Planning first brew

[galexior]

Hello!

I am planning my very first batch of beer, and I have a few questions and/or concerns that I would like to ask about before I get too involved and end up wrecking myself and my beer.

Cooling the wort.
I am a poor college student (I know, typical college student looking for cheap booze, right?) living in a one bedroom apartment, so I do not have the funds to purchase a wort chiller, nor do I have the means to build one (though I have many ideas and plans for the future). I plan on taking my wort, after boiling, to my bathtub, which I will have filled with ice water, to cool it to pitching temperature. I had mentioned this to a friend and he said that if I were to pick up my pot after boiling that it would boil over and create a huge mess. Is this true?

Bottles
I am collecting bottles for use here, and I was wondering if the twist off glass bottles are acceptable. I read that they will work with ordinary crown caps, but it is recommended that I use a bench capper instead of a hand capper because the glass is weaker than a typical pry off glass bottle. Is this true? Will I need to use a bench capper to avoid breaking bottles, or will the twist off glass bottles not work right at all? I don't have a homebrew store anywhere near me, and I don't have a car to drive anywhere.

If the above is acceptable and I can use my planned bottles, is there any way I can remove the labels without having to sit for hours scrubbing the glue off each bottle? I read somewhere on here that OxiClean can remove labels. Is that confirmed?

To recap the questions:
Will my hot wort boil over if I move the pot right after boiling?
Will twist off glass bottles work for homebrew?
What sort of capper should I get to cap said twist off bottles?
Will OxiClean remove labels?
If that doesn't work, what alternative would I have?

Thank you all! :rockin:

 

[Hello]

Will my hot wort boil over if I move the pot right after boiling?

No. Your friend is weird and probably needs to join this site to learn a bit more. Promise me he isn't a science major. Once you turn the heat off and remove the pot from said heat, your wort won't just randomly boil over. I am 3 batches in, two on a propane burner, and never saw that happen.

Will twist off glass bottles work for homebrew?

I was told no. You won't get the seal you need. That said, you mentioned a bench capper so I searched and found this thread. Yes, you need a bench capper but generally, pry off top bottles are better.

What sort of capper should I get to cap said twist off bottles?
See above. Also, Atlantic Brewing Supply sells 24 12oz bottles for $12.95. Shipping is more I suppose, I live nearby so I don't know the cost of shipping. I also understand Amazon sells bottles and you can seek them out from your local recycling center. I'm sure if you go there people will gladly give you all the bottles you need.

Will OxiClean remove labels?
Without a doubt. Easy enough to soak 12 bottles standing upright in a home depot bucket or just use the bathtub that you mentioned. Before I bought Oxiclean I just used hot water and a soak for an hour. A wipe of a sponge and I didn't scrub at all. It was easy. The only bottles I had an issue with were screen printed oil-based glue labels on a couple Southern Tier bombers.

If that doesn't work, what alternative would I have?
Look no further.

You also mentioned cooling wort in your tub. This will be just fine but note that you'll need to fill that tub up and get more water cooled than you would if you used a sink. If no sink is available, then by all means, use a tub. Also, buy some rock salt or I guess any salt. Salt will bring the freezing temp down and help cool the wort faster. I just read a bunch on this and it acts like it does when making ice cream. I don't have a wort chiller but could use one if I had one. Even still, I use my kitchen sink until I have the means to buy more brew stuff.

Good luck.

 

[twistr25]

Cooling the wort.
I am a poor college student (I know, typical college student looking for cheap booze, right?) living in a one bedroom apartment, so I do not have the funds to purchase a wort chiller, nor do I have the means to build one (though I have many ideas and plans for the future). I plan on taking my wort, after boiling, to my bathtub, which I will have filled with ice water, to cool it to pitching temperature. I had mentioned this to a friend and he said that if I were to pick up my pot after boiling that it would boil over and create a huge mess. Is this true?
WTF? You need a new friend. In fact removing the pot from the burner will cause it to not boil over because you remove it from the heat. I've had to do this before and it's fine.

Bottles
I am collecting bottles for use here, and I was wondering if the twist off glass bottles are acceptable. I read that they will work with ordinary crown caps, but it is recommended that I use a bench capper instead of a hand capper because the glass is weaker than a typical pry off glass bottle. Is this true? Will I need to use a bench capper to avoid breaking bottles, or will the twist off glass bottles not work right at all? I don't have a homebrew store anywhere near me, and I don't have a car to drive anywhere.
I think I have heard the twist offs may work, but you are better off with the pry off type for making sure to get a good seal. So drink more beer!

If the above is acceptable and I can use my planned bottles, is there any way I can remove the labels without having to sit for hours scrubbing the glue off each bottle? I read somewhere on here that OxiClean can remove labels. Is that confirmed?
Yes, a soak in OxiClean should work very well. You can also plan your beer around this problem. Sierra Nevada has labels that come off very easily just soaking in hot water. Some light scrubbing may be involved, but it doesn't take long at all.

 

[galexior]

Your friend is weird and probably needs to join this site to learn a bit more. Promise me he isn't a science major.

He's an engineering major... Im so sorry.

Thanks for the advice! I think for now I am going to try my luck with twist off bottles, simply because I have a great deal of them that I have saved up.

