First batch bottled!

Just bottled my first batch last night! A honey cream ale kit from Williams brewing. I am pretty happy with how the whole process went and now JuSt have to wait for the bottles to condition. Any tips on how to cut down on bottle cleaning and sanitation time?

BluegrassBrewing said:

Just bottled my first batch last night! A honey cream ale kit from Williams brewing. I am pretty happy with how the whole process went and now JuSt have to wait for the bottles to condition. Any tips on how to cut down on bottle cleaning and sanitation time?

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For me:
Rinse immediately after use.
Once I have about 12 or more piled up I soak them in OxyClean overnight. Rinse with really hot water and stick on the tree to dry
Brew day:
Boil my sugar as that's cooling I grab the vinerator and do three pulses a bottle and stick them on the tree to drain.

Ok. Last night I cleaned with soap and water(brand new bottles), rinsed, sprayed with jet sprayer, and starsan with venerator. So you can clean them ahead of time(smaller amounts) and just store them clean, then just starsan before bottling?

I'm not kegging yet, so I feel your pain. The one thing I can suggest is to clean them one day and the sanitize the day of bottling. Taking all the labels off/cleaning them and bottling the same day is rough. If they are all clean and all you have to do is sanitize, it makes for a much better bottling experience. Oxyclean to soak the bottles for label removing and cleaning. Starsan for sanitizing. Not much else I can suggest other than have a friend and a plan. They fill, you cap. Or if you are alone, fill ten then cap ten. It's a pain. I know.

Also wait two weeks before you try one of your beers. I drank like 20 beers out of my first batch before they were well carbonated. If you don't want to wait, just brew again so when the new one is carbing, you will have a cream ale to enjoy. Hope this helps.

Thanks! I thought for sure that cleaning and sanitizing had to happen on bottling day. Just sanitizing on the day will definitely make the experience better. I think I am going to wait 3 weeks before I try the first one. We will see how that turns out...lol.

Thinking about getting a tap a keg system, because I don't havevspace or syrup to keg right now. That will always give me the option of having drinkable carbonated beer a lot sooner.

Rinse out the bottles immediately with clean water (no soap). If you have any soap residue, it can kill the head. I let mine drain in the dishwasher.

All you need to do on bottling day is sanitize.

Calder said:

Rinse out the bottles immediately with clean water (no soap). If you have any soap residue, it can kill the head. I let mine drain in the dishwasher.

All you need to do on bottling day is sanitize.

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Thanks! I am pretty sure I got all soap out wit a thorough rinse and jet washed out then sanitized back to back. I could be wrong though.....let's hope not. Thanks to all for the bottling tips!

JuSt popped the first bottle open and it is perfect after 3 weeks of conditioning. These are not going to last long! =)

BluegrassBrewing said:

JuSt popped the first bottle open and it is perfect after 3 weeks of conditioning. These are not going to last long! =)

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Looks great!!

I didn't see any mention of a Vinator in response to your original question. That by itself or on top of a bottling tree (I'd recommend adding one extra tier to this one for ~5 gal batches) can really make bottling day go smoothly. Once you have nothing but unlabeled bottles to work with, it'll be a real easy process.

I have the vinator. That definitly helps the process.

BluegrassBrewing said:

JuSt popped the first bottle open and it is perfect after 3 weeks of conditioning. These are not going to last long! =)

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Looks good. You are right, they probably will not last long.

Brew more and get a good pipeline going. It makes the waiting easier.