Counter preasure bottle filler (DIY) - filling bottles from a keg

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

Here is my cheap and easy counter preasure bottle filler that I use to fill bottles from a keg. I fiddled with various hardware and taps and stuff to build a knockoff beer gun but found it far too fiddly and a mission to fill bottles quick and easy.

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Its a picnic tap with a piece of hose that fits into the tap to the bottom of the bottle. The tap and hose is sealed off with a #2 stopper. I inserted a medical needle trough the stopper to release the pressure out of the bottle when filling.

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To fill the bottle insert the tube to the bottom of the bottle and open the picnic tap completely, regulate the flow by closing or opening the needle opening with my thumb.

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When the bottle is filled close the picnic tap and release all the pressure in the bottle, a little beer or foam will escape out of the bottle trough the needle and will stop when all the pressure in the bottle is released.

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Remove the filler hose to create head space and squirt a little beer on top to create enough foam to fill the bottle neck to the top with foam ensuring that there is no oxygen in the bottle. Put the cap on top off the foam and seal immediately.

sorry about the vid that on its side I took it with my phone.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Thanks for doing the right thing and starting a new thread for this!

Very cool and very simple and functional, I like it. Definitely looks more practical than that common 'picnic tap to siphon tube' setup. Nice work.

Its actually the reason I bought a picnic tap in the first place, but I didnt have the right size hoses to fit. Where did you get the bung if I may ask?

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Where did you get the bung if I may ask?

http://brewmart.co.za/shop/index.php...search=stopper

Give them a mail if you want full sizes, and shout if you want me to pick up a few for you when I go there again.

[Wayne Merrifield Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wayne Merrifield]

Probably a dumb question but is this gravity fed or is your keg already pressurised with CO2?


[QUOTE=Harhm;23433]Here is my cheap and easy counter preasure bottle filler that I use to fill bottles from a keg. I fiddled with various hardware and taps and stuff to build a knockoff beer gun but found it far too fiddly and a mission to fill bottles quick and easy.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

http://brewmart.co.za/shop/index.php...search=stopper

Give them a mail if you want full sizes, and shout if you want me to pick up a few for you when I go there again.

Thanks Toxxyc, I may take you up on that. Its the only way I am going to be able to fill some bottles for you anyway.

Wayne, its usually from a pressurised keg, and the bung is to transfer/maintain the pressure inside the bottle while filling.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

LOL 100s, just let me know!

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

Probably a dumb question but is this gravity fed or is your keg already pressurised with CO2?

Yes the beer is carbonated and the keg is pressurised @15 psi as it is in use in my keezer.
I just close the valve on the beer line going to the draft tap of the keezer, disconnect the beer line and connect it to the bottle filler.

You can also turn the co2 pressure on the regulator down to 5 psi and then depressurise the keg and then bottle at 5 psi if you want.

I find that it works best for me when I don't change anything ito the 15psi pressure as the beer line length and serving pressure at 4C is already in balance and would produce the least amount of foam when Im bottling from the keg. It helps a lot if your bottles are also nice and cold to prevent foaming in the bottles.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Harhm, do you do any CO2 purging before or after or just not bother?
I'm in two minds about critical need for purging if the fluid and foam displaces all the air anyway.

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

Harhm, do you do any CO2 purging before or after or just not bother?
I'm in two minds about critical need for purging if the fluid and foam displaces all the air anyway.

Nope I don't do any CO2 purging of the bottles, no need in my mind if you cap on the foam that has replaced the O2 in the bottle headspace.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Managed to get my bung yesterday [Thanks Toxxyc, so pickup services not required] , so going to try put together my "HarhmFill" filler [ I should be in marketing!] this weekend so I can fill some bottles.

Edit: Scratch that. Already done it. Quick and easy to put together and just took a couple of failed bottle fills to get a hang for how much pressure to apply to the bung to slowly release pressure. Thanks for sharing Harhm.
Screenshot_20190830_163613.jpg
PS. I initially had a stopcock there to but just found it's easier without.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Thats what mine also looked like back in the day

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Thats what mine also looked like back in the day

Hopefully soon I can say that too. The bottles I test filled with my cheapy filler still actually have decent carbonation after a week, but it was quite tricky to bleed the air out at the right speed through the bung.

So on this version, I finally got the right push fit couplers, and drilled a tiny hole to bleed air out. So will hopefully experiment and fill some bottles this weekend. (Including some of yours Toxxyc)
IMG_20190906_161733.jpg

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Hopefully soon I can say that too. The bottles I test filled with my cheapy filler still actually have decent carbonation after a week, but it was quite tricky to bleed the air out at the right speed through the bung.

So on this version, I finally got the right push fit couplers, and drilled a tiny hole to bleed air out. So will hopefully experiment and fill some bottles this weekend. (Including some of yours Toxxyc)
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LOL sounds good!

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

I'm hoping this will give me a simpler and better result:
IMG_20190913_195938.jpg
Will cable tie a thin tube down the side and hook that up to my sodastream if this works and I feel I need to give a quick co2 purge before filing.