Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer

ThickHead said:

No, I mean the temp of the beer at the time of bottling when the priming solution is introduced. Would you, for example, let a lager warm up to roughly room temperature prior to introducing the priming solution and bottling? Or does it really matter? I realize yeast activity will not begin until the yeasties are happy with the temp of the medium.

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There's a huge debate about it, including something that became very contentious and was locked. I will give you MY take on it.

I use beersmith, which has a calculator for basing the amount of sugar needed to prime based on temp.. My understanding of it, is that that is TEMP AT THE TIME OF BOTTLING.

You would use less sugar the colder the beer is. I ALWAYS bottle at room temp, no matter whether the beer was cold crashed, lagered, or fermented warm. So if it's a lager, I bring it out of the cold and let it warm up for a couple of days til it's at equilibrium. Then I take a temp and run the numbers for it in beersmith.

You can bottle it right out of the chill chamber if you want, but you have to calculate the amount of sugar needed/temp of the beer at that point.

Since most of the priming sugar included in kits is premeasured at 4.5 to 5 ounces of sugar, which happens to deliver about 2-2.5 volumes of CO2 for beers at about 70 degrees...I find it way easier to figure it as close to 70 degrees as possible. Sometimes I even cheat and just measure out that amount anyway.

But often I carbed to style and and using some volume of co2 within a given range fo styles...so figuring out how much sugar I need, becomes a little more precise, and knowing the temp of the beer is more crucial.

Thanks for all the tips in this thread, Revvy! On Sunday I broke my auto-siphon (damn hose got stuck on so hard that it snapped the cane when I tried to pull it off. Remembering this thread, I cut piece off, heated it with a heat shrink gun, bent it to a 45 degree angle and stuck it in a drilled stopper. After some fine tuning and filing, I now have a bottling bucket dip tube. :rockin:

Next bottling day will be the first time I've ever actually used the spigot on my bottling bucket. I always just used the auto-siphon.

Great thread, Revvy. Why isn't this a sticky? Should be, methinks.

This should get a vote to be sticky.

I'm a die-hard bottler and I'm always looking for ways to make my process better (this thread has been great, BTW). I had a couple of thoughts/questions to throw into the mix:

1. I know we all recommend carbing at +70F, but what's the upper limit? I bottle carb in a water bath with an aquarium heater and I can easily get my bottles to 76-78F. I've had a few batches that seem a bit over-carbed and I wonder if the temp is too high. Comments?

2. I ordered another bottling wand w/filler valve because my current one drips a bit. I'm looking at it and thinking, "I've got two of these, why can't I rig a system to fill two bottles at once? I've got two hands..." Anyone tried this?


(Bonus complaint for the day: I bought some Blue Point Toasted Lager yesterday, because I had one at a business dinner a few weeks ago and liked it (similar to a Marzen?). I got them home and realized that they are screw tops. I'm not used to getting beer I enjoy in screw-top form. So instead of building my bottle inventory, these will get recycled.)

revvy,
I constructed a bottling bucket as specified and it worked great and was much easier than trying to maintain a siphon. I accidently drilled the spigot hole too low but I was able to cut off a side of the inner nut and install super close to the bottom. Without a dip tube I get all but about 4oz.
Thanks for the ideas.

Good question re the temperature for bottling conditioning - I'd also like to know. The garage where I condition can get to 90F easily.

RunBikeBrew said:

I'm a die-hard bottler and I'm always looking for ways to make my process better (this thread has been great, BTW). I had a couple of thoughts/questions to throw into the mix:

1. I know we all recommend carbing at +70F, but what's the upper limit? I bottle carb in a water bath with an aquarium heater and I can easily get my bottles to 76-78F. I've had a few batches that seem a bit over-carbed and I wonder if the temp is too high. Comments?

2. I ordered another bottling wand w/filler valve because my current one drips a bit. I'm looking at it and thinking, "I've got two of these, why can't I rig a system to fill two bottles at once? I've got two hands..." Anyone tried this?


