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High fill level on 1 head, Meheen

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  • High fill level on 1 head, Meheen

    Hi there - we bottle cider on a refurbished 6-head meheen. We previously had consistently unacceptably low fills on head #1 (closest to where cider enters the manifold). I replaced the silicone tubing, stainless straw, several of the john guest T's, etc and the problem immediately switched to an unacceptably high-fill, by nearly an inch higher than the rest, which are all within the acceptable +/-4.6mm for our bottle spec.

    Leak test passes, We run the headpressure at 16psi via a fizzwizz. Product is carbonated to 2.9bars and the temp reading at the manifold is 34degrees. We do not cap on foam as the bottles are pasteurized. We were able to run comfortably at 14.6cycle time, slowing it down did not affect the fill levels.

    The CO2 runs at 32psi We run in both auto and manual with no difference so I switched it back to auto as the other five levels were better.

    I currently have a tank of water carbonated to play with so I'm not wasting product while troubleshooting. Any tips where to start looking or adjusting I would appreciate,

    Melissa
    Last edited by applesrus; 01-21-2020, 09:27 AM.

  • #2
    Originally posted by applesrus View Post
    Hi there - we bottle cider on a refurbished 6-head meheen. We previously had consistently unacceptably low fills on head #1 (closest to where cider enters the manifold). I replaced the silicone tubing, stainless straw, several of the john guest T's, etc and the problem immediately switched to an unacceptably high-fill, by nearly an inch higher than the rest, which are all within the acceptable +/-4.6mm for our bottle spec.

    Leak test passes, We run the headpressure at 16psi via a fizzwizz. Product is carbonated to 2.9bars and the temp reading at the manifold is 34degrees. We do not cap on foam as the bottles are pasteurized. We were able to run comfortably at 14.6cycle time, slowing it down did not affect the fill levels.

    The CO2 runs at 32psi We run in both auto and manual with no difference so I switched it back to auto as the other five levels were better.

    I currently have a tank of water carbonated to play with so I'm not wasting product while troubleshooting. Any tips where to start looking or adjusting I would appreciate,

    Melissa
    Hi Melissa,
    I ran into the same issue after replace a single fill line on my 6-head Meheen. After ripping my hair out troubleshooting, I tried replacing all of the fill lines with the same hose. That did the trick. Unbeknownst to me, the first replaced line’s interior diameter was slightly larger than the rest allowing a higher flow than the rest of the lines. You’re mileage may vary but good luck.
    Prost!
    Dave
    Glacier Brewing Company
    406-883-2595
    info@glacierbrewing.com

    "who said what now?"

    Comment


    • #3
      Melissa,

      It's been a while since I ran a Meheen, thankfully, but I have vivid memories of stuff like that. Like Dave said, make sure you replace all the silicone hoses at the same time. Even ones that are the same diameter in theory will swell up from pressure over time. Same thing with the fill tubes, change them all at the same time. You can buy stainless tubing and make your own.

      You probably could go higher on your tank pressure too, if it will handle it. A higher pressure will help level out fill levels and keep the gas in solution.

      There is a big thread on Meheens on this site that has a lot of information from people over the years that might be helpful.




      Originally posted by applesrus View Post
      Hi there - we bottle cider on a refurbished 6-head meheen. We previously had consistently unacceptably low fills on head #1 (closest to where cider enters the manifold). I replaced the silicone tubing, stainless straw, several of the john guest T's, etc and the problem immediately switched to an unacceptably high-fill, by nearly an inch higher than the rest, which are all within the acceptable +/-4.6mm for our bottle spec.

      Leak test passes, We run the headpressure at 16psi via a fizzwizz. Product is carbonated to 2.9bars and the temp reading at the manifold is 34degrees. We do not cap on foam as the bottles are pasteurized. We were able to run comfortably at 14.6cycle time, slowing it down did not affect the fill levels.

      The CO2 runs at 32psi We run in both auto and manual with no difference so I switched it back to auto as the other five levels were better.

      I currently have a tank of water carbonated to play with so I'm not wasting product while troubleshooting. Any tips where to start looking or adjusting I would appreciate,

      Melissa
      Linus Hall
      Yazoo Brewing
      Nashville, TN
      www.yazoobrew.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Thank-you so much for the tip - Meheen was only able to send me that one length of line at the time I replaced it due to a "worldwide silicone shortage" but anyhow - that would make sense,the diameter being slightly bigger. Maybe I will try moving it to a different head and see if the problem follows it. I don't really want the fill levels that high as they are way beyond the tolerance in the bottle, so I might also just try clamping that hose to restrict the flow a little as I suspect replacing all the lines would make all my fill levels much too high, even if consistent.

        Appreciate the help from both of you!

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