Over the years of bottling I still haven’t found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip. Any suggestions?
Bottle faster [emoji6]
But seriously, it’s a $5 part. It can only last so long.
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg
The spring can get compressed so it doesn’t have enough force to close hard enough to make a good seal. Take the thing apart and clean it, making sure that the sealing surfaces are clean and smooth. Stretch the spring apart to elongate it and put it all back together, making sure to push the end cap all the way onto the tube as far as you can get it. This can work for a few times, but eventually the spring gets weak and needs to be replaced.
I agree and I have gone through several! I can bottle faster when my wifey helps 
After a thorough cleaning make sure the end of the spring with the cross piece is against the head of the plunger tip.
So for bottle conditioning, instead of using a bucket and siphon, just rack into a keg with your priming syrup, slosh to mix, and bottle with your beer gun. You can purge the bottles, minimize the time the beer is exposed to the environment, and fill and cap with ease and control.
Only works if you have a keg…
Good reason to pick up a spare used keg if you can. Not as cheap as replacing a wand (at least one time) but it’s also not a unitasker.
Bottling wands can be pain. I don’t bottle much anymore but my first wand, that had a red tip, stills works the best. I got a black tipped one since the first was having an issue with the plunger getting weak and bending but the new on leaked too much. I bought a stainless steel type that works but makes it difficult to judge when to stop filling the bottle. It doesn’t displace enough volume to fill the bottle to the top and then remove the wand for the “perfect” fill.
Now I just keg and tell people if they want beer to stop by for a visit. ;D
Paul
Good ideal I’ll have try that sometime
I much prefer the gravity-sealed wands to those with a spring. I’ve had mine for maybe 10 years now. https://www.morebeer.com/products/springless-bottle-filler-38.html
- 1 to this, and add to thoroughly back flush filler at the tip to wash out any bits of hops or debris.
Thanks for that, Robert. I will do this on my next bottled batch! So obvious, yet I never would have thought to do it, plus I can likely adapt it to be low oxygen compliant. I have learned something new, once again, from those on this forum.
This^^^^
Do you bottle off the keg with this or just bottle conditioning? I feel like I use this method/tool but off of a bottling bucket and not a keg.
I have my original from my first kit still. Works well, except that time I had to siphon from one gallon growlers and did not have a spigot at the bottom of the vessel.
Phils Filler. I’ve got one that’s definitely over 20 years old. I don’t know if you can still get them though.
Wow! That’s a classic! But I think it was “Phil’s Philler”! Phil is Dan’s son.
I believe you’re correct. I typed it that way at first, and then changed it…
I have two. They work perfectly.