(Bonus complaint for the day: I bought some Blue Point Toasted Lager yesterday, because I had one at a business dinner a few weeks ago and liked it (similar to a Marzen?). I got them home and realized that they are screw tops. I'm not used to getting beer I enjoy in screw-top form. So instead of building my bottle inventory, these will get recycled.)

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RunBikeBrew said:

1. I know we all recommend carbing at +70F, but what's the upper limit? I bottle carb in a water bath with an aquarium heater and I can easily get my bottles to 76-78F. I've had a few batches that seem a bit over-carbed and I wonder if the temp is too high. Comments?

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I've recently been reading "Brew Like a Monk". In it, Stan notes that many of the Belgian Trappist Breweries bottle condition in the 78-80F range. My mid 70's sounds pretty good. I'm feeling more "Monk-ish" now.

He also points out that they do primary fermentation in about 4 days, even for high gravity beers. I haven't figured that one out yet...

Great thread! I had been bottling out of a regular bucket with siphon but made a bottling bucket with dip tube. :rockin:

Much easier. This site rocks. Great tips Revvy.

When I sanitize I use sodium metabisulphate. I have always just kept it in a gardening bottle that has a mist setting. Now when you make wine, the alcohol content is pretty high and it is difficult to spoil it after fermentation, or at least that's what I've read and I've made lots of wine and never had any problems.

So, when I bottle I spray in the sanitizer and then rinse it out, and let it dry. After that I line them up and put a length of saran wrap over the tops to keep any air out until I bottle (next day or whatever). Is there a reason that you shouldn't rinse the sanitizer out? Would that affect the taste/quality, and is it sodium metabisulphate the wrong sanitizer to use? I guess this is the part that has piqued my curiosity... when I bottle I just use the autosiphon and have a clip about 6" from the bottom.... I have the timing down . I put the wine or beer in a clean/sanitized primary fermenter and put it on the table with a rubbermaid tote under it, which provides enough head difference to keep a good siphon going while I sit in my chair and watch a movie.

No rinse sanitizers are popular in brewing is because unboiled tap water is a potential (likely) source of viral/bacterial/protozoal contamination, chlorine, chloramines, ammonia, heavy metals and gawd knows what else. If the germ can survive the chlorine, there's every possibility it could survive the alcohol in the wine. Also the air drying process will allow contaminants into the bottles. The truth is, there are all sorts of critters in our wines/beers, we just try to give the yeast every possible advantage over them so we can control the results. Star San is cheap. An 8 oz bottle could last you (30) 5 gallon brew batches or more if you use it carefully.


Regarding my earlier post, I can confirm that I was able to brew in primary for 3 weeks, prime the primary fermenter with 6.5 oz sugar boiled into 2 cups R/O water, and bottle directly from the primary. In other words, no secondary fermenter, no bottling bucket and nice n even carbonation.

The dunkelweizen does need 2-3 weeks to develop the right level of carbonation. The witbier was hugely carbed in 1 week or less! I wonder if that is due to the larger amount of wheat malts used, resulting in more yeast in the bottles of witbier? I will find out in about 4 weeks, my next hefes are using 6lbs wheat LME and 1 lb wheat DME.

I have an Amber Ale that's been in bottles for about 12 days. I sampled a bottle last night for fun (I know Revvy, 3 weeks at 70!) and it had a little carbonation but was basically flat after pouring. I did notice however a decent amount of yeast at the bottom, and as I picked up the bottle some tiny bubbles (CO2 probably) bubbled up from the yeast at the bottom to the top.

So my question is this: Would it be worthwhile to give all of the remaining bottles a quick swirl to mix the yeast back in, allow the the tiny bubbles at the bottom to mix in, and hopefully speed up the carbonation process?

DrinkNoH2O said:

I have an Amber Ale that's been in bottles for about 12 days. I sampled a bottle last night for fun (I know Revvy, 3 weeks at 70!) and it had a little carbonation but was basically flat after pouring. I did notice however a decent amount of yeast at the bottom, and as I picked up the bottle some tiny bubbles (CO2 probably) bubbled up from the yeast at the bottom to the top.

