no longer wanted: bottle filling gun

[CATpAW Brewing]

HELP!!!

 

 

 

I've just finished bottling 90 long necks, using a "little bottler" - you know, the hard plastic tube that fits inside your fermenter tap and has the self sealing tip that opens when it contacts the bottom of the bottle. This is a painfully slow process, and I have to find a better way. (and no, I don't want to move to kegs)

 

 

 

Whilst I have found more automated gadgets on the net, such as Ferrari (bad feedback on reliability) & Buon Vino (looks complex and messy), I am hoping to locate a filler gun I used when 1st home brewing almost 20 years ago.

 

 

 

I cannot remember it's name, but I'll try and describe it:

 

It attached to your tap via flexible tubing. The business end looked like a toy pistol, with a barrell and a trigger. You placed the barrel in the bottle neck, adjusted a collar for fill height, pulled and locked on the trigger, and it began filling, without you having to hold it. It filled automatically until the predertimed level was achieved, then clicked off.

 

 

 

You would then lift the gun, place it in the next bottle, and press the trigger again.

 

 

 

It allowed you to cap and stack your previous bottle whilst the next one filled, reducing the amount of time spent bottling.

 

 

 

If I recall correctly, it was made from a hard plastic and the components were red and white in colour.

 

 

 

Does anyone know what these guns were called, and even better, where they can be sourced from.

 

 

 

thanks folks!

[rossm]

G'day CATpAW,

 

 

 

No I can't say I have ever seen or heard of them, sounds like a good tool though. I am not into kegging either, but what I do for bottling is use the little bottler with a piece of clear plastic hose on it, you can still put the bottler in the bottle and let it fill while you carry on capping the previous one, the only problem is if you use stubbies or pet bottles rather than long necks you may not be quick enough to cap the stubbie before the next one is full, and you would probably have to hold the bottler until the stubbie was half full to stop the hose tipping it over, however, that would also be a problem with the tool you speak of. I use Coopers longnecks mainly and and have plenty of time to cap the full one before the next one is ready.

[Muddy Waters]

As handy as the filler guns sounds I reckon it would put and end to my special "Bottling Day Waltz".

 

 

 

The steps are as follows:

 

 

 

Remove the full bottle from beneath the lil bottler with right hand and replace it with the empty bottle in the left. Put the filled bottle on the bench, swap hands on the bottle being filled while performing a graceful 180 degree turn. Grab a cap with your now empty left hand and place it on top of the full bottle. With a reverse 180 and a swap of hands on the nearly full bottle pick up an empty one and repeat the little dance ad nauseum.

[CATpAW Brewing]

thanks for your responses. I've got a double (60 long necks) CPA to put down tomorrow, so I'll give both methods a try and do a time trial vs my current method.

 

 

 

Winner is invited for a free tasting in Brisbane at a time of their choosing

 

 

 

I would still dearly like to hear from anyone who remembers or knows anything about the bottling gun I refer to above.

[PB2]

I reckon I've seen one of these, years ago, but no idea where to get one these days.

 

I know you said that you don't want to move to kegs but have you thought about kegging your beer?

 

Waste of a post really, haven't helped you at all - but I refuse to delete it. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[CATpAW Brewing]

OK - I think we've nailed it.

 

 

 

Just bottled a double CATpAW Hail Ale, labelled 60 bottles, put a CATpAW McGuiness into the ferment fridge, cleaned up, sampled some recent recipes (Sparkling Ale and Bavarian Lager) and filled my arse groove on the couch ready for the Lions v Roos game, all in 90 minutes.

 

 

 

Thanks for the filling tips, but we simply got a 1m length of clear hose, put this over the fermenter tap, placed it in the bottom of the 1st bottle and opened the tap. When the correct level is achieved you fold the tube to crimp and seal it, lift it into the next bottle and repeat. Because the I.D. of the hose is greater than the I.D. of the tap, you achieve full flow rate, and before you know it, all the bottles are filled. And with the hose placed at the bottom of the bottle, I think oxidation is minimised.

 

 

 

Simple, fast, effective and cheap. Never going back to the "little bottler"

[rossm]

CATpAW

 

If you shove the little bottler into the end that is in the bottle you don't have to kink the hose , but whatever works for you is good!

[THIRSTY MATT]

just take the lil blue thing off the end of lil bottler n have a drip tray...thats what i do when i keg n do my 8 or so long bottles afterwards.!!

 

matt