Whisky Filling Systems

We are proud to be the supplier of the cask filling systems used by the majority of the distilleries and blending facilities in Scotland to fill Spirit into cask for maturation.

A cask filling system comprises:

• Flowmeter accurate to ± 0.1 % by volume
• Cask filling machine with 2 speed filling
• Flowlog content recording and printing computer.

Filling time from empty to bung full is less than 1 minute for an American Barrel (around 180 Litres) to 1½ Minutes for a Butt (around 480 litres).

The actual quantity filled in bulk litres is measured by the flowmeter and recorded on the Flowlog computer system.

The strength (% alcohol) of the spirit filled into cask is calculated from the density and temperature of the spirit (filling strengths can vary but are generally around 68%).

The Flowlog system uses the strength of the filled spirit (% alcohol) to calculate the quantity of litres of alcohol in each cask.

All Customs & Excise calculations are based on litres of alcohol.

Flowlog prints in real time on a WW24A document all of the important information for each cask (cask no, date of filling, spirit type, bulk litres, litres of alcohol, wood type, warehouse site).

The information on the WW24A on each filled cask is stored on the Flowlog Computer and transmitted to the Distillers main computer system, generally once a day.

For some export markets where Scotch Whisky is exported in cask, the weight of each cask is required to be shown on the documentation.

A version of Flowlog, called Weighlog uses the cask tare weight (weight empty) + the weight of spirit filled (calculated from the bulk quantity filled and density) to calculate the cask gross weight ( cask + spirit).

Using Weighlog removes the requirement to actually weigh the filled casks, which in the case of Butts can be around 450kg.