So my question is this: Would it be worthwhile to give all of the remaining bottles a quick swirl to mix the yeast back in, allow the the tiny bubbles at the bottom to mix in, and hopefully speed up the carbonation process?

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You can't "Speed Up" the carbonation process....It is a natural process governed by the yeast, not by you....You just said..."I know, I know, 3 weeks at 70." Well now you know why we say that, dontja....

The BEST BOTTLING TIP I CAN GIVE YOU....

WAIT THREE WEEKS BEFORE EVEN OPENING A BOTTLE!!!



Go back and read post 8 https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/#post1030387

Notice the title on the page.

Hey Revvy, sorry if I missed this, but how many days should I wait before opening my first bottle during conditioning. I am not sure you were quite clear enough the first 6,752 times for me....

Hello everyone i'm still a newbee because i'm only on my 3rd batch but i've come up with a neat way to bottle my HB. After I've added my sugar or DME what I use is a 3/8" plastic hose to siphon from my bottling bucket. first I fill my hose with water to start the flow of HB once it starts i let a little flow into a bowl or pot or whatever you have at that point I place the hose into each bottle filling each one until it reaches the neck of bottle I pinch it off place into the next bottle and continue that process until all of my bottles are filled this has worked really well for me at the end i have very little HB left in my bucket. plus the hose is easier to move from bottle to bottle.

adixon3 said:

Hello everyone i'm still a newbee because i'm only on my 3rd batch but i've come up with a neat way to bottle my HB. After I've added my sugar or DME what I use is a 3/8" plastic hose to siphon from my bottling bucket. first I fill my hose with water to start the flow of HB once it starts i let a little flow into a bowl or pot or whatever you have at that point I place the hose into each bottle filling each one until it reaches the neck of bottle I pinch it off place into the next bottle and continue that process until all of my bottles are filled this has worked really well for me at the end i have very little HB left in my bucket. plus the hose is easier to move from bottle to bottle.

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I hope you mean that you fill the hose with sanitizing solution otherwise you increase the risk of infection. I've have tried it this way, but if you don't degass the beer before bottling you can have possibility of losing siphon if enough co2 comes out of solution. Espically if you pause very long between bottles. I still do this to transfer from the fermentor to the bottling bucket.

Well I did until I got an auto-siphon anyway

adixon3 said:

Hello everyone i'm still a newbee because i'm only on my 3rd batch but i've come up with a neat way to bottle my HB. After I've added my sugar or DME what I use is a 3/8" plastic hose to siphon from my bottling bucket. first I fill my hose with water to start the flow of HB once it starts i let a little flow into a bowl or pot or whatever you have at that point I place the hose into each bottle filling each one until it reaches the neck of bottle I pinch it off place into the next bottle and continue that process until all of my bottles are filled this has worked really well for me at the end i have very little HB left in my bucket. plus the hose is easier to move from bottle to bottle.

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dude, they make bottling wands for about $2 that eliminate about 90% of the work you are doing.

I'm kinda new to this so excuse my ignorance for not knowing. What do you mean by degass the beer before bottling?

adixon3 said:

Hello everyone i'm still a newbee because i'm only on my 3rd batch but i've come up with a neat way to bottle my HB. After I've added my sugar or DME what I use is a 3/8" plastic hose to siphon from my bottling bucket. first I fill my hose with water to start the flow of HB once it starts i let a little flow into a bowl or pot or whatever you have at that point I place the hose into each bottle filling each one until it reaches the neck of bottle I pinch it off place into the next bottle and continue that process until all of my bottles are filled this has worked really well for me at the end i have very little HB left in my bucket. plus the hose is easier to move from bottle to bottle.

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I definitely recommend a bottling bucket with a bottling wand. You can attach a few feet of tubing between the bucket's spigot and the wand and use it in the same way you described, except the spigot means you don't have to start a siphon, and the wand means you don't have to pinch the hose at any point. And when you are almost done, you can always just tip the bucket forward to get those last 1-2 bottles' worth out. I usually only lose about 1 oz of beer using my bottling bucket.

adixon3 said:

I'm kinda new to this so excuse my ignorance for not knowing. What do you mean by degass the beer before bottling?

