# Bottling Day With The Hoffart Auto Bottle Filler!



## ibglowin

Much thanks to Rick Hoffart for this truly piece of wine making "art"! Perfectly filled bottles every time and not a drop lost! No more Ferrari Auto Bottle (siphon) Filler for this winemaker! Set up and clean up are a breeze. You can adjust the flow as fast or as slow as you want it. 

Very nice addition to the toolbox! 


[ame="http://youtu.be/PXdkJohy2QA"]http://youtu.be/PXdkJohy2QA[/ame]


----------



## millwright01

Looks great. Nice bit of work.


----------



## rhoffart

Hey it worked. 
The valve worked ok?


----------



## GerardVineyard

Are those all your vines seen out the window?


----------



## ibglowin

Valve worked perfect! I can adjust the flow to a nice medium rate and then tweak it down to a dribble at the end so nothing ends up in the overthrow bottle. You nailed the height perfectly as well! Great job all the way around. So much fun to use I think I will start cleaning another set of bottles just so I can use it again!



rhoffart said:


> Hey it worked.
> The valve worked ok?


----------



## ibglowin

In my dreams! Just a screen saver......



GerardVineyard said:


> Are those all your vines seen out the window?


----------



## AlFulchino

very nice Mike and Rick


----------



## grapeman

Well I was wondering where this was taking place as I saw you have a nice big vineyard outside your window, and then I realized it was your computer screen. LOL
Nice little contraption. 

Mike did you copy that from Rick? If so I think that bottle you just did has his name on it. If he made it for you, I think you owe him at least a few bottles!


----------



## Runningwolf

Mike did you build this? Very nice.


----------



## ibglowin

Winemaking Talks own "MacGyver" (or MacGruber) Rick Hoffart built it. 

Pure winemaking genius! 

Made from a couple of Vacuvin inserts, refrigerator (water line tubing) inline water (shut off) valve, some hot glue to seal it all up and some pieces of wood.



Runningwolf said:


> Mike did you build this? Very nice.


----------



## Angelina

Very nice build!


----------



## ibglowin

Here are a couple of pics shat show this beauty off a little better.


----------



## rhoffart

Too kind Mike ... it's really not hard to make. It's all glued, no nails or screws. Anyone can make one, and no I'm not selling 

If anyone wants to take that on ... go for it.


----------



## tjbryner

What is the thing on top .... Maybe blue , looks to be on the vacuum line.


----------



## GerardVineyard

ibglowin said:


> In my dreams! Just a screen saver......



LOL, thats what I meant when I said out your window, that is a PC right?


----------



## ibglowin

Flow valve. Allows complete control of the flow from all out max to a dribble.



tjbryner said:


> What is the thing on top .... Maybe blue , looks to be on the vacuum line.


----------



## tjbryner

ibglowin said:


> Flow valve. Allows complete control of the flow from all out max to a dribble.



Got a link for one of those? That's just about all I need to to make a set up something like yours. 

I'm just thinking a spring loaded base would be cool for those different bottles sizes. and maybe make mine out of steel. ( I'm more of a welder then carpenter)


----------



## rhoffart

ibglowin said:


> Flow valve. Allows complete control of the flow from all out max to a dribble.



HERE it is

The ice maker line fits inside the barb fitting.


----------



## shoebiedoo

ibglowin said:


> Winemaking Talks own "MacGyver" (or MacGruber) Rick Hoffart built it.
> 
> Pure winemaking genius!
> 
> Made from a couple of Vacuvin inserts, refrigerator (water line tubing) inline water (shut off) valve, some hot glue to seal it all up and some pieces of wood.



NO DUCT TAPE????? How can you reference MacGyver with out duct tape???


----------



## rhoffart

shoebiedoo said:


> NO DUCT TAPE????? How can you reference MacGyver with out duct tape???



Come on ... hot glue gun is close enough.


----------



## Wade E

As far as different size bottles go I believe thas why there are differen holes in the arm to adjust for that.


----------



## rhoffart

Wade E said:


> As far as different size bottles go I believe thas why there are differen holes in the arm to adjust for that.



The first one only had 1 hole and the 375's didn't fit well so I put 4 holes 1" apart in V2.


