Can I bottle half of my ale, then do the other half in a couple of weeks time?

I've got a batch of ale ready now and I've only got around 25 bottles ready for it to go into, so I want to know if it'll be OK to bottle what I can, then put the lid (and air-lock) back onto the fermenting vessel and do the rest in a couple of weeks time. Would this be a risk to the remainder in the vessel?

Thanks folks, Carl.

as long as your siphon is sanitary you should be fine. It would be the same as taking a very large hydrometer sample.
I'm not sure about oxidation though. Someone else would need to chime in on that. It would be the only concern. But if it were me, I'd just wait. making 2 bottling days out of one batch is an unnecessary PITA.
Sitting another couple weeks won't hurt anything. It will help the beer if anything. How long ago was brew day?

Why will it take you a couple of weeks to get the rest of the bottles?

I think it makes more sense to get your bottles together and just do one session. You have to worry about oxidation, sanitation and primation. Okay, I made that last word up but it reminded me of a Jesse Jackson speech. Anyway priming is also a factor.

I agree. Bottling in batches would not make sense to me (other than getting a head start on getting some bottles primed and ready for drinking!)

I would try real hard to collect more bottles ASAP and maybe push the bottling date a couple of days, not weeks. Surely you can find a bar or recycling center to get some bottles from??

(Just saw you were in UK. I have no idea how it works over there. In Michigan, I can buy unlimited number of empties from the beer store for a dime apiece.)

Assuming everything is sanitary, yes you can bottle half now and half later.

Having said that, if you can find an empty minipin (half a polypin) you can rack the second half there and enjoy the beer, more or less, cask ale style.

Homercidal said:

Bottling in batches would not make sense to me (other than getting a head start on getting some bottles primed and ready for drinking!)

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That was my main/ sole reason

Homercidal said:

(Just saw you were in UK. I have no idea how it works over there. In Michigan, I can buy unlimited number of empties from the beer store for a dime apiece.)

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The only place I can buy them new costs £3.35 for 6!!

Thanks for all your help guys. Going to either buy some cheap lemonade bottles and fill the remainder into them, or wait until I sup more of the ales I have and recycle those bottles...at the very least it gives me a "reason" to have more ale

You can use 1 liter ginger ale bottles. There is a thread som were on it and they are super cheap. Just dump out the ginger ale and use.