Bottled brew yesterday

Bottled my brew yesterday, and learned a couple things from that.
1. I am going to buy a keg setup, I HATE cleaning those damn bottles!
2. Go from the secondary to a bottling bucket, THEN bottle.
My brew is cleaner, and it seems to look a LOT better in the bottle that way. I already have folks asking what the next brew is...

know what you mean - i just spent 2 hours cleaning and removing labels on some"free" bottle from a friend at work.
i wish he wouldn't put out his butts in the bottles!! i always throw those ones out

I bottled my fourth brew yesterday and must admit that it gets easier when you get a "system". I still want a kegerator setup but the bottling that I had been dreading really wasn't that bad. I sent most of my bottles through the dishwasher and after racking to the bottling bucket I clean my fermenter (no secondary), fill with one step sanitizer and rinse each bottle out with the one step before I fill it.

I've also started using a strainer funnel when siphoning and that seems to have cut down on the amount of sediment I transfer.

Congratulations on your success.

Jason

Besides, even with a kegging system bottling a case or 2 every other month is a good idea.

In all those situations where you might have offered some other item, you can now substitute a 6 pack of your brew. Going to a dinner party? Skip the wine-- bring beer. Your neighbor do you a favor? Don't even think about buying commercial-- hand him some of yours! Going to a pot luck? Screw the crappy casarole--- bring some of your best.

I still collect capable brown bottles so I can reuse them for gifting. I just wish I could find a cheap source of blank 6 pack carriers.

I have the Pin Lock or Coke Kegs and the last batch I completed (which is the only batch that I have in a keg), still gave me a dozen bottle after the keg was full.

I'm not sure if that is the norm, but if I can continue that number and keep those on the shelf til I really need them, I'm going to have some nicely aged brews.

IGOR

The hard part is not really cleaning them, but those dang rubber grommets! I only use the Grolsch bottles, some brown, and some are green, but your thumb gets pretty sore after squishin' those damn things on the stoppers. I use them about 3 times in a row, then re-grommet.
Maybe 2 kegs, and some bottles, the rest are gonna be gone. I could do two 5 gal batches with all the bottles I have. BTW, these are all hand cleaned, I AM the dishwasher...

Radarbrew said:

The hard part is not really cleaning them, but those dang rubber grommets! I only use the Grolsch bottles, some brown, and some are green, but your thumb gets pretty sore after squishin' those damn things on the stoppers. I use them about 3 times in a row, then re-grommet.
Maybe 2 kegs, and some bottles, the rest are gonna be gone. I could do two 5 gal batches with all the bottles I have. BTW, these are all hand cleaned, I AM the dishwasher...

Click to expand...

I bought some flip top bottles from my LHBS for SWMBO'S ale and about half didn't hold pressure or fully carbonate. It's likely operator error, but I've had no problems with regular caps, maybe I need to replace the gromets (they're brand new bottles).

We just upgraded our kitchen and now have a dishwasher so I feel your pain there-my first three batches were all hand washed.

I found that same thing, too. You gotta set the plug on just right, hold it, and flip the wire clasp closed. THEN you gotta extricate your thumb, because you had one 2 many HB's at bottling time..:cross:

i have like 200 bottles peoples have given me... they are all cleaned out after use, and stored in those big plastic totes. on bottling day, i just fill up a bucket with iodophor, soak them for a spell, empty them, shake em, fill em and cap em.

it's a pain, but i cannot see my self getting into the keg systems anytime soon. too much technical stuff for my slow arse

I bottled for a couple years and then bought a keg and a Co2 tank. Well one keg wasn't enough so I bought 2 more. Those lasted me a while but now I brew 25 gallon batches so I have accumulated over 30 kegs....

Now I have to take apart, clean, sanitize and fill 5 kegs at a time which takes longer then cleaning bottles for a 5 gallon batch.

I bottled my fist batch and thought, oh so this is why everyone that kegs is so much happier. Ran out and bought four kegs and CO2 pronto.