Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer

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Just got done bottling an EPA today and I wanted to thank Revvy and all on the tips in here. I used many of them and the task went by smoother and faster than ever.
 
I have a dip tube in my bucket so I get all but about 4 ounces of stuff from my bottling bucket. What that means in my case is about another 6 pack of beer- 54 bottles instead of 48.

And the biggest thing about a dip tube is that there is no need to tilt to get the last few dregs of beer. It is easy to make, all you need to do is find a drilled stopper (or drill your own) that fits in the back part of your bottling bucket spigot (I got mine from my lhbs) then you need to find a tube that fits on the hole...It could be a piece of bent copper tubing, it could be the body of a ballpoint pen, it could even be a bent piece of racking cane.

dip1.jpg

I finally got around to making one of these. I don't bottle much, but today I wanted to split my batch of Irish Red between bottles and a 3 gallon keg, the latter to take to a friend's party.

This was made from a drilled stopper and the crook of a racking cane that I haven't used in over a year. (The straight part will become a BMBF.) The bend is over 90 degrees, so I just cut the bottom to be parallel to the bottom of the bucket. There is less than 1/8" gap, so I should be able to drain virtually everything.

We'll see how she works this afternoon.

DipTube1.jpg
 
Very useful thread.....I'll probably whip up a "Revvy patent dip tube" out of the abundance of wine corks lying around. The new plastic variety ought to serve. Kegging isn't for everyone, and for an abundance of reasons. In my case, I like very much to have 6 or 7 varieties of beer on hand, ready to drink. If I throw over bottling, that means I have to buy not only 6 or 7 kegs, but all the associated hardware, such as refrigeration, the gas equipment, draft faucets (or whateverinell they're called), and then I have to maintain that stuff. This is not going into the space & storage issues. While I do plan to move to all-grain later this year, I really enjoy the simplicity and flexibility that fermenting in plastic buckets, secondary in carboys, and bottling in 12 oz. longnecks gives me. There's also something very satisfying about "low-tech," of course I'm the guy who still uses his grandfather's rusty old Prohibition-era bench capper.....
 
If I throw over bottling, that means I have to buy not only 6 or 7 kegs, but all the associated hardware, such as refrigeration, the gas equipment, draft faucets (or whateverinell they're called), and then I have to maintain that stuff.

And that's a problem, because.....??? :D
 
And that's a problem, because.....??? :D

I'm still a little leery about going to kegging. Part of it is portability--it's nice to grab a six-pack or two and go without planning ahead to do the bottle from a keg deal. Part of it is style concerns--worries about bottle-conditioning my big Belgians, or hefe yeast settling out too much.

And then part of it is because I don't understand the carbing mechanism well. I typically have a lot of styles going on at once, so I don't want to have everything carbed to the same level (my hefe or BDSAs are going to be a lot more carbed than my IPAs or pilseners which are going to be more carbed than my milds and bitters).

Does that mean I'm looking at separate regulators for every carb level (or 2 carb levels if I use a dual regulator)? Or can I carb to one level and basically rely on the same serving carb to keep differently carbed beers all moving okay at one level?
 
Thanks for the tips....I have patience and will wait until it is REALLY ready! I did have the temps around 67 degrees. Will increasing to 70-72 hurt it?
 
Thanks to all the outstanding info on here, I am not as worried about my first bottling session. Probably Thursday if I don't have to work.....
 
I haven't bottled a batch in a very long time (I have been kegging), but I bottled a 2.5g batch last night and used a 3/4" female CPVC thread adapter to 90 degree CPVC fitting for my dip tube and it sat just about 1/8" off of my bucket bottom.

This made my bottling SO much easier; and it left just under 4 ounces at the end! This combined with the bottling wand attached directly to the spigot (I was using this method already) and my German .5L swing tops makes bottling a breeze.

Thanks for the simple, but genius, solution Revvy (and brianp for the threaded 90 degree fitting idea).
 
