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  • #61
    E-mail me if you would like to see some pics of the bar I built to keep the bottles straight when the pusher drops them. We were having problems with the bottles not standing up straight when they dropped down causing one not to index foreward and resulting in a crash. Also we have figured out what causes the capper to pick up a bottle, the compressed air pressure. We take the filter out of the regulator and clean it out, it gets clogged with oil and the pressure drops and causes the capper to not release. I tried to upload the pics but the files are too large.

    Dave Johnson
    O'Fallon Brewery
    djohnson_17@charter.net
    Last edited by brewmandj; 04-17-2007, 09:47 AM. Reason: added info

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    • #62
      Indexing sweet indexing

      Quote "We were having problems with the bottles not standing up straight when they dropped down causing one not to index foreward and resulting in a crash."

      I had the same type problem. I found the problem was the ramp the bottles sit on was out of alignment with the fill deck. Another issue to check is the ram speed, it should push the next row of bottles in slow and pull back fast.

      Time to watch The Mangler Maheen.
      Joel Halbleib
      Partner / Zymurgist
      Hive and Barrel Meadery
      6302 Old La Grange Rd
      Crestwood, KY
      www.hiveandbarrel.com

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      • #63
        The bimba.

        Hate to reply to my own post, but I have a new question. Can anyone explain the purpose of the Bimba air cylinders over the crowner bar. The design seems wasteful. You have the two cylinders that raise and lower the bar and then the 6 bimbas on top of the bar. The bimbas do not seem like they touch the crowns at all. So why not just top mount 2 or 3 larger bidirectional bimbas or air cylinders on top of the bar and have them do all the work?
        Joel Halbleib
        Partner / Zymurgist
        Hive and Barrel Meadery
        6302 Old La Grange Rd
        Crestwood, KY
        www.hiveandbarrel.com

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        • #64
          Cap Tension

          Hello,

          I've got a 1998 4-head Meheen (heritage bottles). The problem I'm having is that the caps don't seem to be on very securely. The caps are very very easy (too easy) to twist off, and I'd like to have them a bit more secure. Anyone else had this come up? Anyone know if the cap tension is adjustable, or if so how?

          -Dan

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          • #65
            Originally posted by DFN
            Hello,

            I've got a 1998 4-head Meheen (heritage bottles). The problem I'm having is that the caps don't seem to be on very securely. The caps are very very easy (too easy) to twist off, and I'd like to have them a bit more secure. Anyone else had this come up? Anyone know if the cap tension is adjustable, or if so how?

            -Dan
            Talk to Crown. We had some problems with caps with our Meheen, and the Crown rep determined that we weren't getting them applied onto the bottle enough. One of the things he did was take a bottle off the line and run it under hot water for a few minutes. After opening the bottle, we inspected the seal under the cap for an impression and didn't see one. Usually, even with home brews, you should see a ring where the bottle touched the seal. We ended up shimming up slightly below the bottom of the bottles, and that made enough difference to get a good seal. It's a matter of mm, so be careful when doing this. If you shim too much, you'll break bottles. Crown also can provide a tool to determine if you're getting the correct diameter on your caps. Hope this helps.

            --Gabe

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            • #66
              Originally posted by gabewilson50
              Crown also can provide a tool to determine if you're getting the correct diameter on your caps. Hope this helps.
              I've heard of this mythical tool. When I talked to the regional Crown rep, he said he had such a tool but had no idea as to where to get one. Any ideas?

              --Neil Herbst

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              • #67
                The tool is a Go/No Go guage. I'm not sure were ours came from but would think any crown supplier should be able to steer you in the right direction.
                Cheers & I'm out!
                David R. Pierce
                NABC & Bank Street Brewhouse
                POB 343
                New Albany, IN 47151

                Comment


                • #68
                  Originally posted by beertje46
                  The tool is a Go/No Go guage. I'm not sure were ours came from but would think any crown supplier should be able to steer you in the right direction.
                  Therein lies the problem. The Canadain Crown rep, and hence his local distributor, has no idea where to get one.

                  Cheers!
                  --Neil

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                  • #69
                    Air Pressure

                    Have you tried playing with your compressed air pressure into the machine?

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                    • #70
                      Crowns

                      OK, The crown diameter is within spec. I haven't looked at the air pressure yet.... I'll give it a look too. Thanks everyone for the tips.

                      Cheers.

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                      • #71
                        Check take 3

                        We just had to rebuild the two air cylinders that bring the crowner down. If they are leaking around the seals at all you will not get full pressure down on the crowns. It is a bit tricky to tell if one is leaking with all the noise when the Maheen is running. You should be able to see one side coming up slower then the other. Good Luck
                        Joel Halbleib
                        Partner / Zymurgist
                        Hive and Barrel Meadery
                        6302 Old La Grange Rd
                        Crestwood, KY
                        www.hiveandbarrel.com

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          woo-hoo, we finally got to the source! Welcome Dave if that is you.

                          I have to concur with the one second rule. A lot of times, raising the low-pressure setting higher so that the fill head rises sooner LOWERED the amount of foaming. It seems counterintuitve but that's what happens. Also adjusting the fill sensitiviy as high as possible without short-cycling the machine helps. The trick is to minimize the amount of foam getting up into the off-gas tubing.
                          Linus Hall
                          Yazoo Brewing
                          Nashville, TN
                          www.yazoobrew.com

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                          • #73
                            preventive maintenance

                            Hey Dave or any of you meheen users, We have had our machine for about 6 months now and just wanted to get some feedback on what kind of preventive maintenance you guys suggest doint to the bottler? This thread has been very informative for us. Thanks alot

                            Kyle

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                            • #74
                              80 cases per hour?

                              So your six-head Meheen cycles every 11 seconds? You must hold the record. I'm very happy with my Meheen if it can do 18 second cycles. What's the secret?

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                              • #75
                                Pinners

                                I believe the cylinder you are speaking of are the ones that pin the bottles down to the deck while the capper head raises up. Without these the capper would pick up all the bottles when it went up.

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