[USA/IL] Wanted: Used Bottle Filler and Labeler

We are looking for a used two head volumemetric bottler filler and a used manual front and back labeler. If anyone has one sitting in the corner or ready to upgrade we are interested in talking to you. I can be reached at rrak4@att.net

Comments

  • Manual labelers for round bottles can be bought new for around 500USD/EUR if you can't find a second hand one...

  • Enolmatic bottlers are great and cost about 400bucks each with 160 for an optional filter.

  • @DonMateo I agree, but @bachman asked for a two head filler. Which might not be a better choice, I've seen some multihead fillers that are a lot slower and therefor comparable in performance to the 1-head Enolmatic.

  • Sure mate. I was going to get a second one when I need it. The other alternative is child slave labor for my oldest daughter. Probably cheaper.

  • I got one of those as well :-$

  • edited January 2018

    Careful with a used bottling machine. Everyone starts off with a 2-head, and they run the hell out of it until they have no choice but to invest in a more expensive machine. Unless you find something from someone who went out of business, it's going to be pretty well used/abused.

    It's frustrating as hell to deal with fill level issues when bottling, takes a 2 or 3 hour job and drags it out to a whole day.

    Gaskets, pumps, solenoids - these are all wear items in a volumetric filler. A gravity filler will probably have a longer usable life, but will still require replacement of wear items. Lots of fillers don't use gaskets ideal for high proof, so they wear faster.

    If you've got to buy a bunch of spare parts to refurb the filler, cost savings is going to be pretty minor.

    Frustrating when someone is selling a 5 year old machine, put through it's paces, for top dollar.

  • Thanks everyone for the feedback,@ grim, how is your filler holding up?

  • Good, but quirky at times, not sure if it's just the way the machine runs, or all volumetric fillers deal with the issue.

    Product proof impacts fill volume. It's slight, but exists even between 80 proof and 90 proof products. Chalk that up to minor differences in density/viscosity maybe. Same with the temperature, although this tends to be more of a seasonal adjustment. We have a tall bottling tank, about 105 gallons. On big runs where we have the tank full, the fill timing will need to increase slightly through the run. Usually when the fill level gets below the level of the filler, we need to slightly increase timing. I know some bottling lines that fill volumetrically use a kind of balance tank that sits over the filler to keep the liquid pressure on the filler within a really tight range. It's not such a big issue that I'd want to add one though.

    @CothermanDistilling - how often are you tweaking the timing settings on your Xpressfill?

  • I have 2 equal weight bottles marked with the weight in grams, I put one in the filler and use the other to tare the scale as it likes to shut off at the most inopportune moment...

    I weigh a bottle every 6-10 cases after I get it dialed in... I have your 750ml sheet printed and on a clipboard above the bottler... For ballpark math, I change it .1 sec for 2 milliliters...

    The expressfill requires the tank to be below the filler, but that is easy with a cistern valve and a small tank if you had a huge vat... I fill from a 15 gal unikeggle for 4-case batches, and from a 60-gal tank for 8-20 case batches (I hope to get to the point where I can fill a pallet from a tote)

    The expressfill is worth every penny, even though it is dirt simple... I bought it a few years too soon if you were looking at it from a beancounters point of view, but zero complaints after I learned how to equalize the lines with the pinch clamps they sent me(now included)...

    I do not think i will ever outgrow a volumetric filler, I will never get a 'bottling line' that is just not who I want to be...

    i also love my primera label applicator, worth every penny...

  • Photo of pinch clamps? We struggled with getting equalization right. We never installed the additional solenoids though, it works well enough.

Sign In or Register to comment.