And Tomorrow I Bottle For the First Time

Howdy all,

So a few weeks back I finally broke down and bought a brew kit. As luck would have it, one of my co-workers used to brew and had two carboys he need to rid himself of. So now I have the overwhelming desire to fill them all. But everything in moderation right?

My first brew is an Irish Stout from an extract kit. Figured I might as well start easy. After 10 days in the primary and another 10 in the secondary, the SG is holding constant (unfortunately I was a meat head and didn't get an OG reading). Now the time has come for the Great First Bottling.

Here's to hoping it turns out.

Good luck! I would definitely pick up a bottling wand if you don't have one.

If you know you're already hooked you might as well get another batch in the pipeline. No reason to let the carboys sit empty.

As a man who enjoys a good Irish Stout, I hope it comes out great. Let me know so I can put it on my list of brews to try.

Good luck! I wouldn't sweat not taking the OG. Unless you did something way off instructions, those kits are very consistent and it would have been on target.

Get a bottling bucket and sanitize it, and also get some hose and bottling wand if you don't have one. This will make your bottling go much easier. I could have kicked myself for not using a bottling wand for a long time, but then again I had never heard of such a thing until I got on this site and found a good supply shop.

ouphie said:

So now I have the overwhelming desire to fill them all. But everything in moderation right?

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moder...what? I don't know that word

good luck with bottling! It's actually a pretty easy process. But like the poster said above, make sure you have everything on hand that will make it go smoothly...if you don't for your first time, no biggy.

Watching the brew sent in the fermenter for 20 days is fun and all...but after you cap your first bottle is when the feeling of accomplishment finally sets in. And of course the impatience-ness builds.

I'm thinking about brewing a 5 gal partial extract chocolate stout this weekend. The goal being a chocolate mint beer. I've got a slew of 1 gal jugs so I can do a control gallon and 4 different concentrations of mint (assuming a 5 gal batch).

I also discovered EdWort's Apfelwein last night. A new item has gone on my Costco shopping list as a result.

If you haven't read it, take a look at my thread with tips on bottling by me and a bunch of other people on here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

+1 on Revvy's link. Good info there.

Homercidal said:

+1 on Revvy's link. Good info there.

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Thanks Bro!!!!!

Man am I glad I checked this thread before I started bottling. As my bottles and caps were drying, I did a quick skim of the first page and saw the pic of the bucket over the dishwasher with the bottling hose attached. Brilliant!

Thanks for the info guys. Time to clean up and get ready for the local homebrewers organization's monthly meeting.