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There is some CO2 still in solution from fermentation. If your siphoning from the fermenter straight to your bottles you could have some CO2 come out of solution inside your siphon tubing and cause you to lose siphon. I experienced this when bottling Apfelwein the first time. You didn't really say so in your post but your probably siphoning to another bucket first so that should take care of it. Sorry for the confusion.

ok, thanks for all the help I'll go and buy a bottling bucket and wand from my LHBS this weekend.

Just bottled an oatmeal stout yesterday. When I was bottling I noticed that it wasn't as dark as a stout should be, it wasn't black. Will it darken as it conditions?

mixmasterob said:

Just bottled an oatmeal stout yesterday. When I was bottling I noticed that it wasn't as dark as a stout should be, it wasn't black. Will it darken as it conditions?

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Where were you noticing it? Even a stout won't look that dark flowing through a 3/8" tube. Did you pour a sample into a normal sized glass?

camiller said:

Where were you noticing it? Even a stout won't look that dark flowing through a 3/8" tube. Did you pour a sample into a normal sized glass?

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ya, i did pour a small sample.

Probably not going to darken any more. Maybe you should be proud of your lightening abilities and brew some super light stuff. My beers usually turn out darker than they should, although I do only brew extract.

Question: Revvy originally suggests that the Rule of Thumb for bottling is to keep the bottles at 70F.

Why not keep the bottles at the temperature called for by the particular strain of yeast? For most yeasts - or at least most of the yeasts I work with - this is below 70F. What are our thoughts about 61F? I know this will take longer to carbonate and condition, but won't it result in fewer off-flavors?

pericles said:

Question: Revvy originally suggests that the Rule of Thumb for bottling is to keep the bottles at 70F.

Why not keep the bottles at the temperature called for by the particular strain of yeast? For most yeasts - or at least most of the yeasts I work with - this is below 70F. What are our thoughts about 61F? I know this will take longer to carbonate and condition, but won't it result in fewer off-flavors?

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I believe it's because there's so little sugar when you're priming that it won't really matter. It would take much more time and much greater quantities of sugar to really cause any off flavors. Revvy may correct me on this, but when you're bottle carbing you mainly want the quickest carb you can get. That way you can get to aging/conditioning sooner.

My bottles condition at about 60 degrees because that the temp of the closet right now. It gets it done, but it takes a while.

Is there a problem with slightly higher temps for conditioning? Our house is typically 75-80 during the warm summer months. Cooling down to 70 or even 72 would cost $$$$$.

I don't mind putting together a fermentor chiller to and keeping it iced for the 3-4 weeks of primary, but I'd really rather not have to keep up with that for 8 weeks.

Spaceball1 said:

Is there a problem with slightly higher temps for conditioning? Our house is typically 75-80 during the warm summer months. Cooling down to 70 or even 72 would cost $$$$$.

I don't mind putting together a fermentor chiller to and keeping it iced for the 3-4 weeks of primary, but I'd really rather not have to keep up with that for 8 weeks.

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No there's no need to do that. It just mean more than likely your beer would be done a little sooner, which is not a problem at all.

What would you say is the highest conditioning temperature without negatively affecting the beer ?

Hello, First time poster. I took Revvy's advice ~

"A good experiment, for any brewer to do, is to pull a beer out on the 7th day in the bottle and chill it for 2...then taste it...make notes on the tastes and the level of carb. Do it again on the 14th day, the 21st and the 28th...you'll really see the difference. Then leave a bottle stashed away for 6 months...chill that and taste it...and go back and read your notes... You'll learn a heck of a lot about beer doing that."

Today is day 9 in the bottle after 10 days in primary of a True Brew Kit German Style Light. It's really good already. I mean, it tastes like Heineken. I was getting good bubbles in the glass but no real head. I am really green when it comes to home brewing, but from taking in as much as I can from this forum, everyone says time, time, time. I can't wait to see how much better this batch gets.

