Bottling automation ideas

[senorfartman]

Well I went to bottle my chocolate porter today and I've come to realize I can't stand the bottling method that 99% of us use. I use the standard ale pale with the tube spigot. It takes forever, it's messy and there's no way to consistently get the same amount of brew per bottle. After the spigot slid off for the 4th time and dumped beer all over myself and the floor, I realized I needed to do something.

Now I realize kegging is a very viable option but I just prefer beer in bottles. With all the innovation with homebrewers using off the shelf parts to brew beers, the area of bottling seems neglected.

So that got me to thinking, has anyone done any work toward DIY bottling and capping devices on the homebrew scale? Like a mini assembly line?

Solving the issue of volume consistency should be easy enough. Devise some sort of hopper with individual channels (think a couple funnels in a line) which would hold the beer above the bottles and have a valve under each channel. Open them all at once and the same volume should be distributed to each.

Devise some sort of system to automatically place caps on each brew.

Roll the beers after they are filled down the line to the capper. This is where I think we could have 100+ viable ideas. Anything from linear actuators pushing down the 2 levers of a standard capper to any multitude of others.

I'm off tomorrow so I'm sure this will be burning in my mind the whole days. I'm curious to see what you guys come up with.

 

[bigjohnmilford]

Not to rain on your parade. I think it's a great idea. After bottling 8 cases today. But, how much money do you think such equipment is going to cost and how much space is it going to take up? I can contain all of our bottling equipment within the space of a bottling bucket. I just don't think everyone has enough space for a whole large scale brewery in their brew space.

 

[senorfartman]

I think that's where the forum can really help by pitching ideas from a wealth of backgrounds. Hell we have MLTs that cost under $30 from Home Depot.

My situation is a bit different as I own my house and am single so I'm free to do as I please in the basement. Working with off the shelf parts should be able to produce something. Also where I work we have a machine shop, CNC, electrical engineers galore and gear heads which I'll talk to and get ideas from.

 

[david_42]

Lots of good pictures and well within the capacity of a bunch of gear heads and a good machine shop! I've watched a local brewer using something close to this whip through a case every 5 minutes. I suspect the trickiest part is getting the bottle caps loaded so they don't jamb the capper.

http://www.applied-bottling.com/beer_fill_systems/single_filling_system.html

 

[senorfartman]

Now that is awesome!

 

[Funkenjaeger]

If you're having THAT much trouble bottling, you're doing something wrong. Don't get me wrong, I hate bottling too (I keg now), but it's really not that hard - the majority of the work is in cleaning and sanitizing bottles and equipment, the actual bottling process should be reasonably quick and easy. A short piece of siphon tubing to attach a proper bottling wand to the spigot and you're all set. I have NEVER had it fall off and spill (or, for that matter, spill more than a tiny amount of beer in the process for any reason), nor do I have any trouble filling bottles quite consistently - you just fill until the beer nearly reaches the opening, and when you pull the wand out the beer level will fall to just the right point.

 

[Jumbo82]

If you're having THAT much trouble bottling, you're doing something wrong. Don't get me wrong, I hate bottling too (I keg now), but it's really not that hard - the majority of the work is in cleaning and sanitizing bottles and equipment, the actual bottling process should be reasonably quick and easy. A short piece of siphon tubing to attach a proper bottling wand to the spigot and you're all set. I have NEVER had it fall off and spill (or, for that matter, spill more than a tiny amount of beer in the process for any reason), nor do I have any trouble filling bottles quite consistently - you just fill until the beer nearly reaches the opening, and when you pull the wand out the beer level will fall to just the right point.

I agree, bottling is pretty simple and easy if you have a good system. On a small homebrew scale I don't see any reason to have an elaborate automated bottling system, unless you are really into gadgets and like to tinker. If you're only bottling a 5 gallon batch every week, I highly doubt there will be any time savings since the maintenance alone will likely take longer than the actual bottling.

