Kings new bottler

[Apple]

wrong Vid!
See next post
Muer ras

 

[Apple]

 

[Apple]

Impressive new small run bottler by Thornes for under £500.00.... I promised to do a video but could only download from facebook!
Manual but fills hex bottles without spillage unlike the Swi........!!

Now working on the electronics/ weighing/ of the big volumetric bottler that will overcome the big batch honey temp/ density problem...
to be continued......
Nadelik Lowen

 

[Somerford]

Just an observation - check numbers of filled jars left open in one go - or state the amount in your HACCP statement. Typical amount is 24 - to prevent any ingress of any foreign matter before lids go on. There was an excellent piece on this in a previous edition of beefarmer magazine

 

[Apple]

Plant is in a clean room with full air conditioning.
Our HACCP states that filled jars to be capped within 2 minutes and does not mention any specific number ... which if you think about it is common sense!
All of our food processing and bottling procedures have been accessed and approved by a qualified professional food technologist.

 

[Apple]

Just an observation - check numbers of filled jars left open in one go - or state the amount in your HACCP statement. Typical amount is 24 - to prevent any ingress of any foreign matter before lids go on. There was an excellent piece on this in a previous edition of beefarmer magazine

Which issue... saw the one on Parlor Wall for honey rooms.

 

[pargyle]

Impressive new small run bottler by Thornes for under £500.00.... I promised to do a video but could only download from facebook!
Manual but fills hex bottles without spillage unlike the Swi........!!

Now working on the electronics/ weighing/ of the big volumetric bottler that will overcome the big batch honey temp/ density problem...
to be continued......
Nadelik Lowen

It really is impressive for £595 ... if I ever get to be a real beekeeper and have a dedicated honey room then I reckon that has to be at the top of the list. I don't mind bottling by hand but I've got a lot of orders to fulfil pre-Christmas and it's going to take awhile ... Can't justify the cost or find the space for a proper bottling facility just yet.

 

[Swn58]

Luxury.....pure luxury!

Can't justify the cost or find the space for a proper bottling facility just yet.

Yep.....this is the problem! I was once fairly well off, but now poo'er, as they say in Brum!
I was overrun this season with my small kitchen and a four frame spinner. I'm hoping that at least, going into next year, I will be buying a better extraction system with a nine frame extractor! As for somewhere to do all this.....I may have to either rip my kitchen out, or convert my bedroom into a dedicated processing room. It may not be so bad, if it eventually gets me a proper work unit! (Note to Curley GF: Yes, that's how serious I am!)

 

[deemann1]

That's a nice bit of kit you got there

 

[Apple]

That's a nice bit of kit you got there

Thanks to all.
After rebuilding/ conversion of 15th Cy stone Skibber ( Cornish for Barn) for my inlaws to move into, they decided to remain in the Big City, so repurposed as the Honey house with clean kitchen and store (with bedroom and bathroom + lab AI room downstairs)
( Planning was a total nightmare as horrid distant neighbor Mr AutoGlym objected saying I was redeveloping as a holiday let!!!)
Problem then was where to put the bottle washing machine... took over AI room!
Other problem was the staircase was a bespoke two flight affair with a central landing... totai PITA to carry heavy bottles/buckets etc up and down.
Solution was a lift......
Will attempt to post up a video of it in operation......

Now have also rebuilt the original stone potting shed as a honey extracting facility..... need another shed!!
Nadelik Lowen

 

[Nige.Coll]

How much does the tank hold ?
It says 30+kg but isn't specific.

 

[Apple]

How much does the tank hold ?
It says 30+kg but isn't specific.

Tank measures 35cm x 35cm which is about 20 L ?

33.67394621 Liters to be precise

 

[Newbeeneil]

I must admit I looked at buying one at the start of this year but couldn't justify it quite yet. Jarring is a pain but I tend to do small batches so a machine like that is probably OTT. A review would be good though.

 

[Gunner]

I would be interested to know if that compressor / pump is able to dispense creamed honey or is it really only suitable for runny honey?

If this is the machine from Thorne does it still have chinese symbols / graphics all over the keyboard or have they reproduced it with western QWERTY keyboard type symbols?

 

[Apple]

I would be interested to know if that compressor / pump is able to dispense creamed honey or is it really only suitable for runny honey?

If this is the machine from Thorne does it still have chinese symbols / graphics all over the keyboard or have they reproduced it with western QWERTY keyboard type symbols?

Hi Gunner
The unit is gravity fed, via a compressed air dispensing valve, which in turn is operated via an output on the balance/ weighing unit.
The Keyboard is in English... Tare fill etc with standard numerics....1,2,3 etc
A tad complex to set up with a coded input following the "wished for weight"
The rest of the display is in numeric, but with Chinese symbols beneath... must get them translated!

Once set up an running is a dream to use, and as it is weight facilitated, with an "auto tare" for variable weight of jars ( can be as much as 5g either way!) Therefore is not variable as with viscosity as the volumetric dispensers can be.

Even so as it is gravity fed can overfill by a small amount if the honey is too thin ( usually because it has been warmed too much) The viscosity has to be at the Goldylocks level... not too thick or too thin but just right.
The set up includes three different apertures to go between the vat and the valve which may help if dispensing creamed honey.
The pneumatic filler valve speed could be adjusted if some air exit needle valves were fitted.

I have not tried it with creamed honey as we make soft set that is set in the jar after bottling, ( held in a refrigeration unit at 14 degrees C till set).

We get asked for creamed honey and may be something to look at in the future ( one of our regular customers is a real honey aficionado and says there IS a difference!)

I also have a pneumatic pumped volumetric viscous fluid bottling machine which bottles honey OK, but constantly needs the volume slide resetting.

I have now converted this to use a similar weighing auto tare unit for under £75 plus a coup of electronic timers and a high low pulsed astable/bistable controller as the weighing machine output is via an open or closed voltage free relay.
I will attempt to put up some info on this.

Meanwhile why not give Gill a call at Thornes and ask her what feedback they have had on the bottler... at £500 inc VAT is a very good price ... compared with £3K for the Sweinty type of gear wheel semi automatics... once you have added the auto feed table etc etc.

Next project may be an automatic bottle feed system... although SWMBO and daughter say they are happy to manually feed and operate the machine... one hopper load will do up to 500 227g /8 oz bottles.

Now if I could just make an automatic lid putter onner !

Chons da

 

[Apple]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-30kg-...var=554554042562&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[Apple]

This is similar to the larger machine, I did not pay as much for the one we have... seems to be a knock off of one availiable in the States, with a search I even found a you tube vid of complete strip down for maintenance by the US makers in ENGLISH !!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/single-n...647376?hash=item19ea556510:g:pqcAAMXQeKNTK6rv
Also found this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Automati...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649