Bottling Bucket

Well I bought the first round of equipment this morning and am planning to brew my first batch this weekend. :rockin: It will be an Irish Red Ale (Norther Brewer extract kit). I have an 8 gallon plastic bucket to do the fermentation in (no secondary) and am wondering about the bottling bucket. Should I get one that has a spigot installed, and just attach tubing to the spigot when I bottle? My LHBS also has this tool called a bottle filler that you can attach to the tubing which stops the flow of liquid until you press it into the bottom of the bottle (triggering a release mechanism).

I guess I'm just confused about whether to use the bottle filler tool with a spigot+tubing or can I just use another bucket w/o a spigot and just get the siphon going with an Autosiphon?

i do exactly what you are asking. i have a bottling bucket and use a hose and bottle filler. you will need both to be a happy bottler.

I use the bucket with the spigot and some tube I got from Lowes. Well, when I bottled, I used the spigot bucket. I would like to see the other thing you are talking about though...

Okay, so you got the bucket that has a spigot, then you attach the tubing to the spigot, then the tubing to the bottle filler tool. Is that your setup?

Easiest: get a bottling bucket with a spigot and attach a bottle filler to the spigot with only an inch or two of tubing. Put the bucket on the counter over the dishwasher, open the dishwasher door and use the open door as your bottle filling table. You will spill some beer...this way you just close the door and your cleanup is pretty much done.

You can just use a bucket with no spigot, with an autosiphon, but it's cumbersome trying to keep everything where it should be while you're wrangling bottles.

get the bottling bucket with the spigot as well as the bottle filling tool that way you can turn the spigot on and just go from bottle to bottle and you dont have to worry about where your siphon hose is and if it is sucking air or yeast cake.
The bottleing bucket will also allow you to add priming sugars before transfering the beer so they get good and mixed in with out adding excess oxygen to the batch

I would use both. Primaries w/o spigots are better IMO. It's not fun having a leak at the bottom of 5 gallons of precious beer.

Get a bottling bucket with a spigot, that's easier than siphoning. Oh and bottle over your dishwasher with the lid open.... will catch all your drips.

What a great idea about doing it over the open dishwasher door! That'll work perfect.

One of my worries with the spigot just what someone mentioned (leakage and/or trub getting in it or clogging it).

ThirdGen said:

One of my worries with the spigot just what someone mentioned (leakage and/or trub getting in it or clogging it).

Click to expand...

make sure the spigot is tight before sanitizing.

unless you are siphoning wrong there shouldn't be hardly any trub in your bucket. much less enough to clog the spigot. i've never had a problem with either.

Rick500 said:

Easiest: get a bottling bucket with a spigot and attach a bottle filler to the spigot with only an inch or two of tubing. Put the bucket on the counter over the dishwasher, open the dishwasher door and use the open door as your bottle filling table. You will spill some beer...this way you just close the door and your cleanup is pretty much done.

You can just use a bucket with no spigot, with an autosiphon, but it's cumbersome trying to keep everything where it should be while you're wrangling bottles.

Click to expand...

this is exactly what I do and can't imagine it being easier.

TipsyDragon said:

make sure the spigot is tight before sanitizing.

unless you are siphoning wrong there shouldn't be hardly any trub in your bucket. much less enough to clog the spigot. i've never had a problem with either.

Click to expand...

I think the concern with Trub was from using a spigot in the primary. Not racking into a bottling bucket with a spigot.

Rick500 said:

Easiest: get a bottling bucket with a spigot and attach a bottle filler to the spigot with only an inch or two of tubing. Put the bucket on the counter over the dishwasher, open the dishwasher door and use the open door as your bottle filling table. You will spill some beer...this way you just close the door and your cleanup is pretty much done.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. Put your primary (or secondary) on the kitchen counter for a couple hours while you get your bottles sanitized and your priming solution prepared. That will give any stirred up sediment time to settle back out. Just be careful when you siphon/rack your beer into your bottling bucket and you should leave behind the vast majority of the sediment. I also got a drilled rubber stopper that fits the inside of my bottling bucket spigot and stuck a nylon barbed elbow into it. It does reduce the flow a bit, but it also gets every last bit of my wort out of my bottling bucket!

ThirdGen said:

Okay, so you got the bucket that has a spigot, then you attach the tubing to the spigot, then the tubing to the bottle filler tool. Is that your setup?

Click to expand...

That's how I roll. The bottle filler is a must.

Check out this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/