bottling advice...

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BootYtRappeR

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I just brewed my first batch and I'm planning to bottle this weekend. In order to make bottling a little easier I was thinking of siphoning from my primary into one of those 5 gallon orange Gott coolers with a dispenser. Then just filling up the bottles.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or any objections?

Thanks,
B :D :D TYTRAPPER
 
I assume you do not have any way to attach a hose to the dispenser? That means you are basically pouring the beer into the bottle. It will slosh around as it hits the bottom of the bottle or the surface of the beer that's already in the bottle.

You're going to aerate the beer this way, which can lead to premature stale flavors.

It's best to fill the bottles from the bottom. ie; using a piece of hose that rests on the bottom of the bottle. As you start to fill, the tip of the hose becomes submerged and no splashing happens, and the finished product will taste better longer.

I suggest getting one or two pieces of equipment.

(a) a bottling wand. this is a rigid piece of plastic tube that has a springy valve/tip that depresses to start/stop the flow of beer. You stick it into the bottle and depress the tip against the bottom, and it fills without aerating. When you lift the wand off the bottom of the bottle, the flow of beer stops. You can attach this wand directly to your siphon hose, but be careful to not lift the wand too high with respect to the level of beer in the carboy, or you will have to get your siphon started again.

... or ...

(b) a plastic bucket that has a spigot attached to it. You siphon beer from the carboy to the bucket, attach your hose to the spigot. Then you can place the hose into the bottle (all the way to the bottom) and open the spigot to fill the bottle. When it's full, close the spigot and remove the hose from the bottle.

Or, the best way would be to use the bottling wand AND the bucket together. That way you don't have to worry about restarting a siphon, and can just leave the spigot open while you use the wand to fill each bottle.

-walker
 
Walker and loop are right. I attach a bottling wand to a small piece of syphon hose and attach that to the bottling bucket's dispenser. My wand won't attach directly. Works like a charm.
 
Thanks guys! I think I'll go with the bottling wand and the bucket together. Having to restart a siphon was my main reason for using the bucket plus the ease of the attached spigot.

I brewed my first batch this past weekend; an Irish Stout extract with a pound of steeped grain.

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' WAIT

B :drunk: :drunk: TYTRAPPER
 
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