I am about as inpatient as they come and I just couldn't wait any longer to try. I'm going to try really hard to wait another week and have another. This is my first batch, and I need support in that posters need to remind me not to waste and wait. If you can't tell, I'm excited. I know someone is going to blast me for being inpatient (and thats that I need). I know the point is to enjoy the process of home brewing. I have to keep telling myself it's only been two weeks since I've boiled.

Thanks for reading. Help me out!!!

Mike

I'm having some trouble getting consistent carbonation in my beers lately. I've recently switched to doing long primaries followed by long secondaries (1-2 months). Common wisdom says there's enough yeast left in the carboy to carbonate the beer. Well, with priming sugar I wasn't getting consistent carbonation (some carbed, some flat) so I switched to muntons tabs. No change.

I'd say maybe 1/3 of my beers come out carbed and the other 2/3 come out flat. And even that seems to depend on the batch.

Should I perhaps be transferring to a bottling bucket before bottling to rouse some of the yeast? Should I be adding a couple grains from a dry packet to each bottle? How do I make it stop??

michael_riccijr said:

Hello, First time poster. I took Revvy's advice ~

I am about as inpatient as they come and I just couldn't wait any longer to try. I'm going to try really hard to wait another week and have another. This is my first batch, and I need support in that posters need to remind me not to waste and wait. If you can't tell, I'm excited. I know someone is going to blast me for being inpatient (and thats that I need). I know the point is to enjoy the process of home brewing. I have to keep telling myself it's only been two weeks since I've boiled.

Thanks for reading. Help me out!!!

Mike

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I won't blast you for being impatient, we have all been there. I will blast you on spending time being anxious about day 9, day 14, etc. and not mentioning anything about fermenting your next batch yet. It's all about the pipeline!! :rockin:
(Not really blasting either, just encouraging the obsession)

Get the pipeline filled and producing beer, then waiting is just a matter of trying the next sample. I recommend 5 fermenters going in cascading fashion with a variety of styles and conditioning lengths. Plan it out and you can fix the impatient part. I just started in February, and have found that it took till July, to get it going where I didn't care about the wait. Now I just drink what I want, brew when I bottle and keep the fermenters working.

bernerbrau said:

I'm having some trouble getting consistent carbonation in my beers lately. I've recently switched to doing long primaries followed by long secondaries (1-2 months). Common wisdom says there's enough yeast left in the carboy to carbonate the beer. Well, with priming sugar I wasn't getting consistent carbonation (some carbed, some flat) so I switched to muntons tabs. No change.

I'd say maybe 1/3 of my beers come out carbed and the other 2/3 come out flat. And even that seems to depend on the batch.

Should I perhaps be transferring to a bottling bucket before bottling to rouse some of the yeast? Should I be adding a couple grains from a dry packet to each bottle? How do I make it stop??

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I have had this happen on two batches. I attribute it to both batches having Raspberry fruit in it, and not using quality yeast. I use a bottling bucket and siphon from my primary in on top of the boiled, liquid priming sugar, then bottle. All other of my 20 batches have worked perfectly, so I don't think the process is flawed, just the yeast and maybe the fruit. Not an expert though.

Awesome thread!!!

I have always racked the whole batch onto all of my priming solution with no problems.

I am sure you have mastered it Revvy, but doing the 1/2 and 1/2 method would almost certainly leave me with 1/2 under and 1/2 over carbed.

Never 1 problem with the all and all method (other than 1 whole batch over carbed, and 2-3 under carbed )

Ok so I found an unopened bag of Brewers Best crowns in the basement, but they're probably around 10ish years old.

Is it a bad idea to use them?

edit: and seriously, why isn't this stickied yet?

Stickied....

BierMuncher said:

Stickied....

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Wow....I'd kiss you if you weren't a dood....though I have seen pics, and you DO ride a motorcycle.

I AM just kidding.

Revvy said:

Wow....I'd kiss you if you weren't a dood....though I have seen pics, and you DO ride a motorcycle.

I AM just kidding.

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And I wear chaps. :cross: