Bottling Wednesday

I'm bottling for the first time on Wednesday and just realized my kit did not come with a racking cane. All I have is tubing and a spigot on my fermenter and bottling bucket.

How can I siphon into the bottling bucket without getting the yeast layer on the bottom?



Also, do I need to boil the priming sugar? The instructions just say to mix it in (priming sugar came with the kit)?

Go to your local hardware store and get 10 feet of 1/4 vinyl tubing. Should cost you about $0.30 a foot. Sanitize (of course), and use that to siphon. It works fairly well because it tries to curl up after being stored on a spool for a long time, so the edge will push up against the side of your carboy and you'll be able to tell how far down you can go without disturbing the trub. You can start the siphon easily by filling the tube with water and plugging one end with your thumb. put the other end in your carboy, then take your thumb off of the other end while you have it lowered in the bottling bucket.

You don't need to boil the sugar, but its better to do so. If nothing else, it makes it easier to dissolve in the beer and you'll get it mixed in quicker, which means less oxidation.

Be careful and you can minimize the amount of trub you will transfer. siphon from the top. Yes you need to boil your priming sugar and water mixture. I use 2 cups of distilled water - 4.5 oz of corn sugar powder and boil for 5 minutes. Then cool to below 85 degrees and add to the bottleling bucket, then rack your beer ontop of it. For an added piece of mind you can stir up the concoction before you bottle, with a sanitized spoon, but it will alread be mixed completely. Try to minimize the amount of splashing of beer when you rack to the bottling bucket.

GameFreac said:

I'm bottling for the first time on Wednesday and just realized my kit did not come with a racking cane. All I have is tubing and a spigot on my fermenter and bottling bucket.

How can I siphon into the bottling bucket without getting the yeast layer on the bottom?

Also, do I need to boil the priming sugar? The instructions just say to mix it in (priming sugar came with the kit)?

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There's nothing magical about a racking cane, it just makes life easier. You have a couple options; you can just siphon with the tubing but if you have a tube of any kind that can be sanitized, put the tubing on it and siphon through the tube. Or, you can angle your fermentor with a 2X4 and drain off the yeast trub through your fermentor spigot.

You want to dissolve your priming sugar in a small amount of boiled water....put that in your bottling bucket and rack the beer on top of hit. It doesn't really have to cool because there is so little volume.

BamaRooster said:

Be careful and you can minimize the amount of trub you will transfer. siphon from the top.

Click to expand...

How can I siphon from the top without a racking cane? I seriously only have 2 long tubes and a spigot. That's it.

You can use the tube and keep feeding it down as the level drops. Sanitize a large paper clasp and your tube. If you haave rubber gloves, sanitize and use them. Fill the tube with your beer by carefully immersing it in the fermenter and clasp off the end when it is full. Place one end of the tube, with the clasp into your bottling bucket and hold the other end into your fermenter just below the surface minimizing contact with your sanitized rubber gloved hands. Release the clasp and the flow will begin. Now just feed your hose end into the beer as the level goes down until you get to the bottom and then slighly tilt the bucket to one side to get as much beer out as you can. When you start sucking trub...pull out!!! Wait that will get you into trouble, BEFORE you start sucking trub PULL OUT!!

I highly suggest an Auto Siphon from your LHBS. I tried 2 batches with just a tube and racking cane before I broke down and spent the 11 dollars. Just do it. Auto Siphon

To clarify, this is the only type of tubing I have, plus the spigot. I don't see how I can get it flowing from the top with only this tubing.

janson745 said:

I highly suggest an Auto Siphon from your LHBS. I tried 2 batches with just a tube and racking cane before I broke down and spent the 11 dollars. Just do it. Auto Siphon

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THIS.

If you really want to avoid any hassle and have a good bottling or any other racking session, then get an autosiphon.

I understand that would help, but is there any way I can do it with just the equipment I have now? I don't really have time.

GameFreac said:

To clarify, this is the only type of tubing I have, plus the spigot. I don't see how I can get it flowing from the top with only this tubing.

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Just hold it 1-2" below the surface. You'll have to keep it moving down, of course, but it will work. I siphon all of my batches with nothing more than a length of 1/4" tubing and its really not that hard. Its just a siphon.

ThorGodOfThunder said:

Just hold it 1-2" below the surface. You'll have to keep it moving down, of course, but it will work. I siphon all of my batches with nothing more than a length of 1/4" tubing and its really not that hard. Its just a siphon.

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This is what I will do. Just tested it and it worked. Thanks guys.

You still need to get somewhere and purchase an auto-syphon. YES you can make your tubing work, but it will make life more simple.

Hackwood said:

You still need to get somewhere and purchase an auto-syphon. YES you can make your tubing work, but it will make life more simple.

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Oh I will. I also need to get a lot more stuff next time for my 2nd batch but I'm just ready to get this 1st one in the bottle.

I didn't see it mentioned above but do you have a Bottle Filler? You might want to just put off bottling until you have everything you need or you are going to have a really bad day.

Check out this site ,http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/directories/find-a-supply-shop Best if you take your time and do it right. Bottling can't be an emergency situation.

Agreed - make sure you have everything you need before bottling. A bottling wand is a necessity IMO, especially for someone new to it...

I helped the OP out through PM but do agree with all of you. An auto-siphon (or other acceptable means to extract from fermenter) and bottling wand are essential. But for reasons that are beyond his control those are not an option at this time. Sometimes it is not ideal or even recommended, but we gotta do what we gotta do to get the mission accomplished.

Why don't you just wait to bottle until you acquire the right tools. The beer will only improve if you wait, and your first experience with bottling won't be as challenging as it will end up being without the right stuff. Plus you don't even have a bottling wand? Not only does one make it easier to bottle, but it helps set the right amount of headspace in the bottle for carbing to occur, AND it prevents oxidyzing the beer during packaging.

The only deadlines in brewing are the ones we impose on the beer, in reality our beer benefits from sitting longer.

Check out the bottling sticky and see some great ideas and tips to make bottling easier, with the proper tools.

I did it using just the tubing but I started getting some sludge so I stopped and lifted the tube, but when I tried to start over I couldn't get it to siphon, then my arm got in beer, then the sludge on the sides fell in, so I just gave up and lost almost a gallon, but I still got 44 bottles of beer. Oh well.

Next batch, I will get everything I need. I'm just glad this batch is in the bottles.

Man... That sounds eerily similar to my first bottling expericence. The re-starting of siphon with about a gallon left is nearly impossible. However, I was using the "shot of vodka, then suck until siphon starts" method. After about 6 failed attempts in re-starting the siphon (and 6 shots of vodka in about 90 seconds) I, too, gave up with about a gallon of wasted beer. 44 bottles is still a good haul for the problems you had. Keep it up and enjoy your brew (in a short 2-3 weeks).

Auto-siphon will be the best (dollar for dollar) investment in your homebrew setup.