WilliamsWarn Counter Pressure Bottle Filler

I don’t review many purchases but I decided to review this counter-pressure bottler.Because I tend to get a little detailed I’ll go ahead and cut to the conclusion first: I’m an avid homebrewer who researches things to death. After a lot of research in which I considered pretty much every available reasonable option (and some totally unreasonable ones) for upgrading my bottle filling ability, I bought this counter-pressure bottler. I’m glad I did. I would do it again. I’m giving it 5 stars. That doesn’t mean it is perfect (it isn’t) but it means that it works very well, it is easy to use and it is the best remotely reasonable option that I’m aware of for homebrew counter-pressure bottling.It should go without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that this device isn’t a necessity for homebrewing and that it is only for pretty advanced homebrewers. There are lots of ways to bottle beer – from in-bottle carbonating/conditioning to various beer guns and handheld counter-pressure fillers. I have experience with all of these. I’ve done a lot of bottling with the Blichmann beer gun (I own the older model). It is a hateful device. I have a lot of Blichmann equipment and I regard the beer gun as a low point for them. There is no good way to use it where the beer doesn’t get exposed to a boatload of oxygen and because it is handheld and awkward to use you’ll almost always end up dripping or spraying beer where you don’t want it. And while that’s bad enough, the biggest issue is that you always lose carbonation. A lot of carbonation. Even if you trick out your beer gun to the max (which I did). In the end, my intense desire to part ways with that horrible device led me here.First, I should mention the cost of this item. To give you some context, I’m not cost sensitive when it comes to brewing equipment. Some people pinch pennies when brewing, and that’s cool, but brewing is my primary hobby and I just don’t. I have no idea how much I’ve spent on homebrewing but it is a lot. A whole lot. A shocking amount, really. And when I decide I need something I pretty much just buy it, to the point that I don’t usually even notice the prices. The whole reason I’m telling you this is to give you some context when I say: Although I don’t normally pay much attention to the prices of homebrewing equipment, I certainly noticed the price of this filler.When you get the filler – jangling around disassembled in a smallish, flatish, torn up box (if my experience is a guide) - and you see how few parts there are and how basic they look, you may say (as I did) – “Oh, come on.”It really did take me aback. I thought: “I’ve been had.” And although you can explain some of the price in the U.S. by the fact that this comes to us from afar, it still strikes you as an item with a great deal of margin built in. However, in the end I didn’t ding them for this because the truth is that this filler works really well and I would certainly buy it again. But I thought it was important to give you this context because, as I’m sure you know, there are people in this hobby (you may even be one of them) who believe that it is dishonorable to do anything other than build all your own equipment from scratch at the lowest possible cost. (“You BOUGHT glass carboys? Dude, are you telling me that you don’t know how to blow glass? I blew all my own carboys from melted down 1970s milk bottles. I guess if you were just a little bit more of a man you would have done the same.”) But while I’ve built a ton of stuff for homebrewing myself, sometimes I just want to buy an item for the sake of expediency. This bottler was one of those things, and a meaningful premium was paid. But if you are one of the glass blowing types, the disconnect between the price charged and what is provided here (did I mention that the “instruction manual” is just a few loose pages that were spat out from a color copier?) may cause enough cognitive dissonance to make you stroke out.Here are the things I like:First and foremost, it works extremely well. It isn’t hard to get the hang of it, and once you figure out how to use it then you can easily bottle beer relatively quickly and with almost no loss of carbonation. This is a huge improvement over a beer gun. This weekend I was bottling some beers for the finals of the National Homebrew competition and when I poured myself a beer from a test bottle it was remarkable. I walked away from one of the beers – a very clear lager - and came back in 10 minutes and the carbonation was still going in the glass – incredibly persistent and just like commercial.The device is on a stand (or you can mount it on a wall). The stand is sturdy. Some people have complained about the suction cup feet – they say that they don’t work well and won’t stay down. For me, I have the exact opposite issue. On my smooth countertop the suction cup feet are so sturdy and stable that it is hard to get them to release from the counter when I want to move the device. It is actually comical to watch me try to release the device from the counter. And having this on a stand is far better than using a handheld device. With a handheld device, no matter how much you plan ahead and have a bucket or another place to put the filler between uses, you risk knocking that bucket over, or spraying something, or getting more oxygen exposure than you want, or getting the hoses tangled, or knocking something over with the hoses, and the entire process just ends up being more cumbersome. A stable workstation is much better, and when coupled with a “stand” type of capper it really makes things easier.Their customer service is scary good. I really don’t understand it. I had some pretty technical questions about the bottle filler and I emailed them – more than once – and I got incredibly quick and precise responses. How did they get back to me so quickly and so precisely? Aren’t they supposed to be on a different continent? Are they actually in a geostationary satellite right overhead?Things I don’t like:Instructions could be better, but the online video is very helpful. Setup isn’t intuitive at first, but once you get everything set out then the setup makes intuitive sense if you are at all mechanically inclined.How to operate it is confusing at first. Try it with water or starsan before you try it with beer. You will screw things up a few times at first, and from time to time thereafter, but you will learn it.The knobs can get stuck if you close them too hard, and they can hurt your hands. I’ve said “ouch” a few times.As a final note, before I bought this I actually had decided to get a MoreBeer deluxe counterpressure filler but then they went on backorder with no clear projection of future availability. Because I am impatient, I bought this instead, and I’m very glad I did.

