Um... silly question?

So... for equipment I got everything I need for extract brewing...

2 carboys (6g & 5.5g), bottling bucket, autosiphon, brushes, hoses, funnel, 2 stoppers/airlocks, yada yada yada.

I have a summer ale in the 6g fermenter now. It is going to be bottled this weekend.

My question... the kit also came with a bottling wand (thin wand with the spring loaded nipple at the end) that is supposed to hook up to the end of my auto-siphon hose.

Is there any reason why I can't use the siphon in conjunction with the bottling wand right out of the primary fermentor? Or is there an explicit reason as to why I should rack to the bottling bucket first to bottle?

Thanks!

You need some way of getting your priming solution mixed in with your beer. I find it easiest to boil 1 quart of water with the 3/4 cup of corn sugar, and then put the solution in the bottling bucket first. Then rack the beer on top of the solution, which mixes it up quite well.

I suppose you could pour in your priming solution to your carboy, but you run the risk of oxygenating your beer and stirring up all sorts of crap. You want to get your beer away from all that trub so you don't accidentally bottle it.

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

You need some way of getting your priming solution mixed in with your beer. I find it easiest to boil 1 quart of water with the 3/4 cup of corn sugar, and then put the solution in the bottling bucket first. Then rack the beer on top of the solution, which mixes it up quite well.

Click to expand...

Plus you want stuff to settle to the bottom of your beer...so if you agitate the beer to get the priming sugar mix in, you just kicked all the gunk back into your beer....

Thank you guys.

This all makes sense with the weeks worth of information I have been gathering from this site

DJCalico said:

Thank you guys.

This all makes sense with the weeks worth of information I have been gathering from this site

Click to expand...

if you haven't already...read this thread...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362

Congrats on your first beer!

Another good tip I got from this site is to use a small piece (1.5 - 2") of tubing (I suppose you could cut it off the siphon hose) to attach the wand to the bottling bucket spigot. Put the bucket on a counter top (Or like I do on top of a stool on top of a countertop) with the spigot/wand attachment hanging over the side. This allows for virtually one handed bottle filing, leaving the other hand to be ready with a cap, or to enjoy a brew.
If you use this method be sure to put a bucket or towel on the floor below the wand to catch any drips/spills.

Please do yourself a favor and rack it to the secondary 5 gallon c-boy for at least 1 week.

Here's the rule: 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in the bottle.

GreenwoodRover said:

Another good tip I got from this site is to use a small piece (1.5 - 2") of tubing (I suppose you could cut it off the siphon hose) to attach the wand to the bottling bucket spigot. Put the bucket on a counter top (Or like I do on top of a stool on top of a countertop) with the spigot/wand attachment hanging over the side. This allows for virtually one handed bottle filing, leaving the other hand to be ready with a cap, or to enjoy a brew.
If you use this method be sure to put a bucket or towel on the floor below the wand to catch any drips/spills.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how I do it. (I might have been the one who posted it originally, it don't matter, it works.)

You will need a couple of hose clamps to do it...One to attach small piece of tubing to spigot, and one to hold the bottle wand inside the tube...I've noticed if you use one it seems to leak...

GreenwoodRover said:

Another good tip I got from this site is to use a small piece (1.5 - 2") of tubing (I suppose you could cut it off the siphon hose) to attach the wand to the bottling bucket spigot. Put the bucket on a counter top (Or like I do on top of a stool on top of a countertop) with the spigot/wand attachment hanging over the side. This allows for virtually one handed bottle filing, leaving the other hand to be ready with a cap, or to enjoy a brew.
If you use this method be sure to put a bucket or towel on the floor below the wand to catch any drips/spills.

Click to expand...

+1 on this method...works great!