Gentle stir before bottling?

venquessa · 01-13-2012, 01:26 PM

Very quick question, but should you gently stir the beer before bottling, if bottling direct from the bin? Not talking about stiring it up to the point the sediments lifts, but just a once or twice round with the spoon before starting to bottle.

I ask, cause I'm wondering if the still wort will have inconsistencies from top to bottom.

I'm fairly certain different bottles of my first batch tasted different.

**unionrdr** · 01-13-2012, 01:28 PM

Not if it's still in primary! That wouldn't be the cause of inconsistencies between bottles. That would be uneven priming for one reason or other.

**HopHeadGrady** · 01-13-2012, 01:28 PM

I would rack to a bottling bucket, the movement in that process seems to do the trick for me. You don't want to disturb the beer too much during this process.

**hogwash** · 01-13-2012, 01:35 PM

I rack to the bottling bucket, add my priming solution, and give it a stir (with a sanitized spoon, of course). I do this to help evenly distribute the priming sugar so I don't have gushers and flat beers all in the same batch. Haven't had any issues with it negatively affecting the beer and my carbonation has been much more consistent since I started doing this.

Avoid splashing as you don't want to introduce any oxygen to the beer.

venquessa · 01-13-2012, 01:53 PM

No secondary here.

It may have been inconsistent priming. Well they were all under primed for a start. It wasn't just a difference in fizz amount, but some tasted thin and watery, some tasted rich and malty.

**unionrdr** · 01-13-2012, 01:57 PM

In your 1st post,it sounded like you still had it in primary. In that instance you wouldn't stir. If it's in the bottling bucket,you can give it a few gentle stirs to be sure the priming solution is mixed well.

**E-Mursed** · 01-13-2012, 01:57 PM

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

**BamaRooster** · 01-13-2012, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-Mursed

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

+1

venquessa · 01-13-2012, 02:35 PM

I'm working bottling direct from the fermentation bin using syphon tube (with sediment guard on the bottom).

I filled the bottles like I would fill a glass, starting with them on their sides, syphon tap at the neck, raising and lowering the bottle to get more or less syphon pressure.

Once filled to about an inch short I funneled (with my hand) 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into the bottle and capped it before it started to foam up.

These were/are 1 litre bottles, so... it should have been a full teaspoon.

This process will change as I am getting a bottler wand delivered soon.

**pksmitty** · 01-13-2012, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-Mursed

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

This is what I do, as well. I just make sure that the beer goes into the bottling bucket with a circular motion. I'll usually give it a very gentle stir after that, just to be sure it's thoroughly mixed. I'll use my sanitized spoon to kind of pull the beer from the bottom of the bottling bucket to the top. Just a little ripple on the surface. No oxidation there!