I just wanted to record my thoughts on my first-ever bottling day. If anyone wants to comment, feel free to do so!
- Far and away the longest part of the process.
- I can see why Star-San is so popular. I had to postpone bottling twice because I couldn't get all of the equipment sanitized at the same time (in large part because the 'sanitize' cycle on my dishwasher takes so long, and partly because I need hot water to rinse the bleach off bleached items, which means I need to boil hot water...)
- Bottling Day is messy. I'm sure it will get better with practice, but still.
- A recipe with additional flavorings (coriander and bitter orange, in the case of a witbier) make things more difficult. I tried not to get them in the bottling bucket, but it didn't work perfectly. It's a PITA to clean those out of a spigot, especially if you're concerned about infecting the beer.
- Don't forget to completely top off the primary fermenter if you want a full two cases of beer. 4.5 gallons won't cut it.
- A beer or other drink makes the actual bottling process go a lot more quickly. It's tough on the forearms when the siphon tubing doesn't fit quite snugly on the bottling wand and you have to squeeze to keep it tight.