In-Line Filler / Crowner
In-Line Filler / Crowner is the first and best In-Line Filler / Crowner specifically designed for the Micro Brewery planning an automated bottling line. In its most basic form it is a four valve machine capable of doing 1500 twelve ounce bottles an hour. It can, however, grow from a four valve to an eight valve (user expandable), capable of 3000 twelve ounce bottles per hour.
It can fill and crown, at this rate, while providing double pre-evacuation. The double pre-evacuation is not an option, but rather, a standard feature. Pre-evacuation, as you know, minimizes dissolved oxygen as well as headspace air; thereby providing longer shelf life for your beer.
For those who want their beer to look as good on the shelf as it tastes, we have (also as a standard feature) inert gas leveling. This procedure allows the beer to overfill, and then push back to a specific level, for precision fill height control.
Another standard feature of the IMI filler / crowner is that it is capable of running almost any size bottle, such as twelve ounce (long or short neck), sixteen ounce, twenty two ounce, or even a wine bottle.
In addition to being expandable, having double pre-evacuation, inert gas leveling, and accommodating different size bottles as standard features, the filler / crowner is a true monobloc. This means that the crowner is built on the same base as the filler in order to expose the filled bottle to as little air as possible. A nitrogen tunnel in the short space between the filler and the crowner maintains the filled bottles in a nitrogen enriched, oxygen impoverished atmosphere, while awaiting crowning.
The IMI-3000 is computer controlled for maximum reliability. Using feedback from sensors throughout the machine, the computer keeps track of what the filler/crowner is doing. With its intuitive control/diagnostic operator panel, the IMI-3000 will keep the operator informed of what’s going on. Should something go wrong, the panel will indicate where, and often what the problem is. Some of the standard sensors are the sensing of low crowns in the hopper, lack of crowns in the track (due to the crowns running out), and a sensor for detecting uncrowned bottles after crowning. The low crowns simply blinks a warning on the panel, indicating that the hopper needs to be filled soon. If there is a “no crowns” warning, it will not feed bottles into the crowner until the hopper & track are replenished. We don’t want to feed filled bottles into and out of the crowner (thereby exposing them to air) if there are no crowns with which to crown? Just fill the hopper, and the crowns will feed down the track and the machine will return to its crowning duties. If for some reason there is a jam, and a crown is miss-fed, a bottle with no crown will be sent onward. The sensor will see this and shut down the machine. Once again we don’t want to send out a bunch of uncrowned bottles (for the same reason as above). These are only some of the sensors the IMI-3000 possesses. Others include a bottle-break sensor during filling (to halt the machine so the broken glass can be washed off), level probe in the product tank, photo-switches that can see even clear glass, and more.
Construction of the machine is primarily stainless steel for resistance to corrosion in the brewery environment. Most of the machine is water-tight and wash-down capable. We believe the machine should be as functional as it is easy to use.
Finally, the filler is totally automatic. the bottles feed in and out on a conveyor, and crown orienting, feeding and crowning are entirely automatic. Just fill the feeder bowl full of crowns (no orientation required) and the automatic feed will do the rest. The crown hopper will hold a supply of about 3 hours for a 4 valve filler, and about an hour and a half for the 8 valve version. That way the operator can concern himself/herself with more important things than having to “babysit” the filler/crowner as it does its work.
Dump Table
Dump Table is the usual beginning of a bottling line. Bottles are dumped onto the table, and the conveyor chain singe-files them to one lane, where they exit to the next piece of equipment (i.e. Twist Rinser).
Here are some specs:
- Constructed of 304 Stainless Steel
- UHMW Chain Wear Strip
- Reverse Direction Belt to Avoid Jams
- Enclosed Chain Guards
- Adjustable Feet for Leveling of Machine
- Includes Motor & Gear Box
Twist Rinser
Twist Rinser is a standard, low-cost Twist Rinser for the Micro brewery Industry. It features:
- Rinser comes pre-wired and pre-assembled
- Base size is 15′ long, with a speed of 50 bottles per minute (faster models available).
- All Stainless Steel and UHWM construction
- Base Price includes one twist for one bottle size
- Relatively inexpensive (starts at $15,000)
Meyer World Tandem
Many were produced, and many are still in use today. They serve the role of an inexpensive, cold-glue labeler capable of front and neck labeling at speeds of up to around 75 bottles per minute. We buy them up, strip them down, re-work and replace what needs it, sand-blast and re-paint the machine, and then re-assemble. What we’re left with is a reliable, front & neck labeler that we can sell inexpensively.
We use this labeler (if requested) in our 25-50 bottle per minute complete bottling lines, but we also sell it seperately for $10,000. We find that many people with the Meheen choose this labeler when they go about automating their outfeed.