Crown capping machines

[Jerry1847]

Hi all,

I have a manual bottling line with a few gravity fillers and 750ml bottles. Thinking of moving from cork/cage to crown caps to reduce time/cost.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a capping machine?

There is one on the GW Kent site for ~$900 thats pneumatic and manual, says ~700ish bottles an hour. I saw another on More Beer that looks less industrial for ~400 (with a pro account) but cant find and detail on the BPH. Otherwise everything im finding is build for a line.

Anyone know of any other options?

[Mtnmann]

The Grifo Pro capper, it's manual but works great. I've tried several low end ones and they were too flimsy. This guy will last forever. Just make sure to pull it apart, clean and lube it before first use, then occasionally aftwards.

https://www.williamsbrewing.com/CHROME-COMMERCIAL-CAPPER-P3901.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=!acq!v3!13047942485_pla-18283950120__46957110725_g_c_pla_&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw75HWBRAwEiwAdzefxOg57proo8-aFo_4PEzUCdC0R6rkBFRIXnA_lJCz6mSIMuKDZLB6pBoCKgEQAvD_BwE

mtn

[Jerry1847]

how many bottles do you usually crank through with it?

So Im capping about 4,500 bottles once a month. Aiming to get bottling down to a single day possibly with like 3 people.

[Mtnmann]

Our speed was limited by our manual filler, so we never saw more than 4 bpm. It's a really simple motion though and there is a magnet on the crowner which positions the cap. Capping speed will be highly dependent on the ability of the person running the device and how far they have to physically move to grab a cap, then the bottle, and where they have to put the bottle after capping. I think it would be quicker than this pneumatic version because there are fewer motions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L924baiXT9k

4500 bottles a day is pushing any manual operation.
That volume takes me about 4.5 hrs on a 4 head meheen...

mtn

how many bottles do you usually crank through with it?

So Im capping about 4,500 bottles once a month. Aiming to get bottling down to a single day possibly with like 3 people.

[Jerry1847]

Yeah, took two and a half days on the first run with corks and cages. Was doing like 300 bottles an hour. Had about half a day of down time from equipment failures. May need to look for something more automated?

https://www.gwkent.com/pneumatic-capper-air-matic.html

[Mtnmann]

If you can modify that gwkent capper to run off of a foot pedal, I can see it hitting 600/ hr easily.

mtn

Yeah, took two and a half days on the first run with corks and cages. Was doing like 300 bottles an hour. Had about half a day of down time from equipment failures. May need to look for something more automated?


https://www.gwkent.com/pneumatic-capper-air-matic.html