was wondering who in NC is using Meheen? I am playing with the best ways to set up our work area for the Meheen and was wondering who is doing what locally (or not locally). What has everyone found to work best as far as efficiency of work flow, how many staff are you using to run it, etc... What have you found to work best for you?

We have a brand new 6 head set up for 22 oz. bottles. We will be filling of 2 30bbl brites.

Cheers!

[gmartin3]

Meheen capping issue

Hi everyone, we are in the process of setting up a 1993 ish 4 head Meheen filler. We are noticing that lanes 3 + 4 seem to be "over crowning" and leaving a large indentation in the cap. Can anyone give us direction on this before we start making our own adjustments. Thanks

Greg Martin
Long Ireland Brewing

[J.M.Martin]

1999 Meheen?

Hello forum land I need some help,

We are looking at buying a 1999 Meheen. We have a small brewpub and want to package about one pallet a week, once a week. Right now we are bottling on a little prince but we have 2 beers and 3 sodas offered in bottles and cannot keep up. I was wondering if anyone has any firsthand experience on a 1998/99 good or bad that you can share with me. We have seen it operate in a limited fashion in person (saw bottles run through without beer but with caps). I have spoken with Dave Meheen about this so I am looking for feedback from people who used this model year in their brewery either in the past or still today.
Do the bottles index well or do they fall over a lot?
Is the pressure sensor and fill sensor reliable or are they hard to adjust and frequently unreliable/fail?
How is the capper on the bottler; do the caps jam often?
Is it easy to get replacement parts?
I am not doing a high volume so it is a little hard to justify a new Meheen and I do understand that the “magic” year is 2001 or newer but I have not seen any of those used models in quite a while.

Any and all feedback will be most helpful.
Thank you for your time.

Jamie M. Baertsch
Wisconsin Dells Brewing Co.
brewmaster@dellsmoosejaw.com
1-608-254-1122 ext 22

[sks]

Hi Jaime- It's Joe from Pearl Street Brewery. I have a 2000 Meheen bottler and I can tell you everything I know about them. We have made mods on ours to make it run better. You can even come out during a run if you like I have an older Meheen bomber filler, too. 608-784-4832

[froptus]

We have a 1999 Meheen for 12 oz bottles. It's a good machine. We occasionally have a few problems but they are usually easily fixed by ourselves Sometimes we may have to order some parts or call Meheen for some tech support. Meheen is excellent at answering questions and sending parts. Our machine will easily do about 30 cases an hour, 40 if we crank it up. Bottles will sometimes index poorly but that's almost always a matter of simply adjusting the guide rails. Capper works great 99% of the time. No bottling machine works flawlessly. Period.

I would definitely recommend the machine. Send me a PM if you have any additional questions. Pressure sensor works quite well. I've haven't replaced it in 9 years but I have had to increase the sensitivity lately so it might be starting to fail.

Good luck.

[hackleo18]

6-head meheen bottle detection not working

Anybody know the bypass code for the Meheen bottle detection system? Our sensors are working fine, but still giving me a "no bottles present" message. Need help asap!

[hackleo18]

Anybody know the bypass code for the Meheen bottle detection system? Our sensors are working fine, but still giving me a "no bottles present" message. Need help asap!

Got it, thanks all!