Bottling Tips for the Homebrewer

honestly i could never get my cork and tube diptube to stay in. I did end up with a 90 degree thread to barb adapter plus and extra gasket to get a good seal.

I'm literally the only one, but I've never used a bottling wand ( 500 bottles of beer +). I always thought they were a gimmick. I open valve a little bit on bottling bucket and close it when just above bottom of the neck. I had no idea everyone used those things, HA learn something new everyday.

I have never used a bottling wand either. 250 bottles of beer or so.

I've never tried it without the wand, but it looks like without the built-in valve at the end of the wand the beer would run out of the tube when you take it out of the beer bottle. Then you introduce air again to the next bottle.

A bottling wand attached to the spigot makes filling the bottle a one handed operation, leaving my left hand free to reach for the next bottle or whatever. And it is convenient not to have to operate the valve 50 or more times per session. It's only a 3 dollar piece of equipment, not exactly a major investment.

I never would've guessed that anyone bottling beer would try it without a wand!! I learned something new today. I just added a 2nd to my bottling bucket and love it!

I would get the one without the spring.

SillyBeer said:

I would get the one without the spring.

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Interesting. I've used ones with and without the spring, and I found the one with the springs shuts off better. Why do you dislike the spring?

Sanitation. It's easier to clean the one without. Maybe just piece of mind for me.

I've been brewing on and off for about ten years and I just used the wand that came with my kit for the first time on my last two beers I made for Christmas.

I have no idea why I never used it before but it sure is nice!

SillyBeer said:

Sanitation. It's easier to clean the one without. Maybe just piece of mind for me.

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I guess that's something to consider but the only extra part is the spring itself. The whole thing breaks down into four easily cleaned parts. The spring less one that I have drips (fails to seal) considerably more than the spring loaded one that I use. Using the spring loaded one I normally loose less than two ounces of beer to the drip tray while bottling a 5 gallon batch and that includes both dripping and overflow from overfilling a bottle or two. Actually the two types are close to evenly matched in my opinion but I always grab the spring loaded one. For cleaning I just disassemble and drop everything into a vat of PBW and let it soak for a while along with the spigot parts and anything else that will fit in the vat. I drop it in the bucket of Star San before use.

laradactyl said:

I guess that's something to consider but the only extra part is the spring itself. The whole thing breaks down into four easily cleaned parts. The spring less one that I have drips (fails to seal) considerably more than the spring loaded one that I use. Using the spring loaded one I normally loose less than two ounces of beer to the drip tray while bottling a 5 gallon batch and that includes both dripping and overflow from overfilling a bottle or two. Actually the two types are close to evenly matched in my opinion but I always grab the spring loaded one. For cleaning I just disassemble and drop everything into a vat of PBW and let it soak for a while along with the spigot parts and anything else that will fit in the vat. I drop it in the bucket of Star San before use.

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This. In an effort to improve my system, I recently purchased a spring-less wand along with some other bottling replacement parts. After filling two or three bottles, the dripping drove me crazy! I ripped it off, threw it in the trash, and put my old spring loaded one back on.

Excessive dripping would cause me to do the same. My last spring loaded one didn't disassemble if I remember correctly. That was back in the 90s. Perhaps I will reconsider when replacing mine.

I came to this sticky since I used a bottling bucket for the first time and it was so much easier than bottling straight out of the fermenters and for me had several quality advantages: 1. I use two one gallon fermenters, the beer from each fermenter is racked all together into the bottling bucket with my priming sugar and will be more consistent per bottle. 2. I can focus on getting as much of the clear beer as possible without having to worry about the bottles, caps, etc., the net beer savings compared to last batch was 26 ounces. 3. I was using conditioning tablets and now it is a one step process when boiling the priming sugar instead of trying to get the tablets into each bottle without touching them and without dropping them all over. 4. You could still use conditioning tablets with the bottling bucket, but even though the tablets are not very expensive for a bag of 250, the sugar I used was 7 cents worth. The equivalent in conditioning tablets is $1.31. It wouldn't be impossible for me to using priming sugar without a bottling bucket, but it is far easier.

