I posted a question on the 'Meheen users unite' thread but figured I'd create a new one for my bottling problems (nightmares is more like it). I'm looking for some help with what seems to be a foaming problem. I've got an old 1992 safecracker model that has been retrofitted with a new controller and modified for the Canadian 341 mL bottle.
Earlier this summer I started having problems with the fill sensitivity on the machine. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the brite tank the filler would become 'super sensitive', sensing beer right after the fill head dropped and indexing an empty row. The solution was to drop the fill sensitivity to roughly 60% of what it was and, no problem, filling carried on just fine - until today. After 6 hours and almost twice as many crowns (each empty row gets capped) I was done. The things I noticed:
-Same thing with getting 1/2 way through the brite tank then having to adjust the fill sensitivity, however after this:
-It seemed that beer was getting up the off gas tube but not out the hoses, so that when the next row was indexed and the bottle pressured up to the beer pressure the beer in the off gas tube would be sprayed all over the stainless off gas tube, causing a 'beer present' situation the moment the fill valve opened, indexing to the next row.
-If the sensitivity was dropped to where the empty rows wouldn't index, the beer would fill just fine but I'd lose a lot out the off gas hose and the moment the fill heads lifted out the bottles would foam over like crazy, regardless of the low pressure setting. This resulted in 5 cases of low fills which I'm sure my free bottling help loved but I didn't.
That was my afternoon, trying to find a balance between foam overs that resulted in low fills and the hassle of uncapping every third row and putting the empty bottles back on the infeed ramp. I thought I had the solution when I found the snift pinch valve tubing had a crack in it but nada. The beer just seemed like foaming like crazy. Just to note, I haven't changed the carbonation levels at all from previous batches and there wasn't a lot of foam on the surface of the beer to throw off the fill sensor.
After this long winded explanation I'm looking for some help if anyone's encountered a similar situation. At this point I don't know if it's the filler, the carbonation of the beer, the summer heat, or what. I plan on taking the Meheen apart, replacing every bit of tubing on it but I don't know if that will solve anything (it needs to be done anyway). On the other Meheen thread Linus mentioned that there might be springs broken that are used for the fill sensor and I'll investigate that too. The only other thing I noticed was that the CO2 pinch valve didn't close all the way which resulted in a bit of CO2 bleeding through the line. I tried adjusting this part way through but it didn't do anything different and I don't know if it impacts anything as the first half of the tank went just fine with the CO2 valve leaking slightly.
Help....
Earlier this summer I started having problems with the fill sensitivity on the machine. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the brite tank the filler would become 'super sensitive', sensing beer right after the fill head dropped and indexing an empty row. The solution was to drop the fill sensitivity to roughly 60% of what it was and, no problem, filling carried on just fine - until today. After 6 hours and almost twice as many crowns (each empty row gets capped) I was done. The things I noticed:
-Same thing with getting 1/2 way through the brite tank then having to adjust the fill sensitivity, however after this:
-It seemed that beer was getting up the off gas tube but not out the hoses, so that when the next row was indexed and the bottle pressured up to the beer pressure the beer in the off gas tube would be sprayed all over the stainless off gas tube, causing a 'beer present' situation the moment the fill valve opened, indexing to the next row.
-If the sensitivity was dropped to where the empty rows wouldn't index, the beer would fill just fine but I'd lose a lot out the off gas hose and the moment the fill heads lifted out the bottles would foam over like crazy, regardless of the low pressure setting. This resulted in 5 cases of low fills which I'm sure my free bottling help loved but I didn't.
That was my afternoon, trying to find a balance between foam overs that resulted in low fills and the hassle of uncapping every third row and putting the empty bottles back on the infeed ramp. I thought I had the solution when I found the snift pinch valve tubing had a crack in it but nada. The beer just seemed like foaming like crazy. Just to note, I haven't changed the carbonation levels at all from previous batches and there wasn't a lot of foam on the surface of the beer to throw off the fill sensor.
After this long winded explanation I'm looking for some help if anyone's encountered a similar situation. At this point I don't know if it's the filler, the carbonation of the beer, the summer heat, or what. I plan on taking the Meheen apart, replacing every bit of tubing on it but I don't know if that will solve anything (it needs to be done anyway). On the other Meheen thread Linus mentioned that there might be springs broken that are used for the fill sensor and I'll investigate that too. The only other thing I noticed was that the CO2 pinch valve didn't close all the way which resulted in a bit of CO2 bleeding through the line. I tried adjusting this part way through but it didn't do anything different and I don't know if it impacts anything as the first half of the tank went just fine with the CO2 valve leaking slightly.
Help....
Comment