Once again, Thanks!

 

[Hello]

That's funny. Just tell him when you remove heat from a boiling pot it will stop boiling.

As for the bottles, I understand why you'd want to use them, but unless you're capping them right you will be wasting your brew. I don't know what recipe you're using but any time invested in brewing is valuable to me and risking the final product because of a lack of proper bottling seems foolish. Can you get a bench capper? Check craigslist, these things end up there from time to time.

 

[Ceetar]

I'd avoid the twist offs, but if you're tight on bottles save a couple to use last. I've accidentally capped a few and I was able to turn them over and shake them without anything leaking out so they're probably fine in many cases.

As I understand it, the cooling is more about beer clarity than anything it's going to do for taste (beyond extra time at high-heat bittering the hops a wee bit more) and also about getting it to temperature to pitch yeast so you can get it sealed and away from air-contaminates. I aspire to get a wort chiller one day, but in the mean time your ice-bath should do the trick to get it down from 100degrees to merely hot/warm. I've taken to doing this in the sink, letting the water warm/ice melt and then draining and refilling. Remember that moving water will chill it faster, so if you can set it up so the cold water flows past it, moving the heat away, it'll go fast. I usually get it down to 80-90 and just let it sit with the lid on to avoid anything falling in it, and pitch later in the night or even the next morning.

 

[BrewLocal365]

I've accidentally had a few screw-tops mixed in with my home brew bottles and it's an enormous frustration to me. Now only are they harder to properly cap (it has to be perfectly aligned), but I have found that they still make a less-than-perfect seal too often for my liking. Of course, if they will be consumed quickly (you are a college student) then it's less of a concern.

The WORST, though, is when you chip the edge and glass falls into the bottle. I have never had this problem with a regular top bottle but have with quite a few screw-tops. In fact, it's usually what alerts me when I'm in my robot bottling mode that I have screw-tops mixed in (usually donated by friends). Then you have to sanitize a fine mesh strainer and re-bottle, or worse (if you don't have a strainer), toss that bottle.

I'd advise buying a box of bottles online to be delivered. It'll be cheaper than buying enough craft brew to come up with the bottles (although a LOT less fun).

 

[MindenMan]

Go to your local bartender and ask for bottles. I haven't met one yet that won't part with a few bottles.

 

[ACbrewer]

Go to your local bartender and ask for bottles. I haven't met one yet that won't part with a few bottles.

This will work, especially if you are not picky on them. Corona bottles for instance are pop tops, but being clear, they are not a good choice for bottling. (brown is best). HOWEVER within the limits of $$$ and time stored, and location stored; free clear or green bottles can be used and then dumped when you get browns. You need about 50 (some report 48, I think I've gone to 55 or so because some were11.2 not 12oz)

Twist tops can be recapped, but the capper is more $$ (bench cappers and such), the basic 'black beauty' or 'red barron' - same designs just one is black, one is red - are inexpensive, and do a good job on pop tops.

 

[galexior]

I suppose it might just be better to invest in bottles, or ask the local bars. Shipping is just so expensive it makes me sad. There are probably 20-30 bars in the area, so there shouldn't be a shortage in bottles. For my first brew I'm simply using a recipe kit from a brew store near my old home (they now ship, which is awesome). I do plan on taking extensive notes and meticulous care in all aspects.

 

[Hello]

What state are you in, if you don't mind me asking? But still, recycling centers, bars (I didn't know that), and your buddies. There has to be someone in college who drinks something that doesn't have a twist off top. Back when I was in college it was cans mostly but nowadays, I see college students buying craft beer right next to me on Fridays.

 

[NickTheGreat]

A college kid should be able to get some free (used) bottles easily. Any bar or house party should get ya 50 without too much effort.

Oxyclean works really well to clean them and de-label them.

And just this last Sunday I turned off my burner, moved my pot onto my concrete slab (needed to fry something) and it didn't boil over. And I'm an actual engineer

 

[KepowOb]

This will work, especially if you are not picky on them. Corona bottles for instance are pop tops, but being clear, they are not a good choice for bottling. (brown is best). HOWEVER within the limits of $$$ and time stored, and location stored; free clear or green bottles can be used and then dumped when you get browns. You need about 50 (some report 48, I think I've gone to 55 or so because some were11.2 not 12oz)

Twist tops can be recapped, but the capper is more $$ (bench cappers and such), the basic 'black beauty' or 'red barron' - same designs just one is black, one is red - are inexpensive, and do a good job on pop tops.

Green and clear bottles work fine as long as you store them out of light (as ACbrewer says, brown is best). The majority of my bottles are green (being in Canada, everything except imports are twist-tops) and I've never had an issue. I have some 750ml clear ones, same thing. I store them in a box with a towel over it (just to be safe) to carb up, then move them to my fridge. Just make sure they don't get light no them, you don't want to skunk an entire batch.

As for the twist-tops... since I have an abundance of them, I tried as well. I had about 60 pry-tops, but with twist-tops being more readily available, I wanted to give it a shot. After attempting to bottle a few of them I realized it was a lost cause. As others have said, you gotta line it up just right, and even then it doesn't always seal good.