I purchased this unit to bottle beers for competition, and the bottler has seen very light use since its purchase. A few months ago I set up the unit for a bottling run but could not control the leakage of both beer and CO2. After close inspection I discovered a crack through the chamber of the head (photo) that would not allow the O-rings to seal. Not sure what could have caused this as the unit was always at room temperature and never frozen. I emailed Williams-Warn along with photos (submission confirmation received) and asked for a quote on the price of a replacement head. Might as well have asked for a free one, as my request to Support Services was never recognized or answered. This is a pricey piece of equipment for most homebrewers, and one should expect a lot more quality and service than I received from Williams-Warn.

Lol, Suction power?!?! Good luck getting it off the surface it's suctioned to. Holy suction Batman! I run mine on the corner of a counter top and let any overflow run into a bucket. Shut off the liquid in valve and spritz with StarSan. I use flip top bottle for the most part. I love this counter pressure bottle filler. I did 60 750ml (25 oz.) bottles last bottling day. I was very skeptical about the price, but am now ecstatic that I pulled the trigger. I am a gear guy and and IT guy. I'm always trying to figure out how to stream line processes to save time without compromising quality. This is the answer to your home brewing bottling needs. Cheers!!

Within a couple months, item became unusable due to internal mold crack. Company quickly replaced. Within a few months of replacement, new part had same issue. After discussion with company, info about manufacturing batch was disclosed and replacement was again promised. Unfortunately, company has not followed through with replacement and have not responded. Our nano cidery was in fortunately left with a production shortfall.

I have four of these units that I use in a small commercial bottling operation and they work great with our carbonated beverage. The design is simple and it's easy to use and easy to clean. If you're bottling any more than about 25-30 bottles you might want to install a ball valve up-stream for easier gas and liquid shutoff--your fingers can get pretty sore operating the knobs after about two dozen bottles. If you need spare parts or modifications the tubing and push-in connectors are available at most home improvement stores or here on Amazon. The suction cup feet will work on a smooth surface like stainless steel or granite. It will take about 3-4 bottles to get the flow rate down by adjusting the PRV--you should start with a slow flow and increase gradually with each bottle until excessive foaming tells you to stop and back off a bit--that will be your optimal flow rate. I found that one unit can do 12 500ml bottles in about 10 minutes. It adjusts easily to different size bottles or even growlers. Cheers!