Building or finding a better bottling wand

[Vandulus]

Over the past 2 years I've managed to upgrade much of my equipment and improve my technique, but one things still gives me grief. I bottle my beers and am not looking at kegging as this would probably put SWMBO over the edge - buying another fridge plus kegs, CO2 tanks, towers and taps. When I bottle I'm still using a crappy, spring loaded plastic wand that cost all of $4. It drips so I have to use a drip pan underneath, feels like it can snap in half at any time and is not all that ergonomically friendly. I'm starting to get some arthritis in my hands and since this method is slow, I'm having to take breaks to stretch my fingers.

The only alternative I've been able to find is counter pressure fillers which appear to require a keg and CO2 tank. Ideally I'd love one that's got an adjustable flow rate, gun style trigger or even better a bench model where I can just use a lever to control filling. Does anyone know if such a thing exists or has a DYI better bottling wand solution?

 

[bucketnative]

I used to have to mop the floor every time I bottled due to slight overfills or drips. Now, I bottle on the open door of the dishwasher, so any mess just gets run off into the dishwasher when I shut the door. IT's wise to run the washer soon after as that beer smell in the bowels of the dishwasher can get bad after 2 days.

Also, if your bottling wand is dripping, it could need a new o-ring or spring. Do you take it apart to clean and then reassemble it, perhaps something isn't seated right?

 

[GrogNerd]

gravity tip wands were a huge problem for me, so I changed to spring tip and it's been all good since.

drips a little, but I keep a towel underneath anyway to catch overfills, so no mess

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Take the plunge and go piss off shmbo. Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. She'll come around when she sees the happiness your kegs bring you!




My best bottling wand is my beer gun.

 

[flars]

I use a spring tip bottling wand. During a bottling session it started dripping. I found that I had installed the spring upside down the last time I took it apart for cleaning. The cross piece on the spring end should be in contact with the plunger to hold it straight.

Attach your wand to the spigot of the bottling bucket with 2 inches of tubing. You will no longer need to hold it in your hand.

 

[2trout]

Ill second the bottling over the open dishwasher method. Another simple change to your routine is to add another spigot to your bottling bucket. You'll be able to fill two bottles at once.

2trout

 

[Vandulus]

I have a FastRack drip tray that I'm using for drips and the wand is spring loaded, but it seems like there should be an easier solution.

As to pissing off SWMBO, I'm already in the doghouse for forgetting to tell her about the kegerator I ordered for controlling fermentation temperatures. It was my own fault, saw it drop $40 in price and offer 6 months same as cash while out of town for my son's sporting event. For now I need to keep my beer equipment purchases small...

 

[kristiismean]

I do 12 oz bottles and a single 22oz bottle per batch. (when I bottle). I use a 5 dollar filler with the spring load. It drips, but not to bad at all. few drops. I keep the 22oz handy in case I have to set it down and / or take a break and fill it/top it off near the end..

 

[orionol73]

Check out the OP over here. This is how I do it and you just press the bottles up against the bottle filler instead of holding the bottling wand and inserting it in each bottle.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812

I would think this would be much easier on your arthritis because you are constantly changing hand hold and position throughout the process

 

[BargainFittings]

Are you using a 3/8" bottling wand and racking cane? I switched to 1/2" and it made a huge difference in the speed factor.

 

[Mer-man]

Take the plunge and go piss off shmbo. Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. She'll come around when she sees the happiness your kegs bring you!




My best bottling wand is my beer gun.

That's why you don't get enough head! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7717107&postcount=2

Hi-ohhhh!

 

[ALExanderH]

I have the 1/2" spring loaded wand and it dripped quite a bit more than my old smaller 3/8". Took the spring out and and stretched it out a bit, drips much less now.

 

[Vandulus]

I ran across this watering valve the other day and am now looking figuring out what reducers I'll need and if I can find a small stainless piece for going into the bottle.

 

[Vandulus]

So I took the plunge and ordered a few parts:

Dramm 22730 Touch N Flow Pro Full Flow Shut-Off Valve
Female Garden Hose Thread with 3/8" Barb
Anderson Metals Brass Garden Hose Fitting, Connector, 3/8" Barb x 3/4" Male Hose
Total Cost = $37

I spent a while last week playing with different hose lengths and filling bottles with water to test the overall design. Having a length of tubing long enough to touch the bottom of the bottle and not have any metal hitting the glass seemed to be the key. I used Teflon tape on the threaded parts to make it easier to disassemble for cleaning. Tonight I decided to take the plunge and bottle my batch of Abbey ale using the new wand.

Filling Technique
I'd fill the bottles up to where the neck starts narrowing in. To get rid of the leftover beer in the bottom tubing, I'd first slightly bend the tubing to the right for a 3-4 seconds. When the visible beer in the tube was gone, I then bend the tubing slightly to the left for 2 seconds. There were 3-4 drips still in the line, but my drip pan caught those.

Version #1
Used silicone 3/8" ID tubing with 1/16" wall thinking that I'd get better flow rates. I made it through about 20 bottles when I threw in the towel on this design:
- Silicone tubing made it hard to check the clarity of the beer
- 1/16" walls meant it kinked way to easily
- Slipped off the spigot a few times as it was very loose
- Foamed more that I liked - trying to keep oxygen introduced down

Version #2
Used 3/16" ID vinyl tubing and it solved the first 3 problems and cut the foaming in half.
Problems: Took 5 minutes to get over the bucket spigot. Next time I'll soak in hot water first.

Verdict - Good
Overall I probably spent more time screwing around with the design on this batch, but I can see where it will cut down 5-10 minutes bottling due to the faster filling speed. More importantly, it was much more comfortable to hold than the old bottling wand. Cleaning was a breeze as I unscrewed one adapter, ran water through both parts and then a round of StarSan.

Version 3 Goals
- Reduce the dripping (if at all possible)
- Speed up the draining of the beer left in the tube after releasing the valve
- Further reduce the dripping

Any thoughts, improvements and feedback are appreciated!