My bottling system works great. I open up my dishwasher which has all the freshly cleaned bottles sitting on the prongs, and pull up a chair. On the counter above the dishwasher I have my bottling bucket with the tubing and bottling wand attached. I pick up a bottle, fill it to the rim, pull out the wand, and set the bottle down on the end of the open dishwasher door. If SWMBO is around, she loves to use the capper. If not, I cap them when I have a bunch and then go back to filling. With SWMBO its less than 30 minutes, alone maybe 45. Best part is, any beer dripping/spilling during the process ends up on the dishwasher door. No cleanup. I recommend this system (including a helpful SWMBO if you can find one). Good luck.

 

[brewt00l]

If you guys that say you don't have that much trouble bottling compare your process with Seniorfartman's you'll note a key inconsistency...

bottling wand

 

[ttownbrew]

Did anybody pay attention to the Used Equipment link at Applied Bottling and see the 25bbl Production Brewery for sale...$130,000

http://www.applied-bottling.com/used_equipment/DR_Brewery.html

nice...

 

[jeff967]

Me and my SWMBO, can knock out a 5.5gl batch in 30 minutes flat.
"edit without a bottling wand"

 

[Jumbo82]

Me and my SWMBO, can knock out a 5.5gl batch in 30 minutes flat.
"edit without a bottling wand"

If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use a wand?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yup, a $4 bottling wand will cure many of your ills. I bottled without one for most of the time prior to kegging. It was my last bottled batch for which I employed a bottling wand and it makes life so much easier. I probably spilled 12oz less and shaved 20 minutes off the total time.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

If you already have a bottling bucket I have a good setup for you that is a cheap upgrade.

Purchase 1 bottling wand and about 4 inches of the heavy weight high temp tubing (or any other very thick and/or stiff tubing). Assembly the bottling wand to the spigot on your bottling bucket by forcing the tubing over the spigot neck, and forcing the remaining tube onto the bottling wand. This should provide a stiff joint between the wand and the spigot with very little or no tube exposed to the beer. I use this setup so I can fill bottles one handed, I just setup my bucket on a counter top, sit in a chair and fill bottles by pressing the bottle upward into the wand.

I hope that makes sense, I wish I could take a photo of the setup.

 

[Sea]

Not sure why anyone would bottle without a wand? A stainless one is still under $10.

 

[iamjonsharp]

 

[jeff967]

If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use a wand?

My local home brew store S@#ks they have nothing usefull. I am a DIY guy, maid my bottle buckit my self out of the hardwhare store, a 1/2in. npt to 3/8in. tube ball valve "quest fitting I think", 10in. of 3/8 tubeing in the valve, bottle in one hand, valve in the other, SWMBO moves the full ones. works out jest fine.

 

[jeff967]

If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use a wand?

and I allready thd the valves and tubing in my diy parts stash

 

[icebrk34]

Just a note....This thread is in the DIY section....we all love gagets and things that make our brewing easier...I would love to see some postes on ideas for making something like the applied brewing device from cheep home depot parts. I don't think we need to hear any more about how easy the regular method is. If you are happy with the traditionl methods and dont think there is a need for more innovation.....please refrain from posting and adding clutter to this thread.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Did anybody pay attention to the Used Equipment link at Applied Bottling and see the 25bbl Production Brewery for sale...$130,000

http://www.applied-bottling.com/used_equipment/DR_Brewery.html

nice...

In the Dominican Republic? Probably better off buying it, closing it and shipping the equipment here.

That bottler is uber cool, but some MAJOR overkill.

I also think that homebrew tastes a bit better in bottles, but it's not enough of a difference for me to put up with bottling, storing bottles, cleaning bottles, rinsing bottles every time I empty one, etc., etc.

I'm so glad I started kegging.

 

[bigben]

If you get a bottling wand, make sure you get the SPRING TIP one. I got the one without the spring in it and the damn things gets stuck open sometimes and spills beer all over the place.

