First batch bottled...

...with the following lessons learned:

1) Sanitizing bottles took longer than I expected, though had I used a no-rinse solution instead of bleach I would've easily cut the time in half. Not having a faucet that can hold a bottle washer also made it take longer, as I ended up standing there waiting for the rinsing water to empty out over, and over, and over... A corny keg is looking mighty tempting!

2) Using the "magic wand" bottle filler that came with my $50 equipment kit was a HUGE plus. Touch it to the bottom of the bottle to fill, lift to stop. Easy-peasy.

3) Bottling out of the "Ale Pail" with a spigot left more than I expected in the pail. I had racked to a secondary and had basically no trub in there, but it was awkward to tip the pail to get the last little bits out of there. Do the folks here consider that loss part of the 'overhead' in the whole process? I also had a couple of drips leaking from the seal where the spigot hits the pail, but it's kind of a flimsy connection, so not unexpected and easily managed with a towel underneath.

4) And on a more juvenile note, using the bottle capper was just too fun - I almost wished I had another case worth.

I normally just dump that into a tumbler or something like that and drink it! once there is not enough to completely fill a bottle, I stop bottling, and drink what's left. I normally only have about 8-10oz left in the bottom when I am done.

when I get down to the end of the bucket, I either roll up a dish towel and jam it under the back edge to tilt it, or I have SWMBO (if she is still awake) to come into the kitchen and do the tilting.

There's always a few ouces left, and I just drink them.

-walker

skifast1 said:

Not having a faucet that can hold a bottle washer also made it take longer...

Click to expand...

You can get a little adapter that replaces the aerator on a standard faucet, that a bottle washer screws into.

(here it is: http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=15966)

I'm kindof a minimalist: I'm not into fancy gadgets that are expensice and save 2 minutes work. But I consider a bottle washer indespensible. As you experienced, the bottle washing/sanitizing process is excruciating without one.

things are much easier if you (for future batches) rinse and clean your bottles as you empty them. Then, on bottling day (with some no-rinse sanitizer - Hooray Iodophor!) all it takes is a few minutes to get the bottle armada ready.

-walker

you thought using a capper was fun? wait till you crush a botle or too, im thinking about buying a bench capper, i dont like the cheapo 'emily' capper i have now, im afraid its gonna break mid bottling, and them im screwed big time, plus you cant cap certain bottles with it neither (hob goblin, heiniken)

note to self: save money for a keg set up.

Bjorn Borg said:

you thought using a capper was fun? wait till you crush a botle or too, im thinking about buying a bench capper, i dont like the cheapo 'emily' capper i have now, im afraid its gonna break mid bottling, and them im screwed big time, plus you cant cap certain bottles with it neither (hob goblin, heiniken)

note to self: save money for a keg set up.

Click to expand...

Point taken - a lot of the fun last night was just the novelty of it. FWIW, I'm using the red plastic one that came with the kit, kind of a winged-corkscrew action. Most of my batch ended up in the EZ-cap bottles, which is a no-brainer. I'll give the 12-oz'ers to friends and keep the big 22's for me :cross:

(I second the thought on saving for a keg)