My first roundtop project...V-44...thoughts?

[Eric]

Are the bottles old?... they may be worth more just to display beside the cooler.... you might have a crate
of 1915 bottles sitting there....

[tkaz]

Went and picked up the machine today, in the pouring rain.  The seller was a great guy, he said that as of yesterday he had over 40 emails for the machine, and a ton of higher offers.  I was the first one to email him and he wanted to keep his word and sell it for the price in the ad.  There are still some good people out there, but it sure does make you wonder when people were offering over $2k for it. 

I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, I'm going to wait the 24 hours and see.  Everything is original on the machine, and for the most part everything is there.  Two missing parts are the water collector at the front of the compressor, and the latch for the main door.  I'm going to have to see what that part was originally, does anyone have those two pieces?  I'm going to take a look when I get done playing around.  The coin mech needs a little cleaning, but with a little bit of effort it will work and vend.

A few rust holes in the back, and a couple on the side, pretty small.  I want to keep the machine pretty much in its original shape, the paint is all pretty good.  What's the best way to attack those holes? 

I'll get some pics up soon.

[cdc1960]

Rod and janet at Funtronics have both pieces... and anything else you need for a 44...

Chris

[halehouse]

Thats what I do for my 44,, I also fill them with rootbeer and orange pop for the kids.. they love soda out of a bottle in the summer time... cheaper too as I buy a 2 liter of generic Orange pop for .99 cents...

About how long does it last?

[SIGNGUY]

About how long does it last?

Kids with access to rootbeer and orange pop, not long.. but I know what your saying.. 
I've never had enough bottles more than a couple of weeks, but when I fill them, I get everything ready, I fill like 3 bottles, close the 2 liter, and cap those three quick to make sure they keep the carbonation.. When I open them if they last that long in 2-3 weeks later, stil nice fizz when opened.. I only do about 24-30 bottles at a time... as it's easy and fast to do.

[MoonDawg]

        My refrigeration guy told me to chill the bottles and the 2 liter container before transfer. This keeps the carbonation loss at a minimum..

[mznb1u]

Another way to transfer the soda to minimize carbonation loss would be to use a racking cane, a bottle filler and some food grade siphon tubing which is what you would use when bottling beer.  See pictures below.  The racking cane is designed to siphone the liquid from the bottom of the container and the bottle filler has a spring loaded end that you press against the bottom of the bottle that you are filling so the bottle also fills from the bottom.  You would be able to avoid the disruption of the soda caused by pouring.  Have not tried it yet but I think it would work well.  Keeping everything cold is also a good idea.

And get a bottle cleaning jet to keep your bottles clean!  All of these items should be available at any store selling brewing supplies.  Or you can order online at www.homebrewers.com

  Tim

[bubba]

Do you sanitize the coke bottles before filling?

[mznb1u]

I would suggest immediate rinsing after use and sanitizing with bleach water then rinsing with bottle jet before filling.  Running them through the dishwasher on high heat will clean them well also but the bleach water rinse is the best way to sanitize to be safe.

  Tim

[tkaz]

Glad this thread turned to this, I picked up the bottles today and they are definitely going to need a good cleaning.  I think I'm going to let them soak in the pot sink for a while, then go from there.  There is a mouse in one bottle, that one might not make it back to the rotation.