Bottling the Beer

well in about 6 days i will be [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bottling my Beer, should i fill the bottles and then add sugar or should i add sugar then fill the bottles up?
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Put about two cups + of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and disolve the corn sugar into the water. Put back on the heat and bring back to a boil for a 5 minutes or so. Let cool to 80ish degrees then add to your wort in the bottling bucket. Bottle and enjoy.

I add 2 cup of water into a pan with the sugar and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover till it cools, then pitch into your bottling bucket and fill. Enjoy!

makingitgood said:

well in about 6 days i will be [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bottling my Beer, should i fill the bottles and then add sugar or should i add sugar then fill the bottles up?
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This is a great sight, lots of people willing to help out newbies and give great information. Unfortunately you’ve been ignoring the best piece of advice that has been given on this board, and you’ve ignored it several times.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11.html

This online book can answer almost all of your questions, including the basic step-by-step ‘How Do I…’ questions of the brewing process. The above link goes direct to the bottling section.

This forum is a great knowledge base for us newbies, but don’t abuse it…follow the link above and try a little research first, and if that doesn’t help THEN ask away.

Good luck with your brew!

A couple other bottling tips:

1. Get help. Bottling is the one and only stage of brewing that I don't enjoy and maybe even prefer doing alone. One or more assistants maks bottling much less tedious.

2. Use the dishwasher, both as a drying rack for your sanitized bottles, and as a bottling shelf. Put the bucket on the couter, open the dishwasher, and fill bottles on the open door. The bottles are right there in the dishwasher and cleaning up the inevitable drips and spills is a snap.

cweston said:

A couple other bottling tips:

1. Get help. Bottling is the one and only stage of brewing that I don't enjoy and maybe even prefer doing alone. One or more assistants maks bottling much less tedious.

2. Use the dishwasher, both as a drying rack for your sanitized bottles, and as a bottling shelf. Put the bucket on the couter, open the dishwasher, and fill bottles on the open door. The bottles are right there in the dishwasher and cleaning up the inevitable drips and spills is a snap.

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I always think I don't enjoy bottling, but I really do enjoy doing it. There's a feeling of seperation I get once the beer is in the bottle because I know that the next time I taste it, it will be cold, bubbly and delicious.

BTW, I use DME for priming. Been using it for quite a while, and have had fantastic results each time.

But, the true most important thing that hasn't been mentioned is this: GIVE IT TWO WEEKS. It's hard to be patient, but if you crack one before hand I guarantee you'll be on this forum asking if you screwed up because it's not carbonated. It generally takes 10 days or more to carbonate, and then the longer you let it sit, the better it will taste.

Cheesefood said:

But, the true most important thing that hasn't been mentioned is this: GIVE IT TWO WEEKS. It's hard to be patient, but if you crack one before hand I guarantee you'll be on this forum asking if you screwed up because it's not carbonated. It generally takes 10 days or more to carbonate, and then the longer you let it sit, the better it will taste.

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Cheese, are you talking about me?

I *had* to take a sample after six days. I'm trying to get my brother into this hobby with me, and I was heading down to his place the next day; if I knew I could bring a tasty sample along, I'm greatly increase my chances of getting a partner in crime.

That book is a great resource.

A quick question to add here, has anyone had any ill effects from bottling straight from the secondary? Is it even reccomended or does mixing the priming suger in undo all the settling done in the secondary?

Reason I ask is I dont have a bottling bucket and wondering if i should run out and pick up a plain ol bucket before I bottle.

the_bird said:

Cheese, are you talking about me?

I *had* to take a sample after six days. I'm trying to get my brother into this hobby with me, and I was heading down to his place the next day; if I knew I could bring a tasty sample along, I'm greatly increase my chances of getting a partner in crime.

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In my experience, a corn-sugar-primed beer can be tasted with positive results after a week. It may not be fully carbonated, but it will be sufficiently carbed to have a head and not taste yucky sweet. It will be better after longer, of course.

Two weeks is a good minimum for a DME-carbed beer. Although I just tasted my DME carbed wit after about 11 days last night and it was quite close to being fully carbonated.

artfldodger said:

That book is a great resource.

A quick question to add here, has anyone had any ill effects from bottling straight from the secondary? Is it even reccomended or does mixing the priming suger in undo all the settling done in the secondary?

Reason I ask is I dont have a bottling bucket and wondering if i should run out and pick up a plain ol bucket before I bottle.

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It’s definitely less than ideal. You stir up the stuff you’ve been letting settle for weeks and you may not get the priming sugar (or DME) mixed in thoroughly. I did this once and some bottles did not carbonate completely.

cweston said:

In my experience, a corn-sugar-primed beer can be tasted with positive results after a week. It may not be fully carbonated, but it will be sufficiently carbed to have a head and not taste yucky sweet. It will be better after longer, of course.

Two weeks is a good minimum for a DME-carbed beer. Although I just tasted my DME carbed wit after about 11 days last night and it was quite close to being fully carbonated.

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I had nothing at all after six days, no "fizz" when I cracked the bottle open, no head (been married for a while, so I'm used to that). Not letting myself be concerned now, I'll crack anough next weekend when it's time to brew again; if nothing THEN, well, I'll be a little concerned....

My first time bottling, so it's possible the one I opened had too much or too little airspace (more likely the former). Takes a little bit of practice!

Oh, and it was corn sugar, not DME, that I used (part of the reason I was concerned with having zero carbonation).

Hell, I may crack another tonight - PURELY for purposes of SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.

the_bird said:

Hell, I may crack another tonight - PURELY for purposes of SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.

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Patience...patience...

