Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer

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borden said:
I actually have had problems with getting an even mix from the racking alone. Regardless, I changed my bottling routine to include a verrrry gentle stir at 1/3 full, 2/3 full, and when finished. This did improve the consistency of my carbonation without any side effects. Just be sure to maintain good sanitization processes and do not get too aggressive with the stirring.
Previously I was gently stirring because I too suspect there's problems with the level of inconsistency in distribution with racking alone. This time, using recommendation from this thread, no stir but instead put 1/2 of the priming mix at bottom then 1/2 about 50% done with racking. I sampled a bottle from the tail end of the bottling process (I label a few caps so I can track) at two weeks conditioning and there was very little carbonation (used 5 oz corn sugar for 5 gals). I'll check another in about a week from early and late in bottling process to see if there's difference.
 
Previously I was gently stirring because I too suspect there's problems with the level of inconsistency in distribution with racking alone. This time, using recommendation from this thread, no stir but instead put 1/2 of the priming mix at bottom then 1/2 about 50% done with racking. I sampled a bottle from the tail end of the bottling process (I label a few caps so I can track) at two weeks conditioning and there was very little carbonation (used 5 oz corn sugar for 5 gals). I'll check another in about a week from early and late in bottling process to see if there's difference.

The solution should mix pretty homogeneously with just the agitation from racking. Stirring isn't providing any different type of mixing that already isn't going on. Maybe there is a small whirlpool pocket but it's hard to believe the density of the sugar is higher in certain places. Maybe the issue resides in the amount of yeast in each bottle but I can't really see a side by side experiment yielding different results as the result of a gentle stir.

But anyways, just do what works for you. I personally just try to remove as much contact with oxygen that I can.
 
The solution should mix pretty homogeneously with just the agitation from racking. Stirring isn't providing any different type of mixing that already isn't going on. Maybe there is a small whirlpool pocket but it's hard to believe the density of the sugar is higher in certain places. Maybe the issue resides in the amount of yeast in each bottle but I can't really see a side by side experiment yielding different results as the result of a gentle stir.

But anyways, just do what works for you. I personally just try to remove as much contact with oxygen that I can.

See my post above.

I've tried the approach of adding some sugar solution at the beginning and some at the middle of the racking process, but still have had issues with consistency. Not sure what causes it, but I found a solution through gentle stirring. This is based on a lot of experimentation (i.e., enough batches to see the difference).

And yes, as always, YMMV. Experiment and find what works for you, dear reader.
 
See my post above.

I've tried the approach of adding some sugar solution at the beginning and some at the middle of the racking process, but still have had issues with consistency. Not sure what causes it, but I found a solution through gentle stirring. This is based on a lot of experimentation (i.e., enough batches to see the difference).

And yes, as always, YMMV. Experiment and find what works for you, dear reader.


You cannot narrow the inconsistencies down to stirring and not stirring unless you split a batch and priming solution. The inconsistencies could be from the particular batches you're comparing, or one of many other factors such as temperature and time or different yeast strains. I'm not disagreeing with you that it helps or not but you cannot assume the causation is one particular thing, even if it makes the most sense. I would be interested in someone splitting the process to make it an experiment and not inferring anything. Of course this is hard to do on the homebrew level, racking the bottom of the carboy could put more yeast in one and not the other. My guess is there wouldn't be a huge difference between the two processes.
 
You cannot narrow the inconsistencies down to stirring and not stirring unless you split a batch and priming solution. The inconsistencies could be from the particular batches you're comparing, or one of many other factors such as temperature and time or different yeast strains. I'm not disagreeing with you that it helps or not but you cannot assume the causation is one particular thing, even if it makes the most sense. I would be interested in someone splitting the process to make it an experiment and not inferring anything. Of course this is hard to do on the homebrew level, racking the bottom of the carboy could put more yeast in one and not the other. My guess is there wouldn't be a huge difference between the two processes.

Maybe it's the yeast. Sugar should be fairly consistent, as it is highly soluble in water. But yeast cells are in suspension and maybe--with certain strains--some of them floc out during their time in the bottling bucket, or at least there is a gradient of yeast concentration between the top of it and the bottom.
 
Maybe it's the yeast. Sugar should be fairly consistent, as it is highly soluble in water. But yeast cells are in suspension and maybe--with certain strains--some of them floc out during their time in the bottling bucket, or at least there is a gradient of yeast concentration between the top of it and the bottom.

If that is the case, stirring would help. But you cannot discount other possible causes like say, using a different amount of priming sugar between batches (or type of sugar, but that is easy to control).
 
