minor (bottling) train wreck

well that was interesting. i bottled my first batch tonight. had my stuff all set out and sanitized and ready, got a siphon started from the primary into the bottling bucket, and i was just thinking to myself "hey, that was pretty easy." and i turned to my cleanes bottles, thenking i would sanitize them while the beer siphoned. then there was this odd splashing sound. i wonder what.... AHHHH the spigot on the bottling bucket was busted leaking my beer all over the floor and making a mess, great, now what.

well, i ended up getting what made it into the bottling bucket back into the primary, and i got the bottling wand onto the siphon tube, and move the primary over to the other counter top where i had my bottles ready to go, saanitized a few of them and got started. the rest was pretty smooth, other than the fact that the last few bottles might've been a little iffy cause i am not positive i kept all the trub out of the siphon. i did what i could to keep track of the racking cane on the on end and teh bollting wand on the other, but time will tell.

the only thing i'm still worriedabout is that i may end up with bottle bombs. i hope not, but the whole priming sugar water seems like a possible bad idea.

how many bottles did you end up with?

You hear less and less about bottle bombs. I heard an interview with the head scientist from Wyeast who thinks that the reason that people would get so many bottle bombs is because the beer was not fully attenuated when they bottled and when you bottled you mixed things up and got fermentation going again, coupled with the additional sugar, and the bottle pressure was too high. But these days with good yeast and more awareness the beer attenuates better.

I wouldn't sweat it.

And congrats on your first bottling!

yea we've all been there- i once lost 3/4 of a batch because of the very same thing. Atleast you got some done and didin't lose the whole batch. Personally i wouldn't worry about having bottle bombs persuming you used the right amount of sugar. Consider it a learning experience and then next batch will end up better.

techrunner said:

the only thing i'm still worriedabout is that i may end up with bottle bombs. i hope not, but the whole priming sugar water seems like a possible bad idea.

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I had a bit of loss to a spigot left open on my last brew too. It was going from the MLT to the kettle but I've been doing this for a few years and the brain farts still happen, just less often with more experience.

I'm not sure what you mean by "priming sugar with water seems like a bad idea" and bottle bombs. I can see why you might be concerned with uneven carbonation based on what happened with this batch but in general it is a very safe and effective way to prime if done right.

Always boil the priming sugar and water mixture to drive out O2 and to sanitize it.

Always put the priming solution in the bottom of your bottling bucket before you rack your beer into the bucket. This way the act of siphoning into the bottling bucket will mix the priming solution and beer effectively.

In general be careful to minimize O2 interaction with the beer once the fermentation is complete and having the beer enter the bottom of the bottling bucket helps reduce O2 interaction AND the even mixing of the priming solution.

Is there a process that you think might be better than the "priming sugar with water" which "seems like a bad idea" to you?

I think the OP is worried that instead of 5 gal of beer to his priming sugar mix, he now has a lot less beer to the same amount of sugar.

On bottling day I mix up 2.5 gallons of sanitizer solution in my bottling bucket. This way I get the bucket sanitized and I know the spigot isn't leaking.

BubbaK said:

I think the OP is worried that instead of 5 gal of beer to his priming sugar mix, he now has a lot less beer to the same amount of sugar.

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But what is the amount of beer at this point? If it's 4 gal. instead of 5 I'm guessing it's no big deal. But 2 gal. instead of 5 could be pretty fizzy.

well i guess it just seems like the sugar mix could be uneven to me, but its how its been done for so long, i am probably just overanalyzing. i really didn't lose much, it was a crack in the body of the spigot. i had already made sure that it was closed. ended up with 12 22oz bottles and 24 12 oz bottles that i think should be ok. i got four more at the end also but i'm not sure about them because at that point i think there was some of the trub getting through the siphon too.

the comment about bottle bombs being due to incomplete fermentation makes me feel a little better though, cause i left the batch in the primary for a month.

i guess i am mostly curious about the carb drops or tabs i have seen. are they the same, just suger, right? the only difference is that they are measured out differently? i just hope that i got the sugar mixed in well enough, thats all.

no i am looking forward to brewing up the next batch, i got an oatmeal stout kit when i stopped at midwest last weekend. and i got a 6 gal better bottle so i can actually watch the progress a little bit this time.

I always test buckets with spigots for leaks before transferring beer to them