What's a good bottler?

[Blarneybrew]

I've been jamming a 3/8 hose in to my picnic tap and it works fine. For contests and perhaps for small scale business bottling in the distant future I'd like something a little more professional. I've seen microbrews jam a hose in to their tap for filling growlers. Works fine also it seems, from my experience.

I've been looking at the blichmann, but I'd really like a fixed unit. Something that you mount or put on a counter top, fill and cap.

What are the possible options for a modest/frugal price?

 

[Homercidal]

I don't know. I bought a SS screw on adapter for my Perlick faucets with a short plastic hose and a wand. Nothing fancy. When I want to bottle some up I pour a small glass to drink, and then fill a bottle to start with and that chills the adapter properly and from then on it's no problem to fill a bunch of bottles with easy.

Now I admit it's not technically as good as having a counterpressure filler with the option of flushing the bottle with CO2, but there is a great chance that the beer will foam just a bit, which pushes the CO2 out of the bottle. And if you use O2 absorbing caps, the risk of oxidation is small.

Oh I forgot to mention the bottle bung that I slip over the wand to make it a bit like a pressure filler, although I have good luck without needing to create a pressurized environment.