Thanks for all of the info...a great all around help for a newbie! You state that you put the bottles in a warm closet for three weeks. Here's my question...how warm is too warm? , because I have a heating duct running through the closet. All of my beers have been fine until now, but I started in March, and this is the first real heat my bottles will run into...
 
Thanks for all of the info...a great all around help for a newbie! You state that you put the bottles in a warm closet for three weeks. Here's my question...how warm is too warm? , because I have a heating duct running through the closet. All of my beers have been fine until now, but I started in March, and this is the first real heat my bottles will run into...

I asked a similar question when I started brewing and Revvy said not to worry about going too warm for those first few weeks. It's somewhere way back in this thread I believe. I suppose there is an upper limit but you're not likely to hit it.
 
I asked a similar question when I started brewing and Revvy said not to worry about going too warm for those first few weeks. It's somewhere way back in this thread I believe. I suppose there is an upper limit but you're not likely to hit it.

It isn't about an upper limit or lower limit. There is no defined temperature that makes it "good" or "bad" aging, it is just a chemical process. CO2 production and absorption are both a process of temperature and time so you're just adjusting one of those variables. The yeast would benefit from a similar temperature of fermentation but there is such little activity by the yeast you won't notice much. If you made it warmer the yeast would work faster, but less CO2 would get absorbed. This is when you would put it it in the fridge once the CO2 production is complete. There is more to aging than just CO2 absorption so you can't really replace time, but the temperature is just a variable in a process.

Though theoretically you wouldn't want it to reach pasteurize temperatures because it would kill the yeast.
 
Great thread, thanks for all the tips Revvy and others, especially the PVC elbow dip tube. Forgive me if it's been mentioned before, but one thing that slows me down when capping with a wing capper is the fear that a bottle will slip out from under the capper as I push down on it. I've wanted to try a bench capper due to this issue but have kept in mind what Revvy said that it's faster to bring the capper to the bottle than vice versa. So I built a very simple bottle holder that allows me to cap 6 bottles with the wing capper very quickly with no fear that they'll tip over (see pic). My original design was to drill large holes in plywood or thin boards and glue 2 or 3 together with spacers in between, but didn't have the right tools for the task. So this is heavier and not as elegant but works well. I considered a wooden six pack holder (because that would have other uses) but the bottles would get in the way of each other when capping, hence the linear design.

Bottling stand.jpg
 
Sorry for the mispost. Nice tips all! Bottling is a labor of love. Yes it can be time consuming, but worth it.
 
I just tried the PVC elbow dip tube. 3/4 female. Problem is that it gets to a certain point of tightening (not tight enuf to get a good seal) and then it slips off the threads just enuf that if beer had been in there, it would be gushing out around the spigot. I got it to work once but it was very tenuous and I was on pins and needles the whole bottling session. Anyone else run into this?

Regular white spigot and red spigot. Tried both.
 
I toyed around with a PVC elbow, but never got it to work. I also couldn't find a handy source for the elbows that did not sell them with a sticker directly applied, using some god awful glue that I could not remove without Goo-Gone. (And I'm not a fan of cleaning food preparation equipment with petroleum distillates...) I don't think I'd be able to sanitize it.

So I just go with tipping the bucket, it's such an easy thing to do I haven't bothered making any further effort to build a dip tube. I do happen to have some rubber stoppers now, so maybe I'll try with that some time.
 
Just wanted to say thanks for all the good info in this thread. I've only made probably a dozen or so batches because bottle turned into a nightmare for me. I would have one to many beers before starting and would end up hooking several bottles with the 3 ft of tubing I was using. Which resulted in many "man down" situations and a pissed off fiancé. I have been on the fence about upgrading to kegs or building a recurculating ebiab set up as my next upgrade. After getting some useful information from this tread I am pretty sure I'll go ahead and upgrade my brewery and stick to bottles for a little while longer. Thanks again! Love this hobby and this forum.
 
If you have a couple sets of Fast Racks and trays, you can use them to hold your sanitized bottles. Drown the bottles or use a vinator to wet the inside of the cleaned bottles with sanitizer, and then set them in the rack. Put about an inch of sanitizer in the trays such that the lips of the bottles are submerged. The inside of the bottles stay sanitized and are closed to contamination until you pull them out to fill them. It also allows the majority of the sanitizer to drain out.

Fast Rack.jpg
 
Thanks! The elbow is so long that I can't even turn it past probably 60°. It's a Tru Brew 5 gal bottling bucket and the spigot hole center is (just guessing here) ~2" above the bottom.

Remember to hold the elbow in the bucket in the right orientation, and then screw the spigot into the elbow, and not to twist the elbow onto the spigot that is already in place.
 
