Note: the following is an unbiased review of a product I purchased myself. This is not a sponsored review.
One of the most rewarding aspects of brewing beer is the ability to share the final product. Whether it be with friends, family, or strangers, it's nice to put forth a quality offering. For those who enter competitions with their beer, this is even more important.
After spending many hours brewing, and then potentially a couple weeks or more fermenting and conditioning the beer, it would be silly not to take the packaging process seriously. While canning homebrew beer is gaining in popularity, bottling beer has advantages in some areas. Bottles can be recycled, both from prior homebrew batches or from commercial beer or cider; bottle fillers tend to be significantly cheaper than can seamers; homebrew competitions tend to require beer be received in bottles; and the sturdiness of bottles allows them to be filled under counter pressure.
When it comes to packaging the best product possible, it cannot be overstated how important it is to maintain carbonation in the beer as it moves from a keg or unitank to the bottle. Under-carbonated beer comes across as lifeless and boring. This is an area where counter pressure bottle fillers excel.
There are a numbering of offerings in the market; however, in this review, we'll be focusing on the BrewBottler from WillamsWarn. It should be noted that WilliamsWarn is located in New Zealand; however, their products are available through a number of homebrew shops and online retailers. The product is also known as the WilliamsWarn Counter Pressure Bottle Filler.
Unlike a filler such as Blichmann Engineering's Beer Gun, a counter pressure filler creates a seal around the bottle. The bottle is pressurized using CO2 from a tank, then beer is pumped in as the head pressure is bled off. Because the beer is under pressure as it slowly fills the bottle, this helps to keep the carbonation in solution.
Ease of use: 3/5
The BrewBottler is comprised of a number of pieces, causing assembly, sanitization, cleaning, and breakdown to take a bit of time. That said, the connections are push-in fittings, which makes things relatively painless.
Operation of the device uses three knobs on the dispense valve. Once a bottle has been seated on the filler, it is first filled with CO2 using the upper-right knob. This both pressurizes the bottle and purges oxygen from within. Once pressurized, the smaller knob is turned until gas just barely starts escaping from the bottle.
The gas-in knob can be shut off and then the upper-left knob is turned to pump in the beer. The flow rate can be modified by opening or closing the smaller knob on the right. The faster gas is allowed to escape, the faster the bottle will fill. It takes some practice to get the hang of the process.
Once a bottle is filling, which takes roughly 45 seconds to complete, no hands are required. This is exceptionally nice as it allows you to multitask, or simply relax.
Quality: 5/5
The build quality of the BrewBottler is excellent. The base of the unit is made of stainless steel and is very sturdy. It can be mounted to a wall, or used on a table. Suction cups on the feet of the unit keep it in place on a solid surface.
The filler also uses nice push-in fittings from John Guest, which create excellent leak-free seals on both the beer and gas lines.
The height of the platform can be adjusted to accommodate bottles of different sizes.
Effectiveness: 4/5
I've had excellent results using the filler. In fact, the first beer I filled with it was a highly-carbonated Blackberry Berliner Weisse which went on to win a gold medal in competition.
That said, it has not been perfect. If bottles are filled too full and beer is allowed to enter the dispense valve at the top, it seems to behave inconsistently at random on subsequent fills. Some bottles seem to fill very slow. Some bottles will foam over once removed from the filler. It should be mentioned that I've had similar experiences with other counter pressure fillers. It is hard to say whether it is user error or an issue with the filler.
In all, users can expect the vast majority of their bottles to be filled with excellent quality; however, be prepared for the occasional issue. These issues can be limited by being careful not to fill bottles too high and by leaving the pressure release knob alone after it has been dialed in during the first bottle fill.
Cost: 2/5
There are a number of offerings in the market at around $100. However, the BrewBottler comes in at three and a half times that price.
Overall: 4/5
The cost is prohibitive for this bottler; however, the final packaged product is generally steller. Once beer is flowing, bottling is hands-free, which is a treat. While it may be overkill for some, those who are serious about competing with their homebrew may want to consider the BrewBottler as it represents the high end of the counter pressure fillers.
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