I forgot how much fun bottling is....

NOT!!I can't believe that I used to bottle every batch. I was do batches almost every weekend back then. I bottled a batch of apfelwein today.Haven't bottles since late last year...I guess it wasn't that bad. Kegging is much much easier...

agreed - i was a die hard bottler - said i would never keg - man am i glad i got smarter.
i can keg and bottle the leftovers in 1/2 the time of bottling a full batch.

grrrr Showoffs!

I don't have room for a keg fridge/freezer, so I'm stuck bottling for the foreseeable future. I'll be getting a Tap-a-draft system for christmas, so at least I'll have a little ease up on it.

I'll just have to chant my mantra while I bottle...
"Someday... someday... someday..."

I really don't mind bottling. That said I keep eyeing up the kegs in the LHBS and I'm sure its heading that way. After all, I was never going to go all grain...

My prob is space - don't have anywhere to put a kegerator, so I'd have to chill the keg in ice for serving. That's ok for the odd keg for a party but a headache for normal odds and ends consumption. I have 4 beers to offer right now but I could never have 4 kegs set up all the time.

I never saw this big deal about bottling. Then I got kegs, Only kegged one batch so far. My second is going into keg this week sometime. Screw bottles! It take about 15 minutes from racking to walking away. ANd that's for someone who has only done it once so far!

The only good thing about bottling, except for drinking is seeing the 2+ cases of beer..I always liked that.

I find bottling to be much more a chore before I do it. I tend to get psyched out by the busy work involved. But I'm always relaxed when I do it.

I just bottled a batch after my kids went to bed. For 15 minutes before they went upstairs, I gathered my clean bottles, bottling bucket, primary, etc., etc. Boiled up the priming sugar. Once I came back downstairs, the bottling took about 35 minutes with my wife capping.

It's really not THAT big a deal.

shecky said:

I find bottling to be much more a chore before I do it. I tend to get psyched out by the busy work involved. But I'm always relaxed when I do it.

I just bottled a batch after my kids went to bed. For 15 minutes before they went upstairs, I gathered my clean bottles, bottling bucket, primary, etc., etc. Boiled up the priming sugar. Once I came back downstairs, the bottling took about 35 minutes with my wife capping.

It's really not THAT big a deal.

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Thats what I was saying, It's not that big of a deal, Until you keg that first one. Your bottling day didn't mention the 1st prep day of cleaning and sanitizing the bottles.

Still not that big of a deal, until you keg. All I'm saying. I'll still bottle some Im sure such on beers that need to age.

IrregularPulse said:

Thats what I was saying, It's not that big of a deal, Until you keg that first one. Your bottling day didn't mention the 1st prep day of cleaning and sanitizing the bottles.

Still not that big of a deal, until you keg. All I'm saying. I'll still bottle some Im sure such on beers that need to age.

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Ah, but there was no prep day. Every bottle gets rinsed thoroughly after a beer is poured from it. It goes back into the box complete with aluminum foil over the top, either individual bottles or the whole case. All I have to do is take them out and sanitize as I go.

A little work ahead of time saves in the long run

Easy peasy.

That said, I would love to keg. But the expense is prohibitive right now, mostly because I don't want a second fridge/freezer running. I'll trade the annoyance of bottling for the utility savings. At least for the foreseeable future.

To be honest, my daughter and I kind of had fun bottling up the apfelwein last weekend. Father-daughter bonding kinda thing. So I'm not going to mind bottling as much as I might otherwise, but I'm still looking forward to when I can keg.

I love bottling. Kegs suck, it's like 1 big bottle. Lame.

ChshreCat said:

To be honest, my daughter and I kind of had fun bottling up the apfelwein last weekend. Father-daughter bonding kinda thing.

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Bottling is the only brew-related activity my Dear Wife has any interest in.

fratermus said:

Bottling is the only brew-related activity my Dear Wife has any interest in.

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Un-bottling is my wife's preferred activity. She did express an interest later on but she would only get ultra-competitive about it all so she decided to leave it to me, after I promised never to compete in the kitchen.

I bottle just as much beer as I keg. I enjoy the bottling process because it's part of the process of getting my beer ready. And it only takes 2 hours start to finish, hardly a big time investment compared to a decoction AG brew day and I enjoy those too.