Preparing To Bottle For The First Time -- Some Questions

[kyoun1e]

Folks,

I'm targeting mid next week for my first bottling effort. By that time my IPA will have been in the fermenter for 2.5 weeks. I've read most of that bottling thread and watched a ton of videos, but just wanted to confirm some things and ask some advice on others.

Here we go...WARNING: Long post!

1. Cleaning

Would you recommend a thorough cleaning for bottles? These are new bottles. Could certainly dunk them in some oxyclean overnight or just rinse out in hot water.

2. Sanitization

I plan on dunking all the tubing, racking cane, etc. in starsan solution, connecting the tubing from the bottling bucket and running some starsan solution through the whole apparatus prior. Figure that will take care of the bucket and all tubing connected. On bottles, do most dunk in starsan solution? Or would a quick, few squirts of starsan via the vinator be ok? I keep hearing you need 2 minutes of contact? Ideally, I'd just pump each bottle on the vinator and then stick the bottle on the bottle tree to dry.

Also, do you sanitize all the bottles at once? Or do you sanitize one, fill it, put it down, repeat?

3. Priming Solution

Just want to be clear on this. Three questions:

a) It's 2 cups of water to a boil, dump in priming sugar and stir till dissolved. Do you need to boil for 10 minutes and then dump in the sugar? Or right when it boils?

b) You then let it cool. Cool to touch? Or to 75 degrees?

c) Does it matter if you put the priming sugar in before or after you start siphoning the beer into the bucket? I've seen both.

4. Siphoning Into Bottling Bucket

Curious what works best for folks here. Based on videos I've seen, I often see two people working together. Reasons: You want to keep the racking cane tip near the top of fermenter to avoid the crud and you also want to keep the siphon that goes into the bottling bucket "quiet" and near the side of the bucket.

For the above, does anyone use some kind of clamp for both the racking cane in the fermenter and the siphon in the bucket? Or do you just hope you're coordinated that day? Lol.

Also, how long of a tube do you use on average for siphoning from the racking cane? I have 4 feet and plan on elevating the fermenter on a table and putting the bottling bucket on the floor. Seems ok, but I've practiced and definitely see a little risk here.

5. Bottle Filling & Capping

A few questions here:

a) Assume you should put the lid on the bottling bucket so nothing falls in there.

b) I don't love the idea of grabbing one bottle, filling it, and then putting it to the side one by one. I could see myself knocking a whole bunch of bottles over. Curious if anyone gets some kind of small container or tub that fits 24 bottles nicely so that a) they stand sturdy there while you bottle, and b) in the case where you fill too much, any excess falls into the container. I could then lift that whole bunch up at once and move to capping. Make sense? What do you use?

c) Caps: Was thinking of sanitizing a bowl and putting caps in starsan solution. I can just pick them up and put on the top of the bottle with my hand. Hand would be constantly in starsan so I'm thinking that's ok.

d) Capping: Do most fill all of their bottles first, put their caps on, and do a bunch of bottling? Or do you fill and then cap, fill and then cap each one? I've read that the cap should sit on the bottle a while.

Sorry for the long post and all the questions. Just want to nail this.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kh54s10]

My ideas in red.

Folks,

I'm targeting mid next week for my first bottling effort. By that time my IPA will have been in the fermenter for 2.5 weeks. I've read most of that bottling thread and watched a ton of videos, but just wanted to confirm some things and ask some advice on others.

Here we go...WARNING: Long post!

1. Cleaning

Would you recommend a thorough cleaning for bottles? These are new bottles. Could certainly dunk them in some oxyclean overnight or just rinse out in hot water.

Clean them. I don't think you need to do much. A dunk in an Oxyclean solution and a good rinse should do.

2. Sanitization

I plan on dunking all the tubing, racking cane, etc. in starsan solution, connecting the tubing from the bottling bucket and running some starsan solution through the whole apparatus prior. Figure that will take care of the bucket and all tubing connected. On bottles, do most dunk in starsan solution? Or would a quick, few squirts of starsan via the vinator be ok? I keep hearing you need 2 minutