Who can bottle 5 gallons the in the shortest amount of time?

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theguy

theguy

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Last night I bottled 5 gallons of BM’s Loon Lake Smoked Porter and realized that I finished quicker than normal. Bottling is easily my least favorite part of the brewing process, so I really try to go as fast as possible. Kegging would be really nice, but I currently have other beer related priorities before I start putting together a kegging system. I realize that there are many factors that contribute the to speed (or lack of speed) in getting 5 gallons of beer in to 30+ glass bottles (i.e., Number of bottles, size of bottles, # of kids running around the house, etc), but I am curious to see how my times compare to anyone that bottles, or has bottled in the past. Just list/estimate the number and size of bottles filled, time it took you to finish the process (i.e. sanitize, prime, bottle, cleanup) and any thing else that you think helped speed up, or slowed you down during your bottling session.

For instance, last night I finished everything in apx - 1 hour 35 min. I bottled apx

16 – 12oz bottles
12 – 22oz bottles
1 – 1 liter bottle
2 – 2 liter bottles

I think I finished so quickly because kids were asleep and SWMBO was occupied with Judge Judy reruns on the DVR.
 
I like to make a day of it. Relax, get set up, have a homebrew, turn on some tunes, do some sanitizing, take a break, make the priming solution, have lunch, then start filling bottles, take another break, have another homebrew, then start cleaning up.

I normally don't bother breaking out all the bottling equipment until I have at least 10g ready to bottle. So far I've had a 25g, two 17g and one 15g bottling days.
 
Revvy said:
I'm down to between 45 minutes and an hour from beginning of the bottling process to cleanup. I usually get it done in the length of a basic brewing podcast.

I outline my procedure and many folks offer their own tips to streamlining the bottling process, and making it tolerable, if not enjoyable, here;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/
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I read through your thread a few month's ago and actually use the dip tube in the bottling bucket idea. It works great! 45 min is really fast BTW.
 
While I've truthfully not bottled a batch in some time using priming sugar and a bottling wand, an hour/5 gallons was the norm.

Now that I keg and use a Blichmann beer gun to bottle special beers, the time necessary to churn through 5 gallons is about half that.
 
theguy said:
Just curious...what size bottles to you use? I really like the 22 oz bottles, but find that 12 oz are easier to come by.
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The majority of the time I bottle in 12 ouncers. 95% of my beers I would have to say.

I have several cases of antique Pint bottles from the 70's I will usually do a brown ale or something like that in.

Rarely do I use 22's or anything larger. Though I did my saison in a combination of 22's, champagne bottles and large flip tops.
 
Last night I put 5 gallons of Strong Scotch Ale into bottles. I always bottle after work to save my weekend time for other activities, but then I am 23 and have no kids. I bottle in the kitchen, so I usually have to clean the kitchen really well, get dishes out of the way, before I can do anything. That can take 30 minutes to get it sanitary.

Last night I had to do all that, and sanitize bottles myself since girlfriend was not home. Usually she does the bottles while I start filling. This saves me 30 minutes. So it took me three hours including everything to fill 9 22oz bottles and 37 12 oz bottles, and then clean up and dry by hand and put away so the kitchen was back to normal, but I was wathcing Star Wars Episode 3 the whole time so it was not bad.
 
Talloak said:
Last night I put 5 gallons of Strong Scotch Ale into bottles. I always bottle after work to save my weekend time for other activities, but then I am 23 and have no kids. I bottle in the kitchen, so I usually have to clean the kitchen really well, get dishes out of the way, before I can do anything. That can take 30 minutes to get it sanitary.

Last night I had to do all that, and sanitize bottles myself since girlfriend was not home. Usually she does the bottles while I start filling. This saves me 30 minutes. So it took me three hours including everything to fill 9 22oz bottles and 37 12 oz bottles, and then clean up and dry by hand and put away so the kitchen was back to normal, but I was wathcing Star Wars Episode 3 the whole time so it was not bad.
Click to expand...


Having a helper definately helps. I had Star Wars on last night too! Was listening to it more than watching though.
 
I think I hold the record for the slowest bottling of 5 gallons. Been at this 8 years and I've only done 8-10 bottles. Figure another 40 years to hit 5 gallons. (not counting mead)
 
david_42 said:
I think I hold the record for the slowest bottling of 5 gallons. Been at this 8 years and I've only done 8-10 bottles. Figure another 40 years to hit 5 gallons. (not counting mead)
Click to expand...

I hear those "1 oz" bottles" are really tough to fill!
 
I am not a BIG fan of bottling but I have not kegged yet. I take my time and from start to finish is under 3 hours including the clean-up in the kitchen. It's not a hard job. I set my bottling bucket on a chair on top of the counter and have the auto-siphon and bottle wand in hand. The bottles are all stacked on the counter and I just move the wand and fill each bottle without ever picking them up.
 
ibbones said:
I am not a BIG fan of bottling but I have not kegged yet. I take my time and from start to finish is under 3 hours including the clean-up in the kitchen. It's not a hard job. I set my bottling bucket on a chair on top of the counter and have the auto-siphon and bottle wand in hand. The bottles are all stacked on the counter and I just move the wand and fill each bottle without ever picking them up.
Click to expand...

That sounds alot like my process except I sit on the floor to fill.
 
theguy said:
Last night I bottled 5 gallons of BM’s Loon Lake Smoked Porter and realized that I finished quicker than normal. Bottling is easily my least favorite part of the brewing process, so I really try to go as fast as possible. Kegging would be really nice, but I currently have other beer related priorities before I start putting together a kegging system. I realize that there are many factors that contribute the to speed (or lack of speed) in getting 5 gallons of beer in to 30+ glass bottles (i.e., Number of bottles, size of bottles, # of kids running around the house, etc), but I am curious to see how my times compare to anyone that bottles, or has bottled in the past. Just list/estimate the number and size of bottles filled, time it took you to finish the process (i.e. sanitize, prime, bottle, cleanup) and any thing else that you think helped speed up, or slowed you down during your bottling session.

For instance, last night I finished everything in apx - 1 hour 35 min. I bottled apx

16 – 12oz bottles
12 – 22oz bottles
1 – 1 liter bottle
2 – 2 liter bottles

I think I finished so quickly because kids were asleep and SWMBO was occupied with Judge Judy reruns on the DVR.
Click to expand...


Holy crap someone actually DVR's Judge Judy?
 
Bottling can be a bit of a process but there is something intimate about it. I actually find it rewarding when it is all said and done. I will do it when the wife and kids are sleeping, put some reggae on and take my time.
 

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