Project

Counterpressure Bottle Filler

Kegging is convenient. it eliminates the bottling process, and cuts out days of carbonating time. When you bring a keg to a friend’s house, however, you’re bringing a lot of beer. The more beer you bring, the more beer the friends drink. You may never get a full glass for yourself. These are the times that call for bottles.

You can try the tube in the faucet thing to fill a few bottles, but in a few hours it’s just not the same beer. The mouthfeel is wrong, the head dissipates, and the carbonation is nil.

Using a counterpressure filler, you can achieve a perfect fill with no oxidation (wet cardboard flavor) and little or no loss of carbonation. This is a closed, keg-to-bottle filling system. With the right filler, you can eliminate oxidation and retain at least 80 percent of original carbonation.

The idea is to fill the bottle while keeping the carbon dioxide in solution. Filling straight from the faucet would cause foaming and result in CO2 coming out of solution. Under pressure a controlled rate of flow can be achieved to eliminate or cause very little foaming, retaining much of the CO2 in solution. The bottle is equalized to the pressure of the keg. This will not allow the beer to flow. You release this pressure slowly so the bottle will fill at a controlled rate. The bottle can also be purged of oxygen, thus reducing chance of oxidation.

Here are two easy fillers to construct: a two-handled model and a three-handed model. The two-handed model has no bleed valve. The purging of oxygen and release of CO2 are achieved through squeezing the rubber stopper. This model is simpler to construct yet not quite as efficient as the three-handed, bleeder-valve model. With the bleeder-valve model you can achieve a much slower fill resulting in less foam and more CO2 retained in solution.

Parts and Tools

To build the two-handed model:

  • (2) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread ball valves
  • (1) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread female T
  • (2) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread nipples
  • (1) 3⁄8-inch compression fitting with 1⁄4-inch male pipe thread
  • (2) 1⁄4-inch male pipe thread hose barbs (barb to fit your tubing)
  • (1) #2 rubber stopper
  • (1) 3⁄8-inch brass tube (about 16 inches in length)
  • (2) small hose clamps
  • Teflon plumbers tape

To build the three-handed model:

  • (2) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread ball valves
  • (1) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread needle valve
  • (1) 1⁄4-inch pipe-thread female T
  • (3) pipe-thread nipples
  • (1) 3⁄8-inch compression fitting with 1⁄4-inch male pipe thread
  • (2) 1⁄4-inch compression fitting with 1⁄4-inch male pipe thread
  • (2) 1⁄4-inch male pipe thread hose barbs (barb size to fit your tubing)
  • (1) #2 rubber stopper
  • (1) 4-inch length of 3⁄8-inch brass tubing
  • (1) 16-inch length of 1⁄4-inch brass tubing
  • (2) small hose clamps
  • Teflon plumbers tape

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