Crushpad, a state of the art winery located in California, allows everyone from wine enthusiasts to restaurants the opportunity to achieve their own winemaking aspirations. They assist with everything from the selection of vineyards and wine style to the design and packaging of the final product. As a custom winery, their clients have small, highly specified wine lots, so it was necessary to find a solution for filling for miniature (50ml) wine bottles. Filamatic rose to the challenge by adapting a DAB-5 Semi-Automatic Benchtop filling machine to meet the company’s requirements.
Crushpad had a long list of criteria required for their new filler, including a wine filling system that would allow for an efficient use of staff an
d materials. Using the DAB-5, they were able to bottle up to 200 bottles an hour, which was a 60% improvement over their previous filling system. Along with efficiency, Crushpad needed customization in order to integrate nitrogen gas into the filling process. The nitrogen is essential in inhibiting the introduction of oxygen to the wine and ensuring the quality of the product. Filamatic engineers designed a fill/gas sparge nozzle that, in conjunction with Pre-fill and Post-fill electric timers, controlled the flow of nitrogen gas into the bottle prior to, during, and after the fill was complete. Crushpad also stressed the need for a flexible machine. When searching for a filling machine, it was essential that Filamatic create a machine that not only suited their current project, but also allowed for growth. The Filamatic DAB-5 machine is fully customizable and has the ability to be transformed into an automatic packaging line from its current semi-automatic status.