Customer Reviews

Saves some time and cleaning product. Review by Mudflap

Rating

Got this with the economy bottle tree for Christmas. First time i used it no problem. The second time I had some issues relative to the spring and couldn't get it to prime. A few reassemblies later got it to work again. No problems since as I now take time to make sure it's assembled accurately.

Before bottling I use PBW in the sink to wash the bottles with the brush and then StarSan in the Vinator after a potable water rinse. Right from the tree to bottling. Doing this in a 2 person operation bottles are ready in no time. (Posted on 3/17/13)

Great Device Review by J Warren

Rating

Once you assemble it, with a bit of patience as to not bend the spring, and prime the pump, you are on your way to sanitizing bottles with just a couple of pumps. I set the Vinator up in between my bottle tree and bottling bucket. I grab a clean bottle off the tree, place it on the Vinator, pump a few times, let it drain and then procede to fill the bottle off the bucket. I bottled 15 gallons by my lonesome and could not have done it without the help of the Vinator. It made for a less frustrating experience for sure!! (Posted on 2/20/13)

Good, but difficult to put together Review by Evan

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This product works great, but after trial and error. It took about 8-10 tried to get the spring seated properly, which is not an easy task. Other than that, it squirts water/sanitizer like it is supposed to. (Posted on 2/14/13)

Sanitizing made easy Review by ScottWD

Rating

The Vinator is a great investment for any home-brewer that bottles for carbonation. The time saved in sanitizing pays for the product within two brews. So fast and easy. The only drawback was in the assembly. The spring does not sit in the groove on the base very well. It popped out once during assembly but stayed seated in the groove during use. (Posted on 2/4/13)

Works Great If . . . . Review by Schwartzie

Rating

The spring needs to be completely seated (i.e., screwed into) in the plunger. If that is done, the spring will be the proper length and will not bend during assembly.

If your spring is bending, it is not properly seated in the plunger . . .

Also, the device is not compatible with PET bottles as is because the bottle openings are too wide for the plunger stops. That shortcoming can be resolved by slipping some 3/4 PVC plumbing fittings over the plunger. (Posted on 11/3/12)

A time saver for bottlers Review by Otis

Rating

I bottle my homebrew, and what a hassle to sanitize bottles in a bucket or cooler. One batch I borrowed this model from a friend, so much easier. Liked it so much, I bought my own, worth the time you save.

The borrowed unit did have the bent spring. Before using mine I put a 3/4 inch copper coupling over the base nub and the spring into that. No spring bending, and didn't interfere with pump action. No spring trimming required. (Posted on 10/13/12)

Love it Review by Marc

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I love this product. Saved me a lot of time.
(Posted on 6/9/12)

Time Saver and convenient Review by Brandon

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I dont disassemble it, why bother? All its got in it is Star San, nothing to clean, so I dump the extra Star San back into the container I store my mixture in.
I rinse my bottles very well after using them, so there is no gunk on them when I sanitize them.

Dunk, spritz a couple of time, next bottle. I can sanitize 5 gallons worth pretty fast. (Posted on 5/31/12)

Can't justify it. Review by Jingleberry

Rating

It's a neat concept and I've read great things about it but it seems time consuming still. On my bottling day I have milk crates lined up filled with bottles and a 5 gallon bucket with my sanitizing solution. I drop as many bottles into the bucket as I can and when I bottle I pull a bottle out, drain it and drop a new one in as I'm filling up my beer. Plenty of contact time to keep things extra clean and no need for a vinator or bottling tree. I do it this way because 1) It's very convenient, but 2) I'm using a lot of sanitizer anyways to get all my containers and equipment prepped. (Posted on 2/12/12)

huge time saver Review by Mike

Rating

I used this vinator rinser for about 6 times, I disassembled the vinator each time and cleaned it.

On the last cleaning job and dis-assembly was left with a ball valve as an extra piece. The ball value in the base was still in place so figured it belonged in the white tip part.

I could not get it to work. I was set up to bottle and the thing did not work despite every configuration I tried.

Found a solution on homebrew talk! Put the second ball valve in the white tip with the smooth side facing toward the bottom. This saved the day.

This implies the second ball valve came out after about 6 uses.

Also as others have noted, the spring is too long. At this point my spring is bent a bit and will work on or off the base fine, as you do not have to depress the plunger fully to sanitize once primed. The second ball valve holds the sanitizer solution in the pump.
(Posted on 1/21/12)

Took an hour off my bottling time. Review by Brady

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This product is a time saving beer bottling masterpiece. It literally help me save at least an hour on my bottling time.
The spring is a little long I thing but otherwise performed nicely. (Posted on 1/5/12)

Worked well for one year Review by Jclaine

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I picked one of these up mid/late summer last year and it was working awesome, until this morning. When I went to assemble the top of the bottle tree for a bottling session I noticed the male plastic threads on the bottom of the injector piece was broken (2mm gap in between threads) but was still attached. I hopefully screwed it in and it seemed to hold just fine until I started to sanitize bottles; six bottles in it popped and is now seemingly pertinently busto.

I expected this to last a bit longer considering for the price it's just some molded plastic and a spring. I would switch to kegs but until I move I am stuck bottling and looks like there is no alternative or replacement parts for this either so I am stuck buying another full assembly so I can bottle today. Not pleased. (Posted on 8/15/11)

Time Saver Review by AdamU

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Great product. Difficult to put together the first time. Getting the spring set correctly was difficult, but once I figured it out, it has become old hat. After hand sanitizing using a bucket full of sanitizer and taking way to much time, I will never look back. (Posted on 4/29/11)

Awesome tool Review by Jeffro the Pagan

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Fits perfectly on the big bottle tree and makes sanitizing much quicker. Highly recommended with a tree. (Posted on 3/30/11)

So handy Review by bigwookie

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I regret that I bought this elsewhere, but being new to NB I know where to shop.

OK... the vinator wil save you a lot of time and hassle. Just add a few cups or so of your sanitizing mix and flop a bottle on the plastic jet valve. Give a few sprays into your bottle and simply load the bottle onto your bottle tree. How simple is that? ... very!

My only concern is the spring seems to not load very easily/straight into the housing base. I may be loading it incorrectly, but it just doesn't seem to sit well. The top part loads fine.

So to me a 4 1/2 stars. (Posted on 3/27/11)

good product, just unscrew between uses Review by crasher1339

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Works great, but make sure to unscrew the pump mechanism from the base between uses. If left on, the tension from the spring will eventually crack the base of the pump, rendering it useless; this happened to the first one I bought. Wish someone had told me about it. (Posted on 2/28/11)

Great if you don't have a dishwasher with a heating element Review by sdbh

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Well, we upgraded the dishwasher to a model that didn't have a heating element...well that pretty much makes it useless for sanitizing bottles, this is the next best thing and possibly better. I can clean and sanitize 50 bottles in about 20 minutes, a lot faster than my dishwasher did.

Plus it attaches every so nicely to the bottle tree and it's Italian!
(Posted on 2/7/11)

should have got this sooner Review by Charles

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I used to use bleach to sanitize on bottling day. Soak and rinse 3 times - each bottle! Now I save tons of time and water. Wish I used this sooner. (Posted on 2/6/11)