"Little Bottler" bother

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Ceejay

Ceejay

Landlord.
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
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South Devon
In my TC thread I mentioned I found the Little Bottler to be pants! I've since read a few remarks that suggest people wouldn't do without it, which leads me to believe I'm probably doing something wrong!

I just found it painfully slow, and I think the reason for this is there seemed to be some kind of weird air bubble cavitation thing going on where the tube part meets the tap. This seemed to be slowing down the flow. Does it sound like I did something wrong here? :wha:
 
Fill the little bottler to the brim with water that has been boiled, covered and cooled.
Then attach it to the tap of the bottling bucket and open the tap.
By pre-filling with water you stop the initial air bubble forming when you depress the valve. This should allow you to fill the bottles quickly and smoothly.....more importantly, you are not introducing air in to the beer.

Of course, you need to discard the little bit of water that you initially filled the bottling stick with.

ATB
 
I must agree with you - I thought it would be the answer to my problems - I find if you push the valve onto the bottom of your bottle then just back it off a touch you get a faster flow.

However by the time your FV is half full there isn't enough "drop" for a faster flow then I revert to my standard siphon tube.
 
I have found if your bottles have an arched bottom if you dont get the valve spot on it goes off to the side and that slows it down but just lift it off the bottom and try again. Mine fills a 500ml bottle in a matter of seconds. Wouldn't be without it :thumb:
 
Right-o, cheers chaps! :thumb: I will try all that and see if I can't get it to work properly. A few seconds? I'm definitely doing something wrong - it would have taken about 3 minutes just to fill 1 75cl bottle if hadn't have given up! :oops:
 
I found it to be a pain in the *rse. It dripped, when you took it out of the bottle there was too much space. In the end I took the bit off the bottom & used the tap to fill the bottle.
 
mark1964 said:
How long are the tubes on the bottler would it reach to the bottom of a 2 litre lemonade bottle? :D
Click to expand...

Yes, they do. Including the tap fitting, it's just under 13 inches.
 
Ceejay said:
- it would have taken about 3 minutes just to fill 1 75cl bottle if hadn't have given up! :oops:
Click to expand...


Certainly something wrong there ceejay, might have got a bit of 'gunge' stuck in the sprung bit, it does come apart quite easily for cleaning :!: it should take less than 10 seconds to fill a pint bottle :!:

A bit of kit I wouldn't be without as I only bottle :thumb:
 
First time I used the bottler I wasn't impressed, it was slow & leaky but 2nd time I filled it with water and this seemed to speed up the flow. Its still leaky but I just put an ice cream tub on the floor to catch the drips. Wouldn't be without it now.
 
Re: leaking valves.
Hop & Grape do a bottle filling stick that is spring loaded rather than just closed by gravity. These do not leak from what I'm told.
 
Just realised ...... my 'little bottler' is the Brupacks spring loaded one :roll:

wouldn't be without it, comes apart easily for a good clean if needed :thumb:
 
I found the tube supplied with the bottler, which goes between stick and tap, to be the reason for the air lock on mine. I replaced it with a longer piece, on opening the tap and pushing the first bottle up to the stick give the tube a quick pinch or two between your fingers and the airlock goes immediately :thumb:
 
I found that I saved a lot of time with mine when I did the following:

1. Hook up about 2 ft of syphon tube between the tap and the stick.
2. Place crate of empty bottles under.
3. Turn on tap and move stick from bottle to bottle rather than the other way around.

Saved me a lot of time and less spillage :thumb:
 
commsbiff said:
1. Hook up about 2 ft of syphon tube between the tap and the stick.
2. Place crate of empty bottles under.
3. Turn on tap and move stick from bottle to bottle rather than the other way around.
Click to expand...

:hmm: now why didn't I think of that :whistle:

as ever the simple ideas are often great ideas and easily overlooked :roll:

thanks comms :thumb: that's going to be put into use in the next day or three when I bottle :clap:
 
Hope it works for you. I find it helps to have a little light behind the crate so it's easier to see the liquid level rising in the bottles. :thumb:
 
Have to agree with commsbiff, that's the way to do it!
It means you also have a free hand for enjoying a pint at the same time :)
I put the crate on the (open) door of the dishwasher, that way there are no spills to mop up - close the door and job done.
 
rabbie said:
.... I put the crate on the (open) door of the dishwasher, that way there are no spills to mop up - close the door and job done.
Click to expand...

:lol: magic, another labour saving tip from THBF :rofl:
 

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