New Brewer here.

My first 5 gallons are in the fermenter bubbling happily away. I'm now thinking about the bottling stage. I have a Williams kit. The bottling bucket has an inverted valve much like those described here. Does anyone have any tips/tricks for the Williams rig?

Great site for the newbie!

marc777 said:

New Brewer here.

My first 5 gallons are in the fermenter bubbling happily away. I'm now thinking about the bottling stage. I have a Williams kit. The bottling bucket has an inverted valve much like those described here. Does anyone have any tips/tricks for the Williams rig?

Great site for the newbie!

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If you haven't read through this thread, bottle over your dishwasher with the door open, and use your dishwasher as a drying rack for your bottles and bottling gear. Makes clean up simple and your drips and such will end up on the inside of your dishwasher rather than on your floor.

I have a gravity tip filler and it drips maybe 3 drops between bottles and the majority of that is the beer on the outside of the wand when the wand was removed. I use 22 oz bottles simply because it is daunting to fill 50 12 oz'ers.

Otherwise, congrats and since your post was last month, I will assume that you have already bottled your brew.

if you have tried one let us know how it turned out!

Are the clamps/clips necessary to attach the bottling wand to the spigot? If so could anyone point me where to find them ?

I guess the only downside is that you have to remove the clips to clean the wand.

Great thread !

Lunkerking said:

Are the clamps/clips necessary to attach the bottling wand to the spigot? If so could anyone point me where to find them ?

I guess the only downside is that you have to remove the clips to clean the wand.

Great thread !

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They're not necessary unless the connection feels loose.... And they're ubiquitous hoseclamps from any homebrew shop. You could use anything really, zipties, metal hose clamps from the hardware store.

Does Someone use this kind of equipment?

A guy somewhere built a homemade version. It had either 4 or 6 taps with a float

I just bought a new capper for my past brew. I finially got rid of the winged looking capper I got with my kit. I got in touch with one of my beer mentors and told him I wanted the last capper I will ever buy. He suggested the Super Agata Bench Capper (more details here). I really liked using it when I figured it out. There were no english instructions available.

I am looking to go to a keg system but until then I will probably stick with bottles because they are plentiful from my beer drinking friends and I can easily give them away.

I did a review on it for my youtube channel if you want more information.

SkllGent said:

I just bought a new capper for my past brew. I finially got rid of the winged looking capper I got with my kit. I got in touch with one of my beer mentors and told him I wanted the last capper I will ever buy. He suggested the Super Agata Bench Capper (more details here). I really liked using it when I figured it out. There were no english instructions available.

I am looking to go to a keg system but until then I will probably stick with bottles because they are plentiful from my beer drinking friends and I can easily give them away.

I did a review on it for my youtube channel if you want more information. Review on Super Agata Bench Capper

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I have the "regular" Agata bench capper, the one that doesn't automatically adjust to height. Still...it's a great capper. And if you ever cap stubby bottles, the bench unit is nice to have, as wing cappers don't work with those bottles.

MaxStout said:

I have the "regular" Agata bench capper, the one that doesn't automatically adjust to height. Still...it's a great capper. And if you ever cap stubby bottles, the bench unit is nice to have, as wing cappers don't work with those bottles.

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I was really impressed with the super agata. I hated doing to smaller stubby bottles with the wing capper. It always came out weird and ended up busting a few. I suppose after using the same one for so long it is time to upgrade to a better model.

SkllGent said:

I just bought a new capper for my past brew. I finially got rid of the winged looking capper I got with my kit. I got in touch with one of my beer mentors and told him I wanted the last capper I will ever buy. He suggested the Super Agata Bench Capper (more details here). I really liked using it when I figured it out. There were no english instructions available.

I am looking to go to a keg system but until then I will probably stick with bottles because they are plentiful from my beer drinking friends and I can easily give them away.

