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boostsr20 · 12-29-2010, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cockybitz

If I ship beer I bottle in the bud light aluminum bottles

Hows that work out for you? No problems sealing with a traditional cap and winged capper? I have access to lots of these and would love to use them up. No light in guarantees the freshest beer possible....

rtt121 · 12-29-2010, 06:17 PM

The only real "trick" I have that I havent seen anyone else doing (I am sure they are, I just havent seen it!).

It is a bottling from the keg trick:

My bottle filling wand fits nicely into the spout of my perlick taps (doesnt work with regular taps). Its not air/liquid tight so I take about a foot of teflon and wrap around until firmly in place. The teflon is enough to keep it sealed as well as hold up to the pressure.

Once the bottling wand is secured with the tape, I open the tap and then bottle away.

FWIW I dont make any adjustments to co2 pressure. Just cap the foam.

BrookdaleBrew · 12-29-2010, 06:33 PM

If I'm racking a beer I used a lot of dry hops in, I use this strainer over the end of my auto siphon. I just bent the handle up so I can hold the autosiphon and the strainer in the same hand. It's deep enough so that I can keep the tip of the autosiphon below the surface of the beer but keep the edge of the strainer above it, which keeps all the nasty hop particals and floaters out.

I started doing this because whenever I'd put a paint strainer over the end of the autosiphon, it would end up getting sucked in and clogging the siphon anyway.

cockybitz · 12-30-2010, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boostsr20

Hows that work out for you? No problems sealing with a traditional cap and winged capper? I have access to lots of these and would love to use them up. No light in guarantees the freshest beer possible....

I have to press down on the wing capper pretty good. Basically it does not cap in the same manner as glass bottles, but it does indeed work.

cockybitz · 12-30-2010, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaythebassist

Quote:
Originally Posted by cockybitz View Post
I bottle a couple of single serve champagne bottles as testers, so I don't waste 12 oz of great beer. Caps fit right on.

Awesome. I need to check that out.

Search for 187 mL champagne or "splits"

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by cockybitz View Post
I had a ceramic coated BALL canning pot for my stove-top boil.
I don't understand what that is...

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=ball+canning&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=yXF&rls=org.mozilla:en-US

fficial&prmd=ivns&resnum=3&biw=1440&bih=719&um =1&ie=UTF-8&cid=7355160375819867248&ei=608cTf3GIujsnQfPm4ypD g&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum= 1&ved=0CE0Q8wIwAA#

Available at walmart for 20 bucks. Ceramic coat protects from acidic mashing too

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by cockybitz View Post
My brew room is too cold to ferment ales so I bought a pipe wrap heater to warm the fermentation chamber.

That's a great trick -- I need to look into that, too.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM2379989502P?sid=IDx20101019x00001 a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM2379989502
Available in the plumbing section at Menards. I have the yellow (I think is 12 foot) and it wraps 2 carboys to raise from 50* to 70*. Use a paper clip on the "testor" area of it.

finley · 12-30-2010, 12:20 PM

I always keep a packet of Champagne, Nottingham, and Safale S-05 in the fridge. I'm pretty much covered that way for any oh crap moments.

I measure out plenty of water in my Kettle for the mash and sparge and dose it with Campden tablets while leaving it sit on top of my stove (gas) overnight. This takes care of any chances of Chloramine in the water. When I get up the next morning for brew day I just turn the gas on high. My stove doesn't get hot enough for a full boil, but it will bring it to mashing temps no problem.

I bottle from a keg, rather than a bottling bucket, even when naturally carbing. Hitting it with 10 PSI and using one of the Biermuncher Bottle fillers works great. I am always certain I have nothing but CO2, and I can thoroughly mix the sugar and any other additives I might need to put in at bottling time (vanilla, coffee, etc).

I use a 12 gallon seafood steamer as my kettle, got it for $35 from the local grocery store, no enamel to worry about chipping. It's worked great for 10+ batches so far. It even comes with its own false bottom.

PirateBrewer · 12-30-2010, 01:47 PM

This isn't my trick but I saw it on one of the other posts somewhere on this forum...to help oxygenate the wort before pitching the yeast, put the wort into the bottling bucket, open the spigot and let the wort drain down into your fermenter.

HerotBrewer · 12-30-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PirateBrewer

This isn't my trick but I saw it on one of the other posts somewhere on this forum...to help oxygenate the wort before pitching the yeast, put the wort into the bottling bucket, open the spigot and let the wort drain down into your fermenter.

I tried that once, and since I do a 3 gal boil and top up with water after, I take my hydrometer reading from the fermenter. With this method, there was so much foam in the fermenter (meaning plenty of oxygenation), it was almost impossible to get a SG. As in it was about 10 points off the prediction for the extract kit I was making. FG ended up perfect and the beer tasted fine, so I'm sure the foam affected my hydrometer.

**msehler** · 12-30-2010, 02:18 PM

I was just thinking about making one of these threads...

For those of you not lucky enough to have a keg/tap setup for bottling (yet), connect your bottling wand to your bottling bucket spout with minimal (1") hose. Set that on the counter and move your bottles up to the wand, instead of your wand down into the bottle on the floor. It's right in front of your face and easier to control. (I learned that on HBT.)

Cut the little ring off of your bottle brush and put it in the chuck of your cordless drill (unless you clean bottles with bleach). It'll zap anything in the bottles about 20x faster than by hand.

PirateBrewer · 12-30-2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HerotBrewer

I tried that once, and since I do a 3 gal boil and top up with water after, I take my hydrometer reading from the fermenter. With this method, there was so much foam in the fermenter (meaning plenty of oxygenation), it was almost impossible to get a SG. As in it was about 10 points off the prediction for the extract kit I was making. FG ended up perfect and the beer tasted fine, so I'm sure the foam affected my hydrometer.

There was a ton of good feedback wherever I saw that post which I was why I figured I'd share it here. I haven't actually tried it myself but I've been meaning to. I can see how all the foam would mess with the hydrometer which could definitely get annoying but at least your beer turned out fine