I wanted a good way to fill bottles from the keg. Last year I tried to fill some using the BMBF and it didn't work very well for me (lost a lot of beer to foam). I looked at the Blichmann beer gun, but decided that if I was going to spend the money, I might as well transfer under pressure and get a counter pressure bottle filler. I bought the MoreBeer Deluxe filler which comes with a pressure gauge and flare fittings for easy removal of the lines. After looking at a couple of bottling stations that others have built, I decided to build my own version. The two versions that I had seen were:
http://www.franklinbrew.org/members/sj/cpfiller.html
and here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/counter-pressure-bottling-station-304169/
I tried out my filling station yesterday for the first time and it worked great! I lost very little beer to foam (drank most of what I "lost"), and felt like I was in total control of the process, unlike my experience with the BMBF. I will admit that when I used the BMBF I didn't pre-chill the bottles, and maybe that was a major part of my problem, but I also found the BMBF awkward to use and when I finished I had a sore thumb from squeezing the stopper to vent the bottles.
I designed this to use as many parts as possible from what I already had on-hand (sometimes it pays to be a pack rat).
I decided to mount my CPBF to a flat sheet of metal with tie-wraps and with an L bracket attached to transfer the force from the stopper to the metal sheet. This assembly is mounted on 4 long bolts which are in turn mounted to a large flat sheet of aluminum glued to a piece of 1/4 inch plywood of the same size. I glued a piece of 1/4 inch aluminum channel to the left and right edges of this. The whole assembly moves vertically with the 1/4 channel pieces moving inside of 3/8 inch channels which are glued to the main structure of the station. The movable assembly is spring loaded so that it is pulled down into the bottle. Supporting the bottle on the bottom is a hinged trap door which is latched closed during filling, but can be swung downward to allow removal of filled bottles and replacement with empty ones.
View of front with a bottle in place
View of front with no bottle - door open
Rear view
Close up of CPBF mounted to small metal sheet/L bracket. This also shows the top of the Lexan "blast shield" just in case I get a weak bottle which explodes under pressure (and I wear safety glasses). The blast shield is mounted on 4 long pieces of threaded rod.
Side - rear view of CPBF mounting
http://www.franklinbrew.org/members/sj/cpfiller.html
and here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/counter-pressure-bottling-station-304169/
I tried out my filling station yesterday for the first time and it worked great! I lost very little beer to foam (drank most of what I "lost"), and felt like I was in total control of the process, unlike my experience with the BMBF. I will admit that when I used the BMBF I didn't pre-chill the bottles, and maybe that was a major part of my problem, but I also found the BMBF awkward to use and when I finished I had a sore thumb from squeezing the stopper to vent the bottles.
I designed this to use as many parts as possible from what I already had on-hand (sometimes it pays to be a pack rat).
I decided to mount my CPBF to a flat sheet of metal with tie-wraps and with an L bracket attached to transfer the force from the stopper to the metal sheet. This assembly is mounted on 4 long bolts which are in turn mounted to a large flat sheet of aluminum glued to a piece of 1/4 inch plywood of the same size. I glued a piece of 1/4 inch aluminum channel to the left and right edges of this. The whole assembly moves vertically with the 1/4 channel pieces moving inside of 3/8 inch channels which are glued to the main structure of the station. The movable assembly is spring loaded so that it is pulled down into the bottle. Supporting the bottle on the bottom is a hinged trap door which is latched closed during filling, but can be swung downward to allow removal of filled bottles and replacement with empty ones.
View of front with a bottle in place
View of front with no bottle - door open
Rear view
Close up of CPBF mounted to small metal sheet/L bracket. This also shows the top of the Lexan "blast shield" just in case I get a weak bottle which explodes under pressure (and I wear safety glasses). The blast shield is mounted on 4 long pieces of threaded rod.
Side - rear view of CPBF mounting