I did a review on it for my youtube channel if you want more information. Review on Super Agata Bench Capper

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Thanks so much for putting this video together. This looks like a great product. Although I will say to those who don't want to spend this much on a capper - The red wing capper (forget the name) is FAR superior to the black one that you have. I've had no problems with stubbys or with the arms not going down in tandem with each other.

TxBigHops said:

Thanks so much for putting this video together. This looks like a great product. Although I will say to those who don't want to spend this much on a capper - The red wing capper (forget the name) is FAR superior to the black one that you have. I've had no problems with stubbys or with the arms not going down in tandem with each other.

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Are you talking about the Red Baron Bottle Capper
? I have no experience with this one because of the quality of the black one turned me off to those designs. Well maybe the black one was decent quality for the beginner setup and not meant to be the last capper you will buy. Glad to know that there is a middle ground between the black one and the super agata.

I didnt want to spend that much on one either, but when I thought about how much beer I will be brewing down the road and how long it will take me to build my kegerator and go to kegs, I decided to buy once and cry once.

SkllGent said:

Are you talking about the Red Baron Bottle Capper
? I have no experience with this one because of the quality of the black one turned me off to those designs. Well maybe the black one was decent quality for the beginner setup and not meant to be the last capper you will buy. Glad to know that there is a middle ground between the black one and the super agata.

I didnt want to spend that much on one either, but when I thought about how much beer I will be brewing down the road and how long it will take me to build my kegerator and go to kegs, I decided to buy once and cry once.

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I think that's the one I own, but I can't look at it to be sure because it's at a friends house right now.

I just wanted to say I left my beer on the primary for 3 weeks bottled and after 10 days it taste great into the fridge it goes.

Hopefully I hit the correct thread.
I brewed a stout - OG 1.058, FG 1.016, fermented 3 weeks in primary, then bottled into:
a) 0.5L bottles with 3grams of dextrose tabs
b) 1L bottles with 6grams of dextrose tabs

After 2 weeks of bottle priming, it tastes great. Carbonation level is correct - no overcarb, no undercarb, nice head. BUT - I tasted only the beer from 0.5L bottles. Now I opened also one of the 1L bottles and it is interesting - it looks slightly undercarbonated. Almost no head is being created when pouring into a glass, also I can feel by the tongue the carb level is lower.
What could be the reason? Exactly the same beer - exactly the same amount of dextrose per liter (using tabs, each tab has 1.5grams) but different results as described above. Is it common the larger bottle of beer will carbonate slower? Or can it be I left different air space in 0.5L / 1L bottles?

Homer: The bottles don't all carbonate at the same rate for some reason. I guess because the yeast are living beings - or maybe placement in the bin/carton affecting temperature. Try it again in another week.

Regarding temperature/placement - I had the 1L ones in one big bag and the rest in the different bag. The bags were covered with the thick clothes to keep them away from the light sources. Both bags were placed in the corner of the room - each beside other. So I assume they had very same conditions. So let's see later.
I asked because I wanted to check whether this is not some "common feature".

In the past I had over carbonated beers, but it was caused by hurrying up of the fermentation - I was bottling after ~7-10 days in primary. Now I ferment 3 weeks in the primary, then bottle. Now the beer is more clear, the taste is also better. But I noticed the carb level is little bit lower - what can be corrected by adding more dextrose, but I would assume the behavior will be the same in all king of bottles.
But as I mentioned - I might kept more or less air space in the different bottles (I can't measure it easily). Maybe this can be the source of lower carb, I do not know.

MaxStout said:

I have the "regular" Agata bench capper, the one that doesn't automatically adjust to height. Still...it's a great capper. And if you ever cap stubby bottles, the bench unit is nice to have, as wing cappers don't work with those bottles.

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I am not saying a bench-model isn't better (many special Wicked Weed bottles I can't make my wing-capper work with) but stubbies? What kind? I use my wing capper with Sierra Nevada, Founders, Woodchucks, and even Green Flash bottles just fine.

slym2none said:

I am not saying a bench-model isn't better (many special Wicked Weed bottles I can't make my wing-capper work with) but stubbies? What kind? I use my wing capper with Sierra Nevada, Founders, Woodchucks, and even Green Flash bottles just fine.