Thanks Mods, I am honored that this thread has been stickified.



Over the last year I've posted bits and pieces of this in various threads when people asked for bottling advice. I end up getting a lot of questions about my process, so since we have so many new people joining this site in a post holiday fit of brewing enthusiasm, that means really soon there are going to be a bunch of new bottlers stepping up to the plate.

First off, you may hear a lot of people recommending kegging...In fact there is a strange phenomenon on here that inevitably when someone asks a question about bottling some overzealous (and probably new) kegger will jump in with HIS answer, which is something like "Bottling sux, you should keg." Like the thought of kegging beer is so foregin to new people or established brewers that despite the fact that this section of the forum is called "Bottling and Kegging" that perhaps we who bottle are total idiots who perhaps need to be told that such a thing exists.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/carbonation-kraeusen-how-9685/[/b]

Thanks, [I hope you are still here to read this... yours is a pretty old post!]
This is an awesome post! I wish I had seen it 2 years ago!
although I have joined the ranks of the kegger, (mostly because I dont always want 12oz every night, but sometimes just a taste) I have decided to bottle and keg most batches, this way I can take a 12-pack with me to watch a game with a friend, give it away as a gift etc, plus I can enjoy the draught beer at home.

I see no reason to judge or promote 1 form of storing/serving over the other, I enjoy both :)

I raise my glass or bottle to you! and thanks for sharing your knwledge!
 
It's been a month since I bottled. My bottles are still overflowing upon opening. I'm about to pop them all open and pour them all down the drain. Somebody talk me off the ledge.


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It's been a month since I bottled. My bottles are still overflowing upon opening. I'm about to pop them all open and pour them all down the drain. Somebody talk me off the ledge.


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sounds like you need to get anther brew on as soon as possible to forget about this disaster and sanitize well this time
 
I'm curious why would there be brew coming out of the top when opened. Here are some ideas of mine. But be warned they are just that ideas. The first when you bottled are you leaving about one inch head space in the bottle? Second of course the obvious are the bottles being shaken up before popping the top? I've brewed several brews and have bottled a lot and have never had a single bottle of brew pour out when I popped the top. Hopefully you didn't pour any brew to its death down the drain.


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I used too much sugar and they're over carbonated. It tastes good however sadly some from each bottle is wasted. I used regular sugar instead of dextrose and didn't scale it down. Chalk it up to the learning process.


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Hey that's part of the experience. I have some rook mistakes to but that's the what's it all about. I didn't know about the sugar though but now I do


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Does anyone else use one or two 12-16-oz PET bottles when they're bottling 12-oz glass ambers?

I've done this since day one of my brewing career, and I think it's awesome. I always fill up the plastic bottle exactly halfway through the bottling process, and cap it with its screw-top lid. As the beer slowly carbonates, I use it to tell how well the carbonation is going. All you have to do is squeeze the plastic to tell how much CO2 pressure is in there. When it becomes almost rigid, you know that your bottles are ready to cold-condition and drink!
 
Does anyone else use one or two 12-16-oz PET bottles when they're bottling 12-oz glass ambers?

I've done this since day one of my brewing career, and I think it's awesome. I always fill up the plastic bottle exactly halfway through the bottling process, and cap it with its screw-top lid. As the beer slowly carbonates, I use it to tell how well the carbonation is going. All you have to do is squeeze the plastic to tell how much CO2 pressure is in there. When it becomes almost rigid, you know that your bottles are ready to cold-condition and drink!


I am not putting down your method but you really should just forget about them for 2-3 weeks. A beer may carb in 4 days but that doesn't mean that it is ready. I find my beer kinda "green" until about week 3. Again though, to each their own.


Sent from Cheese Doodle Land.
 
I used too much sugar and they're over carbonated. It tastes good however sadly some from each bottle is wasted. I used regular sugar instead of dextrose and didn't scale it down. Chalk it up to the learning process.


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Store and serve it real cold into frozen mugs. It will affect the taste (lessen it) but will also reduce carb. And enjoy! No need to pour it out!!


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I can not say for sure but I know that if you are carbonating with co2, such as with a keg, then the lower the temp the more dissolves holds true since you are using the gas. But with bottling and using the yeast production to carb. chilling it will slow the yeast production of co2 and reduce the carb a bit.
 
You want to keep the bottles warm during the conditioning phase, to allow the yeast to produce CO2. After conditioning is complete, you cold-crash the beer to drive more of the CO2 into solution.
 
You want to keep the bottles warm during the conditioning phase, to allow the yeast to produce CO2. After conditioning is complete, you cold-crash the beer to drive more of the CO2 into solution.

