Counter Pressure Bottler by: C.D. Pritchard
Revised 4/00: Added great info  from Craig Sikes, an update.and link fixes.
Revised 2/04:  Added more details on making the filler and expanded details the filling process
Here's a drawing of the filler:

Drawing of filler

MAKING THE FILLER
Construction is as indicated on the drawing. (Craig used a tee fitting instead of a block of brass- a great idea! See below). Follow the instructions on the drawing above to ensure easy construction and that the flow paths are correct and unobstructed.   Some additional details:

The pre-tinning of the 1/4"  discharge tube noted in the drawing above is especially important since one can't apply solder to the joint in the typical manner due to the 3/8" tube that's already in place.   Details are provided below on how this is done.

If the potiential for lead in your brews worries you, de-lead the brass using the method John Palmer has posted about in the HB Digest. IMHO, it's not warranted for a filler since little brass is exposed to the beer and the contact time is relatively short.   Definitely use lead-free solder tho'.

The valves are not shown on the above drawing.  I once used cheap nylon pinch type valves on each of 3 vinyl filler tubes attached to the 1/4" tubes on the filler.  They are cheap but difficult to operate.  I now use ball valves on the co2-in and beer-in lines and a needle valve on the co2 vent line as per a tip  from Craig Sikes.  Don't waste time with clamp type valves.

The bottler uses 3/16" ID vinyl tubing for the CO2-in, CO2-out, and beer-in lines. (Hint for getting the tubing on the larger copper tubing: soak the copper and the last 3/8" or so of the vinyl tubing in very hot tap water. Remove from the water and grip the vinyl tubing with a hankerchief for a better grip and put it on the copper tubing with a twisting and pushing motion. I never use clamps and haven't had a blow-out yet..) The vinyl tubing on the business end of the filler reaches to just shy of the bottom of the bottles.

BOTTLE FILLING

SetUp
Get the brew in the keg ready by ensuring it's well carbonated and cold. For your first attempt, I recommend over-carbonating by a psig or two since you'll loose a tad of carbonation during the process. Prepare for bottling by sanitizing an abundance of bottles and the filler and it's ancilliary parts.  FWIW, I sanitize with Iodophor, drain briefly, invert and put them in a plastic box to drain a bit.   I seldom let all them dry completely.  I used to put the bottles in the fridge to cool before filling to reduce foaming but have stopped that PITA practice.   Make sure all of the valves are closed before proceeding. I once dispensed a couple of quarts of brew on the floor by failing to heed this advice... Rig up the bottler as shown in the drawing below.
Set-Up drawing

You may have to play around a bit with the pressure regulator setting. The required setting depends mainly on the amount of friction loss in the beer-in line, the flow you use (those 2 are interrelated...) and the height of the brew in the keg above the bottle.

First a safety tip: always wear some sort of eye protection when bottling. I've never had a bottle bust, but, one never knows... I've read where others recommend wearing gloves. I don't since nimble teasing of co2-vent needle valve is required.

Bottle filling:

  1. Put the filler into the bottle and hold it down firmly.
  2. Purge purge oxygen from the bottle. Two methods: 1)  Open the co2-in valve enough to pressurize the bottle then close the valve, bleed-off the pressure and repeat several times or even  more if the brew is delicate, for compentitions, and/or you'll be storing it for awhile.  Pressurize a final time then shut the co2-in valve  to pressurize the bottle.  2) Leave both co2 valves open to purge, close the co2 vent valve then close the co2-in valve to pressurize the bottle.
  3. With the bottle now at the same pressure as the keg, the beer-in valve is fully but slowly opened.  A bit of brew may initally flow into the bottle then cease.  Opening the beer-in valve fully reduces foaming as the bottle is being filled in the next step.
  4. Tease open the co2-vent valve just a bit to bleed off pressure in the bottle.  This allows the brew to flow into the bottle slowly. If filling is too rapid, you'll get foaming which will reduce the carbonation level in the brew.  The goal is to have no foaming in the bottle during filling.  As a datum-point, it usually takes me around 10-15 secs. to fill a 12 oz. bottle.
  5. When the bottle is about full (stop before the brew enters the 3/8" co2-vent tubing!),  close the co2-vent valve to stop flow then close the beer-in valve.  The order the valves are closed is important.
  6. Slowy tweak open the co2-vent valve to depressurize the bottle. Opening to much/too quickly will cause foaming.  A tad more brew will flow into the bottle during this process and maybe out the vent line if you've overfilled the bottle.
  7. Remove the filler. You'll note that the level in the bottle decreases as the filler is withdrawn (duh!)- that's why you want fill the bottle almost full. Cap the bottle ASAP.
Tweaking the filling process
To help you get you in the ball-park for your first bottling session, here's the set-up I use for bottling from a keg of the house ale.  Keg is at 10-12 psig and at 45 degF in the brew fridge.  Bottles to be filled are on floor in front of fridge- about 1' below bottom of keg.  4' of 3/16" ID vinyl tubing connects the keg to the filler's beer-in valve. CO2 for the filler is tapped via an outlet on a manifold downstream of the regulator and check valve.

