Ask The Brewmasters

This is a question for the fluid dynamics folks out there. We have a 12-valve atmospheric can filler that I have personally witnessed operating at 100 cpm 12 oz beer at 2.50-2.60 vol CO2 and reasonably cold at 33-34F. We purchased this machine from a previous owner (at 720 feet elevation) and shipped it out to our brewery at 5000 feet elevation. We had a tech from the filler manufacturer on site to set the machine up and give us the basics of operation. Try as he might, we never saw reliable, proper fills at 16 oz, and minimal success at 12 oz. The only thing I could surmise was that we needed more restriction of beer on its way to the fill valves because at 5000 feet we were much more likely to experience uncontrollable breakout using the 48"-long, 1/4" ID tubing between the beer distribution manifold and the flow meters that measure volume to the fill valves. I had a conversation with a tech from the filler manufacturer and it was related that another customer had added several feet of tubing between the manifold and flow meters. We went with 25 feet of 1/4" ID Bevlex 170 polyethylene tubing per fill valve. This greatly improved our fill quality, however I believe the great increase in restriction also reduced the speed at which the filler can operate.

This filler employs a 10-gallon buffer tank that feeds beer to the filler and we operate it with between 18 and 20 psi head pressure. Running at lower pressures hasn't shown to be effective in filling cans properly, hence the higher pressure that we use. I'm hoping to have an audience with some folks from the manufacturer soon, but in the meantime I'd be grateful for any constructive feedback about this problem. We want to run it as fast as it can go at 5000 feet elevation.