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I have a few cases of these.


But yes, the Sierra Nevada stubbies worked well for me back when I used a wing capper.

Gotcha - never seen that beer before, but the lip of the bottle is much like the WW bottles I was talking about. I can totally see how they won't work.

slym2none said:

Gotcha - never seen that beer before, but the lip of the bottle is much like the WW bottles I was talking about. I can totally see how they won't work.

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Aussie stubbies. We've gone through a lot of ginger beer the past year (it's become my new favorite soft drink). So I kept the bottles, of course. Regular crown caps seal up nicely but a bench capper is needed. I like these and wish I had a few hundred more.

They also used to use that style in Canada years ago.

I have a bunch of the Canadian stubbies from my father in law. Those cap pretty well with my super agatha bench capper

MaxStout said:

I have a few cases of these.

But yes, the Sierra Nevada stubbies worked well for me back when I used a wing capper.

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I love these bottles, I have a few, but I haven't tried them with a wing capper....

I don't know if it's available much outside of the State of Michigan, but Brew Detroit has gotten permission from Pabst Brewing Company to resurrect the original, pre-80's recipe for Stroh's Bohemian Pilsner... besides being an excellent beer (I was lucky enough to get to taste it both on tap and bottled the day before it's official release date) it comes in a cool stubby. I'm keeping them.

Oh, I want some of that...

slym2none said:

Oh, I want some of that...

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It's fantastic. I'm loving it, especially on tap. Nice full body, good graininess. A nice crisp Pilsner. The kind of beer that if BMC were still like this, the snobs on here wouldn't be so snobby towards the style.

And yeah the bottles are cool.. well made, really sturdy, and they have that etched stoh's symbol on the neck.

homer383 said:

Regarding temperature/placement - I had the 1L ones in one big bag and the rest in the different bag. The bags were covered with the thick clothes to keep them away from the light sources. Both bags were placed in the corner of the room - each beside other. So I assume they had very same conditions. So let's see later.
I asked because I wanted to check whether this is not some "common feature".

In the past I had over carbonated beers, but it was caused by hurrying up of the fermentation - I was bottling after ~7-10 days in primary. Now I ferment 3 weeks in the primary, then bottle. Now the beer is more clear, the taste is also better. But I noticed the carb level is little bit lower - what can be corrected by adding more dextrose, but I would assume the behavior will be the same in all king of bottles.
But as I mentioned - I might kept more or less air space in the different bottles (I can't measure it easily). Maybe this can be the source of lower carb, I do not know.

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OK, so it's been almost 1 month and the 1L bottle's carbonation did not improve. I assume it will never improve. I was thinking about opening them and add some dextrose to improve the carbonation, but when check the PET bottles by pressing them - they are pretty nice pressurized, so I will not do it. I do not know how much pressure they can handle. Anyway - very strange - the bottles are pressurized nicely and the carbonation level when drinking is poor when comparing to the one from 0.5L glass bottles. I will simply drink it as it is and next time I will use just 0.5L glass bottles and maybe I will test again some of the PETs just to ensure it is a general problem or just one batch problem.

homer383 said:

OK, so it's been almost 1 month and the 1L bottle's carbonation did not improve. I assume it will never improve. I was thinking about opening them and add some dextrose to improve the carbonation, but when check the PET bottles by pressing them - they are pretty nice pressurized, so I will not do it. I do not know how much pressure they can handle. Anyway - very strange - the bottles are pressurized nicely and the carbonation level when drinking is poor when comparing to the one from 0.5L glass bottles. I will simply drink it as it is and next time I will use just 0.5L glass bottles and maybe I will test again some of the PETs just to ensure it is a general problem or just one batch problem.

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Don't add more sugar, add yeast. When a beer doesn't cab up and you already added sugar, it's not that the lack of sugar is the problem, it's that the yeast failed to consume the yeast... more than likely because it was tired.... if folks add more sugar they run the risk of over carbing and havng bottle bombs if the original sugar was not eaten.