Looking for plans to build a 4 line counter pressure filler.
Any ideas or links would be welcome. ;)
Looks like a good concept ...
http://youtu.be/QeRCiV1aBiY
I'm looking at this
I'd be interested to see how you get on with this. Keep us posted.
Where did you get that pic from?
Here's how the Lee Valley Brewing Club do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKpYdIw8Nsw
Looks like great craic !
However its not counter pressure - they are flushing the bottles with CO2 and filling them from taps (with pipes taped on)
I have to admire their ingenuity but I don't think that's what reinier is looking for
Yeah, it's not counter pressure but I thought you might get some ideas from it?
Quote from: Garry on August 01, 2013, 01:50:58 PM
Where did you get that pic from?
http://www.easyfillermanufacturing.com/index.php (http://www.easyfillermanufacturing.com/index.php)
Depending on what end result your after,that machine is OK. If you are not Bottle conditioning your beer then any air in your bottle is your enemy. You can fill your bottle with CO2 which is more heavy than air so it will settle at the bottom of the bottle pushing the air up,however, not all the air is pushed up,some remains. As a homebrewer this small amount of remaining air can be acceptable but in the world of commercial beer it is not. This is why most commercial bottlers employ a double pre evacuation method. We can do this too. By sucking the air out of a bottle you create a vacuum filling the bottle with CO2 and then sucking the CO2/air blend out again creating a second vacuum finally filling the bottle with CO2 again and then filling the bottle with Beer will increase the life expectancy of the bottle of Beer. :)
Quote from: DEMPSEY on August 01, 2013, 02:36:56 PM
This is why most commercial bottlers employ a double pre evacuation method. We can do this too. By sucking the air out of a bottle you create a vacuum filling the bottle with CO2 and then sucking the CO2/air blend out again creating a second vacuum finally filling the bottle with CO2 again and then filling the bottle with Beer will increase the life expectancy of the bottle of Beer. :)
This is it. The key to shelf life is prevention of DO2 levels.
I personally feel that the counter pressure fillers are a bit over-complicated for what you're trying to achieve.
If you're doing production, yeah. Isobaric fillers all the way. For homebrew, get a beer gun and a big tank of co2.
With a beer gun you can evac most of that oxygen out of there with the Co2 first. In my experience you need a good bit of patience so give it gas for 5-10 seconds. Wait until you smell the sting of Co2 from that bottle. Then fill.
When you use a bottle gun you will lose a small degree of carbonation. The trick is to carb the beer in the keg higher to what you want it coming out of the bottle. Plan for the loss in carbonation and you're sorted.
Agreed Alex but at 115 euro average they are rather expensive for an occasional use item( occasional in my case at least).
Used mine 4 times and very handy but don't bother if you are starting out
I will say this only once more:
A beer gun is NOT a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler!
Say it one more time, we weren't listening :D
I'm way down south say it once more with feeling ::)
A BEER GUN IS NOT,REPEAT NOT A COUNTERPRESSURE BOTTLE FILLER :)
OK!.............. but if it's not a counter pressure filler, well, what is it, for €115??
Quote from: christhebrewer on August 05, 2013, 12:07:58 PM
OK!.............. but if it's not a counter pressure filler, well, what is it, for €115??
A bloody rip off IMHO :D
Quote from: christhebrewer on August 05, 2013, 12:07:58 PM
OK!.............. but if it's not a counter pressure filler, well, what is it, for €115??
You pay for the name
Quite simply a beer gun has 2 valves,the first lets you squirt co2 into the bottle. This is more heavy than air so it fills up the bottom of the bottle. Then you pull the other trigger which just like you beer tap pours the beer into the bottle. the beer pushes the blanket of co2 ahead of itself until you have the bottle full.
Counter pressure bottling is where you have a large tank of beer that is under co2 pressure and you connect the bottle to it. Then you let the bottle fill up with the same pressure. This allows the beer to flow into the bottle without losing any of its dissolved co2. As the bottle fills up a small valve (snift valve) lets the bottle pressure bleed off slowly. After the bottle is filled a few seconds pass and you release the bottle filler tube. As this happens a small amount of beer foams up and you cap on the foam.
Maheen bottling
+1 Mr D!
Yeah but you can't strut round your garage spinning that on your finger, shooting indiscriminately, usually the dogs, saying the milky beers are on me.
Who said a beer gun is a counter pressure filler?
Here's the difference between using the two.
Counter pressure filler -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orpfub1Q-AI
Beer gun -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfqZ_9UCt7s
You can see the difference in ease of use.
Blichmann seem to be trying to claim it's a counter pressure filler.
They're full of shite.
If you'd like to have a look at one I'm happy to show you mine.
They're not worth the money they charge for them and I'd say you could make one fairly easily, but they are very very handy.
I keg most of my beer but still bottle condition from time to time if the style of beer suits the job.
The main thing is getting a DIY one working with a gas inject as well as the fill.
This is what a really cheap (€3) CP filler looks like
http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,284.msg3064.html#msg3064
Quote from: Will_D on August 06, 2013, 02:24:01 PM
This is what a really cheap (€3) CP filler looks like
http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,284.msg3064.html#msg3064
Been thinking of lashing something like that on my beer gun. Good shout.
The counter pressure bottler in the youtube link has 1 flaw that is easy to account for if you plan to make one. It has the co2 and beer both coming in to the bottle in the same spear. This means you have to empty the spear of the beer from the last bottle fill so as to be able to fill the next bottle with co2 first.
Using a crucifix instead of a Tee connector you can have the long spear put beer into the bottle and have the short spear at the top to both put co2 in and vent co2/air.