bottling for the first time..what did you do wrong?

[chapa]

I wasn't gonna post this but since you asked...

I once knew a fella who forgot to ensure that the spigot was properly tightened on the bottling bucket prior to siphoning in his prized brew. Needless to say it was quite messy until he swiftly dove his bacteria ridden arm into the brew to tighten it....

Luckily SWMBO wasn't present to survey the aftermath.

And I bet the brew still turned out great

 

[apfann]

They make spring loaded bottling wands now.

I had the old style which worked just fine till I bottled a batch of Mead a month ago. Sticky mess!

Went to LBHS to get a new wand and they don't even carry the non-loaded ones anymore.

And definitely sanitize extra caps.
You may misfire a few as you get used to capping, you don't want to run out, as others here can attest.

 

[Sisyphus]

My first time I sanitized with bleach and didn't rinse well enough. Ruined the whole thing