My filling wand is gonna die!!!

[hunhaylou]

I was bottling some beer the other day and my filling wand kept getting stuck I would finish in the bottle, then pull the wand out and beer was still coming out. Finally I just had to shut it down at the bucket after the bottle was filled. I think it is a JD Carlson wand, I remember having the same problem with my other wand when I brewed beer in the past. Anyway, what do you guys use, or is this just a problem with those things? One day I will have a keg, but for now I have to bottle. I enjoy brewing beer, but yesterday I was quite angry with my filling wand, it is bad when you are thinking of doing violence to a piece of plastic.

 

[weirdboy]

I have had this happen in the past, although for my last several batches it's been working fine. As a precautionary measure against this, I attach the little clip that came with my kit to the top of my bottling bucket. Then, if the wand is leaky I'll just hold it above the level of liquid in the bottling bucket when I'm inserting or removing it into a bottle. For times when I need both hands I'll snap the wand into the clip.

 

[Homercidal]

I switched to a spring-loaded wand a while back. I think it works better than the one that relies on the weight of the water to seal the end.

My problem is that I bought the larger size, and it gives too much headspace when it's pulled out. I have to tilt the bottle a bit and just catch the valve on the inside of the lip to finish filling. Reminds me to pick up the smaller size next time I buy stuff.

 

[chefmike]

Time to give up bottling and start kegging....

that is what you do when you have a problem with bottling process... just ask Revvy!

 

[BioBeing]

Clean it out! If you get a bit of hop or trub caught in it, it will not close properly. Close your back up "off" switch (a clip or the spigot of the bottling bucket), take the wand off and clean out any crap from inside. Resanitize (a quick spray with Starsan) and you are back in business.

 

[Gremlyn]

I switched to a spring-loaded wand a while back. I think it works better than the one that relies on the weight of the water to seal the end.

+1 on the spring loaded, WAY better than the gravity closed one. AND you can disassemble the spring loaded on for easier cleaning.