 

[gerrg]

I agree, bottling is pretty simple and easy if you have a good system. On a small homebrew scale I don't see any reason to have an elaborate automated bottling system, unless you are really into gadgets and like to tinker. If you're only bottling a 5 gallon batch every week, I highly doubt there will be any time savings since the maintenance alone will likely take longer than the actual bottling.

My bottling system works great. I open up my dishwasher which has all the freshly cleaned bottles sitting on the prongs, and pull up a chair. On the counter above the dishwasher I have my bottling bucket with the tubing and bottling wand attached. I pick up a bottle, fill it to the rim, pull out the wand, and set the bottle down on the end of the open dishwasher door. If SWMBO is around, she loves to use the capper. If not, I cap them when I have a bunch and then go back to filling. With SWMBO its less than 30 minutes, alone maybe 45. Best part is, any beer dripping/spilling during the process ends up on the dishwasher door. No cleanup. I recommend this system (including a helpful SWMBO if you can find one). Good luck.

I don't have a dishwasher, so I wash all of my bottles by hand, but once that part is done, the rest is easy. I line all my bottles up in rows of 5 so they form a 5X10 rectangle if you will, then i get a couple tool boxes and set my bottling bucket on top (so it higher than the bottles). once everythings set up I fill all my bottles, which is easy since they're all lined up and all I have to do is put the wand in, take out, and move to the next one. for caping I simply move the bottle, place cap, use the capper, and move the bottle further. Not too big a deal, thought an automatic system would be neat to mess around with. :rockin:


peace
-gw

 

[ClutchDude]

If I did a lot of bottling, I'd setup a PVC system. Have a 1/2 or so pipe that is connected to the bottling bucket spigot. Then have 4-5 small vinyl or pvc tubes go into the beer bottles, open the valve, fill a few bottles at once, then move on. That'd work great if you especially had a box you could put the beers in. Then you could build the rig to that.

Alternatively, since you'll risk overflow until you get the timing right, is to set up a couple of those wands, attach them to a 2x4 over your bottle row. lightly press the board down into the bottles and lift it back up.

 

[shafferpilot]

Just a note....This thread is in the DIY section....we all love gagets and things that make our brewing easier...I would love to see some postes on ideas for making something like the applied brewing device from cheep home depot parts. I don't think we need to hear any more about how easy the regular method is. If you are happy with the traditionl methods and dont think there is a need for more innovation.....please refrain from posting and adding clutter to this thread.

seriously, the OP is looking for ideas on how to implement an automatic bottle filler. It's not an outrageous idea. Is anyone actually going to offer some ideas? Or are we all a bunch of EAC's incapable of thinking outside the box?

 

[imasickboy]

If not, I cap them when I have a bunch and then go back to filling.

My experience:

If things are set up just right, your bottling wand will sit in your bottle, filling it, while you let go of both, freeing your hands to cap the last bottle filled. Since discovering this, bottling takes me only as long as it takes to fill all the bottles, since I am capping as I go, with no stopping.

 

[Jumbo82]

seriously, the OP is looking for ideas on how to implement an automatic bottle filler. It's not an outrageous idea. Is anyone actually going to offer some ideas? Or are we all a bunch of EAC's incapable of thinking outside the box?

No, its not an outrageous idea. And if you had read all the posts, you would have seen some suggestions. The reason there were several posts about bottling technique was due to this statement in the orginal post;
"It takes forever, it's messy and there's no way to consistently get the same amount of brew per bottle. After the spigot slid off for the 4th time and dumped beer all over myself and the floor, I realized I needed to do something."
It appeared the OP was going to undertake this project when a simpler solution might be present. Several of us were posting some ideas so he could make an informed decision about whether an automated bottle filler was really necessary for his needs. Nothing wrong with having all the facts beforehand.

 

[shafferpilot]

fair enough.