----------



## tjbryner

Thanks for the link!! This will complete my wine addiction nicely.... at least for this week


----------



## ibglowin

Yep, Hot glue gun, vacuvin, ball valves. Only thing missing is a 9V battery and some wires to a timer or something! 



rhoffart said:


> Come on ... hot glue gun is close enough.


----------



## Wade E

Will it fot a magnum?


----------



## ibglowin

It would work if you wanted to do a few but if you did a whole lot of them the bottom would need to be re-drilled (larger) to better accompany a magnum. I just checked and it will sit on top (as is) and you can still get the Vacuvin in nicely.


----------



## rhoffart

Wade E said:


> Will it fot a magnum?



I'd say no ... I don't think I would ever use one.

cool, thanks Mike


----------



## Wade E

Me neither, just curious.


----------



## wvbrewer

Very Nice..


----------



## PCharles

I've not seen this before... I may have to put my vacume pump to use in simlar fashion. Excellent job!!!


----------



## ibglowin

This little contraption has made bottling fun for the first time (at least for me!)


----------



## Winegirl

I apologize if this has been asked already, will this stop filling the bottle once the wine hits the vacuum? Do you need the ball valve or could you lower your vacuum from the pump?


----------



## ibglowin

Once the volume hits the lower tube it will start taking the flow to the overflow bottle. You have to manually shut off the flow with the valve each time, remove the full bottle, get a new empty, replace, open the flow valve, rinse, repeat as they say.

Each bottle is filled to the same exact height. You can open the valve and fill fast or slow depending on if you have help or not. You just have to make sure you don't overfill the overflow bottle so to speak!


----------



## Tripplett

I love the idea. I'm still kind of new so excuse if this is a stupid question but does it matter that you are kind of splash racking it into the bottles? I thought there was a reason normal bottle filling wands fill from the bottom up.


----------



## ibglowin

With this set up the bottle is under a vacuum so no air is introduced.


----------



## olusteebus

I am confused on the tubing. The refrigerator tubes going into the valve and ultimately into the vacuvin stopper looks to be 3/8 inch inside diameter, 1/2 inch outside diameter. I say this as they must be that to fit the 3/8 inch outside diameter of the valve. 

If that is the case, what clear tubing size have you used. 

Could you give me a breakdown of the tube sizes.

I would appreciate you help.


----------



## ibglowin

Looks like smaller 1/4" Teflon was used to in short pieces that went through the Vacuvin stoppers and both sides of the shutoff valve which I believe was a refrigerator water line valve of sorts. Then 1/4" Tygon or Polypropylene was slipped over the 1/4" Teflon where size was not an issue.


----------



## ibglowin

I believe a hot glue gun was used to glue/seal the tube into the vacuvin's.


----------



## vacuumpumpman

ibglowin said:


> Once the volume hits the lower tube it will start taking the flow to the overflow bottle. You have to manually shut off the flow with the valve each time, remove the full bottle, get a new empty, replace, open the flow valve, rinse, repeat as they say.
> 
> Each bottle is filled to the same exact height. You can open the valve and fill fast or slow depending on if you have help or not. You just have to make sure you don't overfill the overflow bottle so to speak!




Mike - 
I am a little confused - does each bottle get filled to the exact height every time ? Or can you overfill the bottles if you are not paying attention ?


----------



## olusteebus

"Mike - 
I am a little confused - does each bottle get filled to the exact height every time ? Or can you overfill the bottles if you are not paying attention ?
__________________"

Because the tube producing the vacuum is lower than the tube producing the wine, It begins to suck wine out of the bottle once the wine gets to that level. It goes into the overflow bottle which should be the last bottled filled.


----------



## vacuumpumpman

Thanks 

After reading it again this morning, I understand how it works now, Very similar to the Allinone - I know after I bottle 30 bottles - I typically will only have 1 - 2 tablespoons of wine in the overflow bottle. That's we're I was getting confused.


