Getting ready to bottle?

[sefrayser]

Im getting ready to bottle my first batch. I bought some bottles and I need to clean and sanitize them. My question is, what is the best way to clean the bottles and I have I Star for a sanitizer. After that I need to mix the priming sugar and add to the wort then bottle. My batch didn't come out to 5 gallons...more like 4 gallons so I need to use the calculator for the proper mix ratio. I think I am just going to fill the bottles out of the secondary fermenter instead of a bottling bucket. Is that ok? I have a bottle/carboy jet bottle washer and all the siphons.

 

[thesemicullen]

For cleaning, I use an oxygen cleaner like Oxyclean. Just soak the bottles in hot water and cleaner for a bit.

Do you have a bottling wand? The kind with the spring loaded spigot? If so, I recommend using the bottling bucket. If not, I recommend getting one in the near future.

I think it's easier to mix the priming sugar into the wort if you rack the wort into a bottling bucket.

 

[aarong]

You can bottle out of your fermentor no problem. Just need some type of hose clamp so you can stop the beer as you switch bottles.

 

[kh54s10]

Clean your bottles with Oxyclean or PBW.
Sanitize. I prefer Starsan.

The easiest way to prime is to use your bottling bucket. Make up you priming solution, start your siphon from primary to the bucket with the hose at one side making a vortex. Add the priming solution and it should mix well.

Take a small section of tubing, 1" to 1.5" and connect your bottling wand directly to the spigot with it.
Put the bucket up on a table or counter, then raise the bottle to the wand until full.

If you bottle directly from primary, you have to prime each bottle, this makes for unequal amounts of carbonation from bottle to bottle.

 

[sefrayser]

I have a bottling bucket. I also have a hose clamp. Im not sure about the bottling wand. I have a auto siphon, a sampling siphon and then another skinner siphon that Im not sure what it is. They all have the stopper on the end. I think the skinner is the bottling wand. It looks like it will take a piece of hose on the end. I can rack the wort to a bottling bucket and then bottle from there, I was just trying to minimize the possibility of contamination.

 

[Dmlsys23]

The advice about attaching a short piece of tubing to the bottling bucket is spot on. Pic is of a bottling wand.

 

[sefrayser]

I have one of those. Can I use the tubing off of the auto siphon?

 

[NTXBrauer]

The advice about attaching a short piece of tubing to the bottling bucket is spot on.

+1

This is the best advice when using a bottling wand. It also frees up a hand to place caps on the filled bottle and prep the next one, streamlining the process.

Yes, you should be able to use any tubing that fits snugly over the spigot and wand. As mentioned above, only 1-1.5" is needed.

 

[Jayhem]

The problem with bottling from secondary is you have at least 1/4" of yeast and trub at the bottom of the fermenter that is going to make your beer cloudy. Also you need to mix the priming solution into the beer completely which is hard to do in secondary unless you stir it up with is just as much an oxidation risk as siphoning to bottling bucket.

To clean and sanitize bottles I have found nothing that works better than soaking the bottles overnight in a tub of dish soap and oxiclean, rinse, turn the bottles upside down on a dish rack or bottle tree to drip dry. Set the bottles vertically on oven rack and dry/sanitize at 190F for 20 minutes. You end up with squeaky clean, super dry, sanitized bottles that are much easier to handle than slippery star san bottles.

 

[sefrayser]

Im going to move wort to bottling bucket. I have some extra tubing that I will cut for bottle wand. Im in the process of cleaning the bottles now. I will then dip them in sanitizer and start to bottle. I have 4 gallons and figure about 42-43 bottles. I have not checked the FG yet but will when I sanitize everything. I have a system that I will clean everything in the bottling bucket then sanitize everything in the bottling bucket. My wort has been sitting in the secondary for 9 days and there is no action on the bubbler. When I moved from primary to secondary it was already at FG. There is a little yeast at the bottom of the secondary. Now I just need to mix the priming sugar right.

 

[jdopchibrew]

I have one of those. Can I use the tubing off of the auto siphon?

You can, but for me I would say a bottling bucket is still the way to go. Connecting the wand to your siphon would tie up one hand at all times to make sure your wand doesn't touch anything other than the inside of your sanitized bottles (a bottling bucket would free up both hands).

But like kh54s10 said, if you bottle from fermenter, you'll have to prime each bottle individually-- I would recommend the priming tablets you get at your lhbs, it would be a lot more accurate and you would know for sure that you're not over priming.

 

[sefrayser]

I checked my FG and 9 days ago it was 1.011 now its at 1.010. FG was supposed to be 1.011. Did I do something wrong or is it ok? Like I said it is a Brewers Best Beer Kit(English Brown Ale) and OG was 1.045-49. I mixed water into the wort until it reached 1.046 and stopped. It ended up being 4 gallons instead of 5 gallons. I moved to secondary(just for experience) at day 6. It was at 1.011 which is FG for this brew. Its been sitting in the secondary for 9 days and is now at 1.010.

 

[hilts]

Being .001 point off is no big deal at all

 

[NTXBrauer]

Based on the information you provided, I say all is good and you are ready to bottle. Enjoy! You will be able to reap the rewards in 2-3 weeks.

 

[sefrayser]

Awesome thats what I wanted to hear!!!!

 

[sefrayser]

I have Priming sugar from the brewers best kit. Its 141.75 grams. I went to the Northern Brewer web and Im not sure what calculation to use. its a English Brown Ale, 70 degrees, and apron 4 gallons? By my calculations it says 2.74 oz(corn sugar)? not really sure and don't want rockets.

 

[sefrayser]

Do I need to sterilize the bottle caps?

 

[unionrdr]

The priming sugar given in the kits is corn sugar also known as dextrose. So go by the amount given for using dextrose or corn sugar for the amount of beer you have,style & temperature. Since the amounts given are by weight,A cheap digital kitchen scale will work great.

 

[sefrayser]

Im looking at my beer and I think its between 3.5 and 4 gallons. does the priming sugar need to be right on or is there a little wiggle room. At 3.5 gallons its 2.4 oz. and at 4 gallons it 2.74 oz. Im thinking around 2.5 oz.

 

[aarong]

Yes sanitize your caps

 

[unionrdr]

You could safely do 2.5ozs. If your fermenter doesn't have markings on it for volume,you could use a measuring cup to mark off 1 gallon on a jug. fill it with water & pour into fermenter,using a black marker to marg gallon lines on the side. That way,you'll know how much is in there.

 

[sefrayser]

2.5 oz of corn sugar to 2 cups of water

 

[Jayhem]

Here is the priming calculator I use: http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Select your beer style and note the range of CO2 volumes it lists for that style (most are 2.0-2.5 or so). I like to aim for the middle of the range and plug that into the first box (Volumes of CO2).

For the beer temperature box just put in the temp the beer fermented at or the temp it's at on bottling day. I like to use regular table sugar with my recipes (makes no difference) but you will notice that you use slightly less table sugar than corn sugar for the same prime.

Have fun!