(I was recently able to drop the price on this after finally figuring out how to get the canisters wholesale in the specific design revision. They are a pretty serious piece of hardware.)
For Sale (190USD+20 to ship)
The product here is a counter pressure keg-to-bottle bottling device that can do many sizes of large bottles with a particular focus on Champagne 750’s and 22 oz. beer bottles. The innovation here is that it creates a seal with a ballistic plastic enclosure all the way around the bottle (via a very specific high pressure water filter housing) rather than with the tops of the various proprietary bottles like other designs.
This is the big brother of the Small Bottle Bottler and works exactly the same, but is larger. Due to its size, the enclosure also doubles as a very useful research scale keg. See the case studies below for usage ideas.
This also makes bottling safer because a bottle cannot break during filling because of how pressure is formed completely around them (inside and out! clever, right?). Bottles are fully contained in an ultra strong clear enclosure rated to multiples times transfer pressure. If a bottle overflows due to operator error, the liquid is caught in the food safe plastic sump and can be recycled. Or, optionally, if you want to fill the negative space with chilled water, less CO2 will be used and the bottles will be kept colder, reducing bonding time and risk of foaming when releasing pressure.
The last popular counter pressure bottler design has been around for more than 20 years. This is the counter pressure bottler design for the next 20 years… Modular, affordable, safe. It has been kicking ass in the hands of some of the country’s best bar programs and home brewers. The design features all the valuable lessons I’ve learned from designing the Champagne Bottle Manifold which is basically to only use uncompromising stainless steel Cornelius quick release fittings. Hardly an innovation, but I use one ambidextrous quick release fitting going into the bottler. This fitting can take a gas line to flush the bottle and bring the bottler to the same pressure as the keg then be switched to the liquid line to fill the bottle. This differs from other death trap designs which use multiple hardwired lines preventing units from being used in an array or being portable (or easy to clean).
The product is highly evolved and articulate for the task. The water filter housing is a particular design revision and other similar revisions do not seal as efficiently [The machining is slightly more complicated than you’d think and I’d be happy to discuss what the hell I do to make the thing if anyone wants. The lid needs to be modified on the milling machine and the stainless fittings require modification on the metal lathe].
The bottler is easy to store behind the bar, easy to clean & keep sanitary, and because of the chosen fittings, seamless to integrate into restaurant programs already using Cornelius cocktail on tap equipment. To reduce inactive time and make bottling as fast as possible, they can be used in an array of multiple units on any counter top because the device takes up less square footage (that restaurants don’t have) than competing designs like the Melvico and its very expensive clones.
Operation:
1. Put in your bottle of choice and securely screw the top onto the sump with the down tube sticking down the center of the bottle (refer to pictures).
2. Connect the gas hose and release the side valve to flush the bottle of Oxygen. Close the side valve which also brings unit to the same pressure as the keg. Disconnect the gas line (you are probably only transferring at 20-30 PSI).
3. Connect the liquid line from the keg and slowly release the side valve to create a low pressure system drawing liquid into the bottle. Close the side valve at your desired fill level.
4. Disconnect the liquid line and let the bottle bond for 30 seconds so that it does not foam upon releasing pressure (at this time you could start working on another unit).
5. 30 seconds later… Release pressure using the side valve. Remove the bottle and promptly cap it.
6. Start a new bottle!Feel free to ask any and all questions. Cheers! -Stephen
For Sale (190USD+20 to ship)
Case study 1: The unit was deployed in a distillery to bottle products for the tasting room and for events. Cocktails were kegged in 15 gallon sanke kegs and transferred using an array of five bottlers which goes quite fast. A plywood cutout was eventually made on a work bench to fit the profile of the sump and act as a wrench for quickly loosening the lids. Carbonation helped a simple distillery product show its best in a new diversifying context to keep guest engagement.
Case study 2: A small brewery with no bottling line used both the small bottle bottler and the large bottle bottler for sales sample preparation. Beer was transferred to bottles from a 5 gallon sanke keg. The brewer felt more confident in the fidelity of the bottled product than other designs on the market. The price was also noted as greatly appreciated!
Case study 3: A renowned and technically quite brilliant bar with serious space constraints used the large bottle bottler as small scale keg because it fit their fridges better than stainless three gallon units (they own no walk-in). They then transferred their carbonated cocktails to 200mL bottles using the small bottle bottler. This was achieved at very high carbonation levels in a postage stamp of a space! They notably appreciated how the bottles could be chilled by filling the sump filled with iced water which didn’t require any extra containers or overly deplete their ice. The down tube to the large bottle bottler was extended to reaching the bottom of the sump using a short length of beverage line tube and the fill level of the “keg” could be seen at all times. They did pay $25 extra to have an extra Cornelius post mounted on the large bottle bottler for a second quick release gas-in option.
Case study 4: A cocktail caterer specializing in weddings used the deluxe extra large sump (which isn’t typically for sale) to bottle magnum bottles via a full enclosure. They specifically wanted a full enclosure solution to minimize safety risks as much as possible because staff of different training levels were using the equipment. A false bottom had to be fabricated for the bottom of the sump so the magnums never slipped down too far and wedged themselves against the sides (the sump expands ever so slightly under pressure then contracts as pressure drops). Three dozen magnums were bottled! Mission accomplished!
Case study 5: The large bottle bottler was used as a mini keg to fill a five gallon sanke to do a bar take over and put a cocktail on tap for an event. The bar owned Cornelius kegs but they were in service and the receiving bar was not set up for Cornelius kegs anyways. The bar did not own sanke kegs, but used two empty cider kegs awaiting return to the distributor. A filler head was made by simply removing the one way valves from a clean sanke coupler and attaching a bleeder valve. The first sanke keg was flushed with one gallon of water to remove residual cider. One gallon at a time, five gallons of cocktail were transferred to the flushed sanke keg so it could be put on tap at the event. The second sanke keg was filled with multiple gallons of line cleaning solution. The line was quickly cleaned before the event and after by using the second keg. The brand was really happy to see themselves kegged and a few bar managers were wowed by what little equipment it took to do it. The two sanke’s were labelled and carefully returned to their appropriate restaurant.
Would a standard champagne bottle that is 12.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches in diameter fit in the large bottle bottler?
Thank you