Counter Pressure Filler

[HogieWan]

I was researching a bit about CPBF today. I'm not sure why as, I don't see myself being able to keg for quite some time now, but I digress. I found this site (http://hbd.org/mtippin/cpfiller.html) and the "simple" version is really simple. Put a tube through a stopper ontop of the beer bottle turn on the flow of beer while pushing on the stopper. When the pressure equalizes, the flow will stop. Lift the stopper a bit and the flow starts again. Makes a lot of sense.

Does anyone have a CPBF - comercially or home made?

[bruin_ale]

I've been curious about counter pressure fillers, but never bought one. Sometimes I fill beers from the keg, but have had really good luck just using the following method:

http://www.mainbrew.com/pages/infopages.html/kegbottling.html

As long as everything is cold, I've been able to bottle with almost no foam at all just by turning the pressure down really low (2-4 psi works pretty well for me).

The main disadvantage that I can see is that I'm not really bleeding the headspace of oxygen like I could with a CPBF. I fill the bottles a little more full by pulling the wand out a little as the beer gets close to the top, that way I have less headspace and therefore less oxygen. Also, if I was really concerned with it I could use oxygen fixing bottle caps, but usually I'm just filling up a 6 or 12 pack to take over to a friend's house and we're going to drink them in a day or two so stale beer isn't really a worry.

[HogieWan]

would leaving the cap off for a few minutes purge the headspace?

[bruin_ale]

Yeah, I think it would, but at the expense of letting more carbonation escape. If the beer is slightly overcarbonated to begin with that probably would work fine.

It's interesting to watch the bubbles rising out of solution once you've got the beer full, then cap it and watch as the pressure builds those bubbles stop. It's easier to see in a clear bottle, but obviously that has it's own disadvantages.

[Tweek]

with a counter pressure filler you actually purge out ALL the o2, not just the headspace. So that means that you will not expose your beer to o2 even while you are filling the bottle.

If you are going to bottle from keg for the purpose of long term storage or aging, this is a good tool. If it is for near term consumption it may be a bit of a waste of funds.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by bruin_ale
If the beer is slightly overcarbonated to begin with that probably would work fine.

I wonder if there is any way of figuring out how much co2 leaves in a certain amount of time at a certain temp.

[danno]

I've long since lost the link, but I've seen a picture of an ultra-cheapie CPBF where they used a rubber bung, and piece of tubing for the beer, and a needle for filling soccer balls to pump in the co2... purge, fill, cap...

I just chill the bottles, fill them from the tap with a piece of tubing, then cap once the foam pours over the top. I figure that purges any remaining air as well as anything else, and I've yet to have any detrimental comments about carbonation in any of the contest I've entered, and I bottles all my beers this way...

[HogieWan]

that's what I needed to hear - I did see the thing with the needle somewhere also.

[Danno6102]

A recent post on The Brewboard forum discussed some CPFilling techniques & the concensus was that chilling the bottles had no impact on the amount of foam that is produced. Also, there was talk of using a higher pressure than what the beer was carbonated to. This way, the carbonation can't escape from the beer. If you carb to 10psi & bottle at 10psi, by the time the beer gets to the bottle it is actually close to 0psi, same as pouring from your tap. I personally have not tried the higher psi method, but will next time I bottle. I've used 8-10psi & have had somewhat good success. Just remember to fill slow & that will control the foaming.

Danno

[brewmonkey]

I can say that from filling hundreds of bottles for comps with a filler that cooling them will help, but not as well as it does with say kegs, but that no matter which filler you go with there will be a love/hate relationship. Stay clear of the ones that require you to be a 3 armed monkey to operate and you should be good to go and always remember, cap on foam!

[bruin_ale]

Just to clarify, cap on foam meaning that you want the foam to be coming out the top of the bottle when you cap it so that the headspace is filled with foam rather than oxygen?

[fretlessman71]

I think you've got it. When I recap a growler, I swirl it enough to get a bit of a head forming in the jug, and when I see it start to fall back the slightest bit I cap. Learned this from steveh; seems to push out the O2 in favor of CO2. Also seems to keep it pressurized a bit, but that could be my imagination...

[brewmonkey]

Yes, there should be enough foam to fill all the headspace. This will minimize contact with Oxygen and help prevent oxidation as well as possible contamination of the beer.

[MickMike]

I can say that from filling hundreds of bottles for comps with a filler that cooling them will help, but not as well as it does with say kegs

Everything i have ever been told is if you buy beer cold you must keep it cold to prevent "bruising". If i must chill my kegs as close to 32F to keep foaming under wraps.. now must I keep these bottles cold to prevent spoilage.. :confused:

[bruin_ale]

Actually, the cooling referred to in the quote you sited is cooling the bottles to reduce foaming when you bottle from a keg. If you keep all articles that touch the beer as cold as possible, less CO2 will force its way out of solution.

I don't think there's anything to that "bruising", if you don't want to keep your beer in the fridge, then you can keep it at room temp without doing damage to the beer. Also, you don't need to keep your keg near freezing, you won't be able to taste it if you serve at that temp!