Bottling bucket problems

[rtb178]

Hi everyone,

Just finished a pretty rough bottling session.

I've used Revvy's (very smart) system of attaching the bottling wand to a the spigot with a short piece of tubing. I had trouble getting the tubing connector to work, and in the process of pushing the wand and tubing up into the spigot, the spigot moved up and began to spew beer. I probably lost 3/4 gallon in a short time. Big, big mess. Next time, I'll be more careful.

More importantly, I've been having trouble the last couple of batches with the bottling wand. Every time I start to fill a new bottle, I get a lot of noise, bubbles, and the like. After a second or so, everything starts to flow without problems, but whenever I start a new bottle, the first second or so sounds like an oxygenation nightmare. Any ideas on why this might be, or what to do?

It's a bit frustrating, I'll say. Hopefully the next time goes better.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't know what you mean by pushing the tubing up into the spigot. My bottling wand and the outlet of the spigot are the same size and the tubing goes on the outside of both. Also, is the hole in the bucket to big? The threaded part of the spigot should just barely fit through the hole.

Next session install the bottling wand to the spigot before adding the beer to the bucket if it is such a tight fit.

My wand makes a little gurgling sound until the level of the beer exceeds the little cutouts on the wand tip. I never paid that much attention to it and have never had any oxidation problems.

 

[frazier]

It sounds like air is getting in somewhere. Examine all your connections.

 

[menerdari]

As far as the spigot sliding up the bucket, tighten down tighter next time.

 

[kh54s10]

As far as the spigot sliding up the bucket, tighten down tighter next time.

Within reason. If I tighten mine too much it deforms the gasket then it leaks.

 

[menerdari]

Within reason. If I tighten mine too much it deforms the gasket then it leaks.

The way I do it, and seems to work for me, I tighten down the nut with my hand till its pretty snug with the spigot pointed up, then i turn the spigot down 1/2 turn in a tightening direction.

 

[lgilmore]

If you are unhappy with the bottling wand, replace it. It's like 3 bucks.

while your bucket's empty redo your spigot, test with water.

 

[unionrdr]

The spigot should be quite snug,but not tight. Too tight & it'll squeeze the seals out of place & leak. You gotta get used to how much it has to be tightened to seal well. Def a feel thing.

 

[whoaru99]

Sounds like maybe it's not the spigot assembly turning in the bucket, but actually pushed the outlet of the spigot right out of the assembly. It can be done, I took mine apart for cleaning.

I use a short stub of soft, (presumably) silicone tubing that slides over the spigot and over the wand pretty easily when wet with a bit of Star San yet seems to grip very well.

That said, I did as well notice sometimes bubbles coming through the bottling wand but they came from inside the spigot. I haven't yet figured out how I'd get those bubbles when the inlet is below the waterline/beer level but I'm going to do some investigation with water before my next bottling session.

 

[rtb178]

Thanks everyone. I think I did push the spigot out of the assembly, like whoaru said. It was a mess.

I think I'll get a slightly larger piece of silicone tubing next time, and maybe test it out on the bottling wand. No reason to have to fight it this much.

 

[unionrdr]

I use cleasr 3/8" tubing from lowe's or home depot. They sell it in 8 or 10 foot lengths.