Lots of great things happen during conditioning including the yeast consuming the fermentable sugars you added at bottling day. The yeast get active again and continue clean up minute traces of fermentation byproducts that were not cleaned up in the primary, After the initial robust phase of primany fermentation. Sharp flavors become smooth. "Green" flavors disappear and the beer jus gets better. This is especially noticable in yeast strains with low attenuation. When u cold crash it, the yeast fall out of suspension and clarifies. The yeast cake also solidifies.


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I am not putting down your method but you really should just forget about them for 2-3 weeks. A beer may carb in 4 days but that doesn't mean that it is ready. I find my beer kinda "green" until about week 3. Again though, to each their own.


Sent from Cheese Doodle Land.
Not all bottled beers are carbonated at 3 weeks. I have an imperial stout that's been bottled for 5 weeks now, and it's still flat.

The plastic bottle has been slowly getting harder to squeeze. When it's extremely hard to compress the bottle, I know that my glass bottles have had enough CO2 dissolved to be ready for cold conditioning.
 
Well ya... I am currently having trouble carbing a Barleywine. Most smaller beers take 3 weeks max. I have an IPA that carbed and tasted great after 5 days. I am excited to drink one once three weeks hits and see how much better it is though.


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Folks,

Looking back on this long and great thread at the different subjects covered:
  • A great informative post from Revvy, as usual! I also like to bottle my beers.
  • Usually I allow about 10 days for carbonation to build and that's usually enough for my brews, although I understand conditioning goes on beyond that (my patience does not! ;) ). My Oatmeal Stout was bottled on 3-12, and was pretty carbonated less than a week after bottling. My excitement usually makes me sample one (or more) just to check progress... :D
  • I dump my boiled priming sugar water right into the bottling bucket from the stove and *thoroughly but gently* stir it in. My bottles have always been carbonated consistently. I don't think it is that hard to mix thoroughly without aerating.
  • Bought myself a vineator(sp?) paired with a couple fast racks, and man, what great, simple inventions for saving time!
  • A subject close to Revvy's heart from another thread -- this stout was the first I've done as 3 weeks in primary and direct to bottling, and it's a good brew. No 'secondary.'

Scott
 
......[*]Bought myself a vineator(sp?) paired with a couple fast racks, and man, what great, simple inventions for saving time!................


I keg now, but still bottle if my kegs start getting low and/or if I want to move my beers a little faster. Man, I love my Vinator and Fast Racks!
 
Phew! OK, so I just finished all 80 pages. Do I get a gold star now?! :D

KOTC found this thread early on in our brewing so thankfully, a lot of the methods contained herein were employed with our first bottling.

Recent additions have been the dip tube and the Vinator. LOVE both.

We bottled one we call "Evil Twin" - blonde lager-like ale - yesterday, can't wait to try it, tasted great when sampled from the hydrometer tube yesterday.

We have a London brown porter in the conditioning bin and it was NOT ready at 2 weeks, no surprise, it's now been in there 3 weeks, tried one the other night which had a lovely head and pretty good carbonation. Letting it ride til Friday this week, then it will be tested one more time before deciding it's DONE and moving it to storage.

We're just about a year into brewing now and this forum has been invaluable. This particular thread is an amazing read and I have copied and pasted quite a few tidbits from it for future reference when we might be tempted to think it's taking TOOOO LONG! to carbonate a brew!

Thank you to all who contributed here. What a great resource.
 
It's been 7 weeks since I've bottled my imperial stout, and the carbonation doesn't seem to have increased at all. I've roused the yeast cakes at least 3 times over the past month, and nothing.

Should I crack open each bottle, add a pinch of dry ale yeast, and re-cap? Or should I keep rousing the bottles every week even though it doesn't seem to be working?

I did this with a stuck barleywine a year ago, and the beers ended up re-carbing and being drinkable, but there was a slight vinegar/acidic taste to them (very slight; it was still really good).
 
I am wondering if I should be bummed out or not. I bottled an Alaskan Amber clone last Saturday. I just couldn't wait anymore so I cracked one open tonight. The was a small "fsssht" when I popped the cap. That was the end of any sign of carbonation. I know it is early yet but I expected a little more carbonation. Do I need to worry? It tasted great! Just flat as paper.

EDIT - never mind. I did a bunch more reading and figured out that I really was being a dork trying to drink one of my babies after only one weeks rest in a bottle. Crap I still have three more weeks to go and then some more time in the fridge. What will I do! I know brew another batch so Once i do start drinking this batch I will have other beer coming up the shoot!
 

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