 

[Bobby_M]

Just a note....This thread is in the DIY section....we all love gagets and things that make our brewing easier...I would love to see some postes on ideas for making something like the applied brewing device from cheep home depot parts. I don't think we need to hear any more about how easy the regular method is. If you are happy with the traditionl methods and dont think there is a need for more innovation.....please refrain from posting and adding clutter to this thread.

Is this really your first post on the forum? Seriously? You registered to tell us how to be better contributors. This isn't a answer-O-matic machine. We're humans that can rationalize that the OP might be trying to solve a problem that has already been solved. I'm going off topic here but this struck me as weird and it's not even the OP complaining.

We're anticipating that the OP is not utilizing all the tools that makes bottling not only cheap but somewhat tolerable. Unless you're bottling 10 gallon batches every week, there's no better way to do it on a homebrewer's scale.

One thing that has not been mentioned is to get a benchtop capper. Hold the bottle with one hand, slam the capper lever with the other. I also agree with the post about mounting the bottling wand rigidly to the bucket spout to keep it a one handed operation.

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

I really like that idea of the multibottle filler.
As far as capping, what about a multi-bottle bench type capper?

As far as an automated assembly line, that really would be awesome. I think the hardest part would be trying to sync everything.
An actual conveyor belt and guides would be easy enough to build, but getting the bottle to be under the filler & capper at just the right time would be tough.
You may be able to use a microswitch connected to a relay to the (power capper / solenoid valve) - so as the side of the bottle grazes the switch, it would close the circuit.
I don't know how you would be able to get it to fill from the bottom of the bottle to avoid oxidation. It may be easier to set up a co2 purge.
I don't really know how you could either get the bottle to pause at the fill until full, or get the fill tube to follow the bottle. If you set it up to follow, you could just lengthen the 'flap'(whats that thing called?) of the microswitch so it would continue to push it until full. Man you'd really have to mess with that to get it right...
Maybe another conveyor system could control the fill to follow. It could be hooked to the extended microswitch and attached to a motor. You could use a relay to normally reverse the motor until it gets to the beginning - (like a garage door opener stop switch), then reverse polarity to run forward.
You would have to have complete control over the flow. I think you'd be forced to use a pump. A demand pump would be ideal. Or maybe you could turn the pump on and off instead of a valve?
As far as picking up a cap and them smashing it onto the bottle without breaking it, i don't know and to tell you the truth, my brain hurts. I need a homebrew!

 

[Jesse17]

I too thought it strange that Icebrk34 used his first post to tell everyone eles how to post, but hey, I'm not going to tell him what to post if he doesn't tell me what to post...(oh wait, he just did)... Anyway, I will say welcome to the forum Icebrk34!

Also, I agree about filling/capping being a breeze. I also have my wand attached directly to the bottling bucket's spigot, with a 4" piece of tubing. (I actually cut the tubing off my auto siphon to do this)

What I would like to speed up is the cleaning/sanitation of bottles. I don't have a problem with rinsing bottles when I empty them, but have learned that I need to get a bottle tree next to the sink, so they can drip dry and not grow mold.

That being said I've been thinking about building a rack out of 1/4" copper tubing that would hold 24 bottles. Placing this in a large rubber made tray with a couple inches of Star San in the bottom, and using a recirculating pump (pond pump) to push the star san though the copper tube/rack, hence spraying the inside of the bottles with star san.

This way, you could throw 24 clean bottles on the rack, and turn on the pump for 30 sec. to sanitize them, then swap out the next 24 bottles, rather than my current method of 'sinking' 12 bottles in a bucket of star san, waiting 30 sec, pouring each bottle out, then repeating 3 more times.

 

[shafferpilot]

for the above post:

You'll get wildly different pressures at different hieghts. As in the bottles low on the rack will get full pressure and flow, blowing them off the rack. And the bottles at the top would be lucky to get a trickle. You'll have to restrict the lowest branches a lot, the next branches up some, so on and so on. Then the pump will ahve to be tuned to match the system. I used to make copper bird bath fountains, and tuning a system with one pump, but sprayers at different hieghts was always a HUGE pain.