Counter-pressure bottling may require some experimenting with the setup- espeically the co2 pressure and/or the elevation of the bottle in relation to the keg.  The best advice I can give is don't get discouraged- keep playing around/experimenting  until you get the hang of it.

One thing that reduces the loss of carbonation is to get the keg as cold as possible.  Submerging the keg in an ice-water bath is ideal but is a bit of a hassle so I don't do it.  One of the best ways to judge how much carbonation you lose in filling is to observe how much foam there is in the bottle while you are filling it.  At most,  I have maybe a 1/16" layer of foam atop the brew during filling.

Check Valves: You should have a check valve downstream of the CO2 regulator to protect it, however, additional check valves downstream in the CO2 lines can screw up filling- especially if you have a typcial spring-loaded check valve in the line to the filler and not one in the line to the keg- or vice-versa since the pressures will be out of whack.

To aid in observing for foaming and aid in determining when to stop filling dark colored bottles, put a light behind the bottle being filled.

Use something to hold the filler when you're setting up and when capping bottles.  This keeps it more sanitary and catches the inevitable drips.  I simply use a gallon jug filled with a bit of water for weight to avoid tipping.  Before use, it's also used for sanitizing the filler.

When you first start out, put a piece of vinyl tubing on the end of the co2-vent valve and route the free end to a slop container.  This ensures dribbles (or sprays if the valves are opened/closed in the wrong order!) don't mess up your bottling area.

Try not to enjoy too much homebrew while bottling- especially the first few times!

Going further  (capping on foam):

When I plan on storing the beer for a long time I cap on foam.  The goal is to complety fill the headspace of the bottle with foam.  This foam displaces all oxygen from the bottle and, if capped promptly/before the foam settles, ensures against oxidation of the brew during storage.  Here's how I do it:  After the bottle is filled, withdraw the filling tube so it's end is just under the surface of the brew at the top of the bottle.  Tease open the CO2-in valve.  This will push the beer remaining in the fill line out and foams the beer a bit.  The goal is to complety fill the headspace of the bottle with foam.  Cap promptly.  DO NOT attempt to completely fill the bottles with brew- if the bottles are subsequently warmed, they could leak for even break due to expansion of the brew in the absence of vapor space.  The downside of capping on the foam is it's a bit messier until you get the hang of it and don't over-flow bottles with foam.

Another way others suggest to cap on foam is to agitate or tap the bottle so some of the co2 comes out of solution and thereby  generates foam.   I don't like this method because one losses carbonation and, to me, it was very difficult to fill the head space without overflowing and making a mess.  BTW, I've read that the filling machines used by the big brewers generate foam for capping on by blasting the brew with water (or maybe brew?) via a a needle type affair inserted into the bottle.

Cleaning the filler
I just flush it with hot water via vinyl tubing/adapters.  Basically, I alternately connect it to each of the three lines and flush.  A bit o valve twiddling is required to ensure everything gets flushed.  I then disconnect the hot water line, open all of the valves, sling it and the connected tubing a bit to remove most of the flushing water and leave to air-dry.  If you use your filler alot, a periodic soak in cleaner (e.g. PBW) is a good idea.



OTHER USES
For parties or to drain an almost empty keg for refilling with an awaiting brew, I sometimes counter-pressure fill 3 liter PET plastic pop bottles. For this use, all that needs swapping the rubber stopper on the filler for a larger diameter one and a longer length of tubing on the beer-in copper tube in the bottle. I've also cobbled together a gizmo which turns such a bottle into a mini-keg. Details are at the 3 Liter Mini-keg page.  These are fanstatic for taking to parties and such when you don't want to lug a 5 gal. cornie keg.  The page details two methods for filling these mini-kegs without using a counter pressure filler.

Force carbonation and then counterpressure filling also works great for making your own pop. I'm partial to ginger ale. I use the recipe on the ginger ale extract bottle but add about 1 oz. of diced ginger to the hot extract/sugar/water mixture and steep at 170 degF for 30 minutes or so then pitch into enough cold water to make 4 gals. I force carbonate at 25-30 psig (depending on how big a hurry I'm in) and shake the keg then counter-pressure fill at 20 psig or so. Pop requires alot more carbonation than beer. Kids love carbonated kool-aid and it's alot cheaper than Cokes or other purchased sodas.
 



GOOD INFO FROM CRAIG SIKES
Basically, I just altered your plans a little. As suggested, ball valves except for the CO2 exit where I added a brass radiator drain cock as a bleed valve to the CO2 exit for better control - no "teasing" of the valve needed. Indeed, I almost don't have to open it, just allow its inefficiency to work for you. I fill slower than you, probably compensates well for the fact that I don't pre-chill the bottles.

For the brass block, I used a solid brass block "tee", drilling a 4th hole to make a "+". The left side is the "gas in", the right side is the "gas out". The beer flows in a straight line down through the top (I didn't want any angles to disturb the gas stability). I screwed in a male hose barb on the bottom, exit side -  a 7/32 brass rod fits in the inside of the hose barb perfectly (replacing the vinyl tube). I have several 7/32" rods of varying lengths for different sized bottles.

I thought I was going to have to grow another hand so I mounted the filler in a frame with the filler in a slide track so it lifts up and down, setting into the bottle leaving hands free to work the valves. The combination of the rubber stopper and the weight of the filler mount seems to be enough to keep the filler from being blown off - no clamp needed.

There is a bit of technique to the operation but after a few bottles (and beer baths) I can fill without mishap. Over charging the beer by a pound or two was a good tip. Excessive over charging is disasterous - gushers! For filling pressure, I pressurize to about 18 pounds - seems to work best at this pressure for me.



UPDATES
Craig's modifications above are great- the brass tee and relocation of the beer-in line is especially good since it greatly eases construction.

Bottling an entire 5 gallon keg finally convinced me to attach a handle to the filler body.  It's just a short piece of 1/4 brass rod soldered in a hole drilled in the top of the filler with a chuck of wood attached to the end of the rod.  It makes holding the filler down on the bottle much less tiring.   Still, if you plan on alot of bottle filling, Craig's sliding fixture is a great idea!  If you plan on bottling alot, maybe bench mount it, spring load or counter-weight the sliding filler or platform under the bottle and use rope/pulley or other linkage to connect to a foot treadle to move the botttle up into the filler or the filler down into the bottle. Could do the same with a bench capper while yo're at it...

I use a bit different filling process than given above.

More on making sodas:  Great tasting and cheap orange soda can be made by using orange flavored Kool-aid.  Make the kool-aid, but, for kids, consider adding a bit more sugar to offset the sharpness that the carbonation adds.  Boil to the Kool-aid to sanitize, add orange peel  at the end of the boil and crash cool.  I use about 1-2 ozs of orange peel.  Ensure there's not much of the white pith on the peel or the resulting soda may be too bitter. . I use my electric wort boiler for boiling and cooling then rack into a keg that's been purged of O2 and chill.  After keg is cold, force carbonate at 30 psig via shaking.   Let sit for a day in the fridge and then counter-pressure fill bottles.  PET bottles work really well- 6 month old soda still tastes good. The 3 L size ones are tiring to fill- with their larger mouth and the ~30 psig pressure in the bottles during filling, ALOT of force is needed to keep the filler sealed to the bottle!  You'll definitely have a big cleaning job to do if you let the filler slip out of the bottle while filling!

Details on soldering the 1/4" copper discharge tubing:  I got an email wanting to know how the 1/4" vertical copper beer discharge tube is soldered thru  the previously soldered 3/8" tube.  The problem is that solder can't be applied to the joint in the typical manner.  Instead, it's applied to the joint prior to heating by pre-tinning the end of the 1/4" copper tube.   Basically, a 1/4" hole is drilled through the open end of the previously soldered vertical 3/8" copper tube and into the horizontal 1/4" tube thereby forming an outlet in the later tube.  The joint end the the 1/4" vertical discharge tube is tinned and then soldered into the hole just drilled.  The way it's soldered is to flux both the hole and the tinned end of the 1/4" tube, insert it into the hole (it won't fit because of the tinning), heat the block and exposed end of the 1/4" tubing and push the 1/4" tubing to the correct depth when the tinning melts.  Don't push the tubing too deep or the flow of brew will be obstructed which will increase foaming.  The correct depth is established before doing the soldering- I think I just laid the 1/4" tubing against the block, eyeballed the correct depth and marked where the end of the 3/8" tube was on the exposed end of the 1/4" tube.  If you screw up and obstruct the horziontal brew /co2 copper tube by inserting it too deep, try drilling out the obstruction from one end of the horziontal brew /co2 copper tube.  Whew!  I think I made the thing in less time that trying to describe how to do a bit of it!



OTHER FILLER SITES
Marty Tippin has designed a very nice filler. His uses standard fittings and doesn't require a drill press for construction.
Dion posted nice instructions for a Foxx style filler
Ken Schwartz has a simple and effective one filler that a snap to make and use- the Poor Man's Real Counter-Pressure Bottle Filler




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c.d. pritchard,  r3, 2/04
miserable failure