counter pressure filler

[Rats]

Looking for plans to build a 4 line counter pressure filler.
Any ideas or links would be welcome.

[Jacob]

Looks like a good concept ...

http://youtu.be/QeRCiV1aBiY

[Rats]

I'm looking at this

[Garry]

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

[Partridge9]

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

[Garry]

Yeah, it's not counter pressure but I thought you might get some ideas from it?

[Rats]

Where did you get that pic from?

http://www.easyfillermanufacturing.com/index.php

[DEMPSEY]

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.

[Alex Lawes]

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.

[Greg2013]

Agreed Alex but at 115 euro average they are rather expensive for an occasional use item( occasional in my case at least).

[Ciderhead]

Used mine 4 times and very handy but don't bother if you are starting out

[Will_D]

I will say this only once more:

A beer gun is NOT a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler!

[Ciderhead]

Say it one more time, we weren't listening

[Greg2013]

I'm way down south say it once more with feeling :

[DEMPSEY]

A BEER GUN IS NOT,REPEAT NOT A COUNTERPRESSURE BOTTLE FILLER