Hey, I bottle and have never found it a chore, I think because of this wonderful tool: This Bottle Filler

I just start a sipon with this on the end of it, and push into the bottom of my bottles until full to the top, and when I pull it out, it has the perfect amount of space in the top.

Now, everyone might already know about this, this may have been mentioned in this very thread before, but I haven't read all 14 pages personally, so I'm just throwing it out there. I think its extremely easy to bottle because of this thing...
 
... This combined with the bottling wand attached...

ImCowan, everyone already is using the aforementioned "bottling wand" or "bottle filler". What has been discussed primarily is the use of a dip tube to help in getting as much of the beer out of the bottling bucket into the bottles with little to no fuss.

Other ideas were mentioned to help streamline the affair, make it easier for cleanup, etc.
 
Hey, I bottle and have never found it a chore, I think because of this wonderful tool: This Bottle Filler

I just start a sipon with this on the end of it, and push into the bottom of my bottles until full to the top, and when I pull it out, it has the perfect amount of space in the top.

Now, everyone might already know about this, this may have been mentioned in this very thread before, but I haven't read all 14 pages personally, so I'm just throwing it out there. I think its extremely easy to bottle because of this thing...

If you had read all the 14 pages you may have found some really great tips..As to the bottle filler, if you had at least tread my very first post, you may have noticed one of the tips that people really liked was, mounting the bottle wand right onto the spigot and putting the bottling bucket on top of another bucket to fill at eye level.[/]

A simple twist on an old standbye.
 
Hey revvy, thanks for the guide, it's going to help me this weekend! I saw somebody ask this earlier in the thread, but I didn't see a response, so I thought I would ask again. When using star sans or another no rinse sanitizer, do you have to wait for it to dry before dispensing the beer, or do you simply pour out the solution and add the beer to the still wet bottle?

I'm planning to do about half of the bottles with a no rinse sanitizer and run the other half through a dishwasher on high heat and heated dry to find out if the dishwasher will be a viable solution for me in the future.
 
Hey revvy, thanks for the guide, it's going to help me this weekend! I saw somebody ask this earlier in the thread, but I didn't see a response, so I thought I would ask again. When using star sans or another no rinse sanitizer, do you have to wait for it to dry before dispensing the beer, or do you simply pour out the solution and add the beer to the still wet bottle?

I'm planning to do about half of the bottles with a no rinse sanitizer and run the other half through a dishwasher on high heat and heated dry to find out if the dishwasher will be a viable solution for me in the future.

Starsan and Iodophor are no-rinse, wet contact sanitizers, meaning they maintain their efficacy as sanitizers as long as they remain wet. If you allow something to dry and a microrganism then touches or lands on/in, it, the object will no longer necessarily be sanitized.

With Starsan the wet sanitizer becomes yeast food, and with iodophor it is simply benign...but leaving the sanitiser wet will not ruin your beer.

This thread has a lot of great info on santizing, including podcast links on using starsan and iodophor, and some great tips on using either of them.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sanitizer-question-54932/?highlight=sanitizer+question

I think a lot of people will tell you that dishwashers as nice as they sound are not a very environmentally friendly, economically intelligent, and a really viable way to sanitize them. For one thing you really should run a cycle with no soap or bottles before you even run the sanitizing feature...you want to make sure there is no soap in the system, or else it will ruin your head retention...also I really wonder if all the bio-matter from dishwashing is totally flushed out of the machine during the rinse cycle...and a little bit of biomatter, could conceivable infect your beers.

But that's just my two-cents. I don't have one, but if I did, I personally wouldn't bother, to me that would take too long to run through the cycles, and to cool....I can sanitize and bottle, and clean in under an hour using a vinator to sanitze with. That's good enough for me.
 
Thanks for the link with the treasure chest of sanitizing information. Like other first timers I am paranoid that something will get infected. I didn't even want to open the lid to take the specific gravity reading last night, lol. It started at 1.042 and it's down to 1.012 btw, and the kit said it should be 1.010-1.014, so I am happy about that. I think I'll pick up the 3/4" pvc elbow at Lowe's tonight and run through a practice before my planned bottling session for Sunday... then it will be time for the agonizing wait!
 
Thanks for the link with the treasure chest of sanitizing information. Like other first timers I am paranoid that something will get infected. I didn't even want to open the lid to take the specific gravity reading last night, lol. It started at 1.042 and it's down to 1.012 btw, and the kit said it should be 1.010-1.014, so I am happy about that. I think I'll pick up the 3/4" pvc elbow at Lowe's tonight and run through a practice before my planned bottling session for Sunday... then it will be time for the agonizing wait!

Read these as well...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

:mug:
 
Aaaw! I knew it! I figured you guys were just using different words for the same thing. Bottling would truly stink without such a device, so I kinda figured it was my err.

Also, while I didn't read all 14 pages, I did read at least 2/3rds of them (And I plan of reading the rest at some point too!) This is such a great thread!
 
Thanks for the link with the treasure chest of sanitizing information. Like other first timers I am paranoid that something will get infected. I didn't even want to open the lid to take the specific gravity reading last night, lol. It started at 1.042 and it's down to 1.012 btw, and the kit said it should be 1.010-1.014, so I am happy about that. I think I'll pick up the 3/4" pvc elbow at Lowe's tonight and run through a practice before my planned bottling session for Sunday... then it will be time for the agonizing wait!

I also use the 3/4 CPVC elbow but I had to cut down the end that threads onto my spigot a little first because it was slightly too long. Just thought you might want to know ahead of time :)
 
I just got an elbow that was 3/4" threaded on one side and 1/2" smooth on the other. It seems like it might fit ok when the nut is screwed on first without doing any trimming. I'll see how it flows with a quick test run tomorrow.
 
Revvy, glad to contribute!

Catfisher, the elbow is just a push fit; just push it on when needed. It makes cleaning/sanitizing worry free.



...
 
I hate to be that guy, but as I feel I've contributed to this thread I thought I should update everyone.

I've converted to the BMBF.

Sorry, another one has gone to the other side.
Mind you, I don't actually serve any beer out of my kegs, I don't have room for that. I just fill em up, carbonate them, then put it right into a bottle.
 
My first bottling went pretty smoothly today, thanks for all of the tips Revvy. Just for the record, my dip tube was a PVC elbow 3/4" threaded on one side and 1/2" slip on the other and it seemed to perform well. I was using the bottling Ale Pail. The only small problem I had is that the bottling wand would occasionally get stuck spraying beer, but it could have been a lot worse. Now comes the hard part.... waiting for weeks to drink it :(
 
My first bottling went pretty smoothly today, thanks for all of the tips Revvy. Just for the record, my dip tube was a PVC elbow 3/4" threaded on one side and 1/2" slip on the other and it seemed to perform well. I was using the bottling Ale Pail. The only small problem I had is that the bottling wand would occasionally get stuck spraying beer, but it could have been a lot worse. Now comes the hard part.... waiting for weeks to drink it :(

I just did my first Saturday and had the same problem with the wand.
 
I just did my first Saturday and had the same problem with the wand.

If yours is like mine then its the kind that doesn't have a spring in it, instead it relys on the force of the beer coming down the wand to close the valve. And of course the closer the wand is to the bucket the less pressure is created by the beer. But I've gotten carefull not to knock the tip of the wand off center when pulling the bottle down and out and I can do it now with very little malfunctions (I'd still rather have the spring type though).
 
If yours is like mine then its the kind that doesn't have a spring in it, instead it relys on the force of the beer coming down the wand to close the valve. And of course the closer the wand is to the bucket the less pressure is created by the beer. But I've gotten carefull not to knock the tip of the wand off center when pulling the bottle down and out and I can do it now with very little malfunctions (I'd still rather have the spring type though).

That definitely describes mine. I figured it was just going into the corner of the bottle too much and catching kind of awkwardly.

I did a trial run with water the day before and it worked okay but the bottling wand seemed to drip a lot. When I ran it with the beer there was very little dripping, just this problem I mentioned earlier. I'll have to check at Friar Tuck's for the spring loaded ones next time I am there. However, I guess the spring will probably get corroded and cause problems down the road...
 
I bottled yesterday wit this new method (minus the dip tube, I gotta build me one) and it was much easier!!!!
 
I love the idea of using the bottling wand on my bucket! I didn't care for the wand coming off an autosiphon, but I also don't like having to twist the spigot for every bottle (I often get distracted and cut it off too late).

Thanks for the idea!
 
Just thought I'd post this:

Revvy thanks so much for the guide. I have set up my stuff and I will bottle 2 bayches with it next Saturday.
For my last batch, however, I did not yet have a bottling bucket, so I used this as a quick fix:

I ran my autosiphon out of my primary with the primed beer in it. Attached to the siphon was a length of hose and the bottling wand. Here is my trick: I pushed the wand through the grommet of my primary lid, set the bucket on top of the lid, so that the lid hung over the edge of my countertop (over the dishwasher). Even though I did not have the spigot, it basically worked the same as your setup, and might be a (temporary) solution for those without a bottling bucket.
I managed to get all the beer out, maybe missing 2 or 3 ounces.

Thanks again for all your help, Revvy ( and all the other great posters). Thanks for giving me/us so much help in getting started. I am now 3 batches into it and constantly working on improving beer and gear.

Thanks!
 
Just thought I'd post this:

Revvy thanks so much for the guide. I have set up my stuff and I will bottle 2 bayches with it next Saturday.
For my last batch, however, I did not yet have a bottling bucket, so I used this as a quick fix:

I ran my autosiphon out of my primary with the primed beer in it. Attached to the siphon was a length of hose and the bottling wand. Here is my trick: I pushed the wand through the grommet of my primary lid, set the bucket on top of the lid, so that the lid hung over the edge of my countertop (over the dishwasher). Even though I did not have the spigot, it basically worked the same as your setup, and might be a (temporary) solution for those without a bottling bucket.
I managed to get all the beer out, maybe missing 2 or 3 ounces.

Thanks again for all your help, Revvy ( and all the other great posters). Thanks for giving me/us so much help in getting started. I am now 3 batches into it and constantly working on improving beer and gear.

Thanks!

If you get a chance snap a pic of your rig!!!
 
Just a quick question on the bottling. After you have filled the bottle to the correct level. Approximatly 1" from the top. Do you have to worry about the oxygen in the top part of the bottle? I have no CO2 to purge with. Sunday will be the day I bottle my first batch.
 
Just a quick question on the bottling. After you have filled the bottle to the correct level. Approximatly 1" from the top. Do you have to worry about the oxygen in the top part of the bottle? I have no CO2 to purge with. Sunday will be the day I bottle my first batch.

By filling with a wand from the bottom to the top, and then letting the caps sit loosely on the bottle for a few minutes you are in effect purging the O2 out of the bottle....Since you added your sugar solution and beer to the bucket, some "carbonation" is already happening, so there is co2 already present, so as the beer is rising up from the bottom, the CO2 which is heavier than air, is pushing the O2 out of the bottle. Then by leaving the cap loose for a bit, as more co2 is produced, it further voids out the o2. I have actually had a couple caps fly off the top of the bottle because of that. If that happens I just drop that cap back in the sanitizer and grab another one.
 
When you say a few minutes are we talking 5 or hours?

Minutes....Here's what I do from the original post..

Since I'm a lefty I work right to left on my table....I put my two cases of sanitized bottles on the right hand side of the table (on the chair next to me,) I put the vinator on the table to the right of the bucket filled with my bottles caps sanitizing away. Then when I fill the bottle I place a cap loosely on it, and move it to the left side of the table...with the bottling bucket in the middle of the table there's room for a case worth of filled bottles on the table on the left side.

When I hit 24 bottles, I stand up, move the empty case to a chair on the left side of the table, then I pick up my capper and cap the first case of bottles, putting them in the case on the chair nearby...Then I grab a beer from the fridge, and sit back down and do the next case of beer....


Probably 5-10 minutes from the time I fill the first bottle in the case til the 24th...
 
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