Keg filling options and parts - ProLine II?

[ziggy13]

Does anyone have any experience with GW Kent's Pro Line II keg filling head: http://www.gwkent.com/proline-ii-keg-filler.html

I was told by someone locally not to waste my time with it, but I wanted to hear if anyone else had any experience with it?

Instead of that I was considering just continuing to use a regular sanke coupler with the 2 beer nut on off valves that usually come preinstalled on them. It's a little bit of a pain turning the small black on/off valve, so I am trying to piece it together with a nicer ball valve for bleeding the gas and foam as it fills.

I am considering purchasing just the filler head: http://www.gwkent.com/stainless-stee...ling-head.html and then adding a female beer nut to tri clamp to it which is this: http://www.gwkent.com/beer-nut-female.html followed by a butterfly valve on the end to bleed pressure/foam. Anyone know if this will work or is a good idea? Or does anyone have a better suggestion for me.

Really I'm just trying to avoid turning the little black on/off valve that's typically found connected to the coupler with beer nut fittings. Thanks in advance to anyone that has any information for me.

[tweakingfrog]

I too would be interested in hearing about this as well.

[bwalden234]

auto shut off

Someone on here was selling a stainless steel version of the GW kent system. It's just the shut off but it screws on to the Sanke CO2 side and when the keg is full you hear the escaping gas stop. Works pretty slick and I think they were $60 apiece. I will try to find the info I have and post it here later today.

[ziggy13]

That would be awesome!

[bwalden234]

Here you go...

This is what we bought. We like it and it seems to work well.

http://discussions.probrewer.com/sho...tomatic-filler

[ziggy13]

Am I correct that I can just hook this up directly to the on/off that's situated on the sanke coupler? Just a regular sanke coupler, I don't need to buy the specific ProLine filler from GW Kent?

[ziggy13]

It appears that link disappeared, maybe ProBrewer took it down? You wouldn't happen to have his contact information would you?

[Whitewall]

We opted for the Old style MIcromatic auto-shutoff filler. That thing was no good. Foam would get past the check ball and still make a mess. Then after every fill you would have to clean it out to unstick the "ball" We now use the same head with out the check ball valve. I would reccommend a shut off on the beer in and gas out. This way you can counter pressure fill by keeeping the gas out blocked until they equalize then open slightly to vent. Also i believe this head is has bigger ports then a standard serving tap so faster filling. you also have to remove the check ball if using a standard tap. We did it that way for a while. This head is worth it in my opinion. Oh and GW kent sells the valves right next to the head. Cheers!!

[ziggy13]

We opted for the Old style MIcromatic auto-shutoff filler. That thing was no good. Foam would get past the check ball and still make a mess. Then after every fill you would have to clean it out to unstick the "ball" We now use the same head with out the check ball valve. I would reccommend a shut off on the beer in and gas out. This way you can counter pressure fill by keeeping the gas out blocked until they equalize then open slightly to vent. Also i believe this head is has bigger ports then a standard serving tap so faster filling. you also have to remove the check ball if using a standard tap. We did it that way for a while. This head is worth it in my opinion. Oh and GW kent sells the valves right next to the head. Cheers!!

So you suggest using this valve: http://www.gwkent.com/proline-ii-keg-filler-fob.html

With this filling coupler: http://www.gwkent.com/stainless-stee...ling-head.html


Is that correct?

[ziggy13]

So has no one out there ever tried the Pro Line II from GW Kent?

[SPace]

Try Before You Buy...

I would recommend that you don't buy it till someone has personally recommended it.

We used the old model Proline filler and it was a waste, the vent atop the beer stop let gas out so slowly that it took 15 minutes to fill a 1/2 Bbl. keg. I assume this is why they came out with a new model.

As Whitewall mentioned you do need shutoff valves on the beer in and gas out, if you don't have a gas out shutoff the keg and brite tank won't equalize and you will create foam. The old model had a "Y" splitter coming off the gas out of the coupler so the keg could still be vented of foam if the beer stop went off prematurely.

[barleyfreak]

I just started using the proline II a month ago. Was using a modified keg coupler before that required me to monitor it more or less or I'd start flowing beer down the drain. This is an improvement, as the FOB shuts it off once full. I used to fill a 1/2 bbl in about 8-9 minutes, depending on how open I cracked the valve. The GW Kent model takes a bit longer -- by maybe 2-4 minutes -- but I can walk away and get tied up doing something else and I do not lose any beer. My only issue so far is that after each fill, when the ball pushes to the top of the FOB and stops flow, is that to get the ball to recede again, I pretty much have to unscrew it a a bit and blow back into the FOB to get the ball to drop. Or tap it real good. I'd say it is a pain, but it actually takes very little time and I just am in the habit of doing it, attaching to the next keg, and moving on.

Can't speak to the longevity or durability yet, but after a month or so use, I'd give it a B+

[ziggy13]

I just started using the proline II a month ago. Was using a modified keg coupler before that required me to monitor it more or less or I'd start flowing beer down the drain. This is an improvement, as the FOB shuts it off once full. I used to fill a 1/2 bbl in about 8-9 minutes, depending on how open I cracked the valve. The GW Kent model takes a bit longer -- by maybe 2-4 minutes -- but I can walk away and get tied up doing something else and I do not lose any beer. My only issue so far is that after each fill, when the ball pushes to the top of the FOB and stops flow, is that to get the ball to recede again, I pretty much have to unscrew it a a bit and blow back into the FOB to get the ball to drop. Or tap it real good. I'd say it is a pain, but it actually takes very little time and I just am in the habit of doing it, attaching to the next keg, and moving on.

Can't speak to the longevity or durability yet, but after a month or so use, I'd give it a B+

Thanks for your reply. After reading this I don't think I am interested in it anymore. 12-15 minutes to fill a 1/2 bbl would drive me insane. I'm filling them now in maybe 4 minutes using a standard coupler with some on off valves.

[ChesterBrew]

Thanks for your reply. After reading this I don't think I am interested in it anymore. 12-15 minutes to fill a 1/2 bbl would drive me insane. I'm filling them now in maybe 4 minutes using a standard coupler with some on off valves.

The advantage with the GW Kent is that you can do other things while filling kegs. My head brewer has used it before at his prior job, and didn't bat an eye when I said we'd be going with it and a keg filling manifold (we'll have 4 filler heads going at once.) We have one we'll be putting into action in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to update this thread once we have some time under our belt with our setup.

[ziggy13]

Now that makes some more sense. If we were filling 4 kegs at once, I could see these coming in handy. I'm only doing 1 at a time right now. I'll have to keep it in mind if we ever build a manifold to fill multiple kegs at once. How did you guys build your manifold?