I bottled my Corona clone tonight.
Whenever I wash bottles, I get to thinking how easy it would be to automate most of the process with a small robot. I don't hate bottling and it doesn't take all that long, but it sure wouldn't be hard to automate.
The capping could be easily done with an air cylinder - as long as the bottle didn't stick in the capping head.
The filling could use a small air cylinder to bring down a counter pressure bottling head. Turning the CO2 and beer on and off would be easy with solenoids.
Washing gets a bit tricky because the bottle would have to be turned upside down to drain it. Maybe it would be upside down to wash and rinse too ? Could use a high pressure washer to blast the inside of the bottle and a jet of air to dry it ?
Even if a person had to move the bottles from station to station, it could be pretty darn fast. Maybe have an upside down station for washing the bottle, a filling station and a capping station ?
Anyone else think like this ?
Lest anyone wonders, I have some kegs (4). I do most of my brewing in the winter and thus I need to brew and store just about a whole years supply. Aside from filling, bottles are pretty handy. Storage is a bit of a pain, but still bareable.
Just thinking out loud...
Whenever I wash bottles, I get to thinking how easy it would be to automate most of the process with a small robot. I don't hate bottling and it doesn't take all that long, but it sure wouldn't be hard to automate.
The capping could be easily done with an air cylinder - as long as the bottle didn't stick in the capping head.
The filling could use a small air cylinder to bring down a counter pressure bottling head. Turning the CO2 and beer on and off would be easy with solenoids.
Washing gets a bit tricky because the bottle would have to be turned upside down to drain it. Maybe it would be upside down to wash and rinse too ? Could use a high pressure washer to blast the inside of the bottle and a jet of air to dry it ?
Even if a person had to move the bottles from station to station, it could be pretty darn fast. Maybe have an upside down station for washing the bottle, a filling station and a capping station ?
Anyone else think like this ?
Lest anyone wonders, I have some kegs (4). I do most of my brewing in the winter and thus I need to brew and store just about a whole years supply. Aside from filling, bottles are pretty handy. Storage is a bit of a pain, but still bareable.
Just thinking out loud...
Brewman, How'd the Belgian Wit brew session go?