----------



## ibglowin

Correct,

You can't overfill your bottle and all bottles are filled to the exact same height but you can if your not paying attention overfill the overflow bottle I suppose. The valve allows you to speed up or slow down the flow and let you get your next few bottles ready, grab a few corks, cork a bottle etc. I marked the valve where i like the flow with a sharpie and that alows me to go back to a nice flow. This is so nice as I can sit in a chair at eye level (thanks to the vacuum pump) and not have to squat or sit on the floor which I did the first few years using a bottle wand or Buon Vino Auto Filler etc which requires gravity flow.


----------



## beardy

I see this is a couple months old but is there a plan to look at somewhere like instructable or something? I would like to make one but I dont think I'm seeing everything in the video...


----------



## olusteebus

I built mine pretty much by studying post 12


----------



## ibglowin

I don't know of any official parts list. If you have questions on anything ask away and we will do our best to answer them. Unfortunately the guy who built it (Rick) is no longer posting or online anymore.


----------



## cimbaliw

no art about it but a simple solution. I hang my bottling gizmo from a retractable key thingy and it works well.


----------



## Rocky

What do you all do with the wine in the overflow? Is that lost wine or is it used? I was wondering because I always see a clear bottle for the over flow and I thought if it were used, one could place a green bottle there (when bottling red wine) remove it when it is filled or near filled and replace it with an empty bottle. Or am I all wet on this?

I need to find a convenient way to bottle wine because I don't like the alternatives that I am using at present.


----------



## RCGoodin

The All-in-one pump does all this and more, so, why re-invent the wheel? Get with Steve and buy his unit. You'll never look back.

Steve, I just used the de-gassing head and it worked great. Thanks again for a great product and your outstanding customer service....


----------



## RCGoodin

Rocky said:


> What do you all do with the wine in the overflow? Is that lost wine or is it used? I was wondering because I always see a clear bottle for the over flow and I thought if it were used, one could place a green bottle there (when bottling red wine) remove it when it is filled or near filled and replace it with an empty bottle. Or am I all wet on this?
> 
> I need to find a convenient way to bottle wine because I don't like the alternatives that I am using at present.


 
You can replace the overflow bottle at any time. There usually isn't very much overflow though. It's my tasting wine at the end of bottling.

Once you get this, you will wonder why it took so long to buy it. And, you will never go wrong with Steve's personal customer service.


----------



## ibglowin

The amount of wine in the overflow is totally up to you. It only goes to overflow if you don't shut off the valve when it reaches the top tube. If you shut off the valve just before then nothing goes into the overflow. I usually end up with about 2-3 ounces. It ends up being my taste sample along with any left over in the carboy.

I have a mark on the valve body that gives me a nice flow rate that allows me time to cork the previous bottle, and then sit back down to slow the flow rate down at the very end so virtually nothing goes into overflow.



Rocky said:


> What do you all do with the wine in the overflow? Is that lost wine or is it used?


----------



## ibglowin

I absolutely hated bottling before I got this, now I actually look forward to it. Its easy to set up, no more spills or mess whatsoever. I can sit at my workspace instead of squatting on the floor with a gravity bottle filler. I can bottle a carboy in about 40 mins by myself.



Rocky said:


> I need to find a convenient way to bottle wine because I don't like the alternatives that I am using at present.


----------



## cimbaliw

Hey Rocky, once you start vacuum bottling you will develop a technique. For example, at the start of the process, with the carboy and bottles sitting on a desk, there will be continued (after vacuum release) siphon until you raise the bottle above the level of the wine in the carboy. It's a really nice way to slowly fill the last 1/4" of the bottle or so. Obviously, as the carboy drains you fill exclusively by vacuum which may involve some foaming of the wine in the bottle. Yesterday, 30 bottles filled, about 1T of overrun in the tubing. Filled and double levered hand corked in 30 minutes.


----------



## robie

Before I started vacuum bottling I would regularly waste a half bottle of wine and make a total mess. I seldom get any wine in the overflow, each bottle is filled to the exact same level, and the only wine I waste is if when moving from one bottle to the next, I get a single drop off the tip of the spigot. In the end, when filling thirty bottles, I doubt I waste a tablespoon of wine.

I still don't like to bottle; I just don't like scraping labels and washing all those bottles. My wine room is too small for doing the bottling, so I have to carry everything upstairs to the kitchen, than take it all back down again when finished. But the vacuum bottling system sure helps.


----------