Nothing worse than remembering how many beers you wasted sampling them before they were ready. Especially once it gets really good.

TWolf10 said:

It’s definitely less than ideal. You stir up the stuff you’ve been letting settle for weeks and you may not get the priming sugar (or DME) mixed in thoroughly. I did this once and some bottles did not carbonate completely.

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so plastic bucket it is then. thanks!

the_bird said:

I had nothing at all after six days, no "fizz" when I cracked the bottle open, no head (been married for a while, so I'm used to that). Not letting myself be concerned now, I'll crack anough next weekend when it's time to brew again; if nothing THEN, well, I'll be a little concerned....

My first time bottling, so it's possible the one I opened had too much or too little airspace (more likely the former). Takes a little bit of practice!

Oh, and it was corn sugar, not DME, that I used (part of the reason I was concerned with having zero carbonation).

Hell, I may crack another tonight - PURELY for purposes of SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.

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I made an Amber Cerveza, bottled 2.5 weeks ago. I've only sampled 2. One after two weeks, totally flat. Cooled one down last night and it was perfectly carbonated and had excellent head retention. The two I've tried were bottled consecutively (I make sure to keep them in order after bottled so I have an idea if I'm not stirring enough during bottling, etc.). Sometimes it just takes a few more days.

I won't crack another one for a week or two or three. Tasted good, but I know it'll taste better with a little more age.

Cheesefood said:

Patience...patience...

Nothing worse than remembering how many beers you wasted sampling them before they were ready. Especially once it gets really good.

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Ive kicked myself in the ass every single time. Ive gotten better though, I only waste 4-5 now per batch.

Hmm ok corn sugar, Regular sugar affects taste right? maybe i will do one with regular sugar and the rest with corn, Cant Wait.

makingitgood said:

maybe i will do one with regular sugar and the rest with corn

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Why? Do you really want inferior beer?

It's funny how you ask all of these questions, yet disregard most of the sound advice given to you.

yet disregard most of the sound advice given to you, Ahh no i just like to try stuff for my self, has any one here tryed sugar? if no ones tryed it how to they know, I like to no stuff for my self, Thats whey i will only do a single bottle with sugar, and the rest with corn, so i didnt disregard that ****

makingitgood said:

yet disregard most of the sound advice given to you, Ahh no i just like to try stuff for my self, has any one here tryed sugar? if no ones tryed it how to they know, I like to no stuff for my self, Thats whey i will only do a single bottle with sugar, and the rest with corn, so i didnt disregard that ****

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That's fine, just don't see why you would waste time priming one beer by itself with table sugar. Just seems retarded.... (I can't understand half of the stuff you type, so I might just be misunderstanding what you're saying)

Power to ya though

artfldodger said:

so plastic bucket it is then. thanks!

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Don't forget the spigot. Bottling with a siphon hose sux big time.

makingitgood said:

yet disregard most of the sound advice given to you, Ahh no i just like to try stuff for my self, has any one here tryed sugar? if no ones tryed it how to they know, I like to no stuff for my self, Thats whey i will only do a single bottle with sugar, and the rest with corn, so i didnt disregard that ****

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You'll be back wondering why you have one bottle bomb in the batch, or at the very least wondering why one of your beers tastes like sh**.....

yet disregard most of the sound advice given to you, Ahh no i just like to try stuff for my self[sic], has any one[sic] here tryed[sic] sugar? if no ones[sic] tryed[sic] it how to[sic] they know, I like to no[sic] stuff for my self[sic], Thats[sic] whey[sic] i will only do a single bottle with sugar, and the rest with corn, so i didnt[sic] disregard that ****

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If you would listen to what people say, you would read over & again that regular sugar HAS been tried, and it tastes like "****". If you're making cider, then it might be fine. Another thing you've ignored, www.dictionary.com. And have you even read http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11.html yet??

yes... Ok corn sugar it is...

1. Get help. Bottling is the one and only stage of brewing that I don't enjoy and maybe even prefer doing alone. One or more assistants maks bottling much less tedious.

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i think bottling is rather therapudic, and my process and equipment to do so resemblies an assembly line. i can get 15 gallons done in an hour.

brewhead said:

i think bottling is rather therapudic, and my process and equipment to do so resemblies an assembly line. i can get 15 gallons done in an hour.

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I'm waiting for my first batch to be ready for bottling and I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I have a couple of cases of new bottles that I bought and a few washed bottles from beer I drank recently. I just can't picture washing 50 or more bottles on bottling day. That's got to be a ***** to do. I mean, getting the bottling brush into each one, rinsing out soap (takes forever to get soap out of a bottle), not to mention sanitizing afterwards. How many bottles can fit in a couple of gallons of sanitizer in a bucket.......2 at a time? man, I need a drink already


Tommy

Wash your bottles ahead of time (wash them immediately after drinking them), then keep them someplace reasonably clean and you'll just have to worry about sanitizing them. I sanitize in a big orange (non-food grade!) Home Depot bucket, you can probably fit at least a dozen in at once. Being a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy, I then run them through the dishwasher on the "sanitize" setting - no soap, no nothing - gets them nice and hot, dries them out, and the rack works great as a bottle tree. Maybe overkill, maybe not, but I'm comfortable with those procedures.

The orange bucket sounds good, I have the bottles in a closed cardboard box. I drink, wash with soap and rinse well then store. The other 48 are brand new.

Thanks

Tommy

Wash your bottles ahead of time (wash them immediately after drinking them), then keep them someplace reasonably clean and you'll just have to worry about sanitizing them.

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bingo! plus i have a utility sink in the brew shed that holds about 70 bottles for sanatizing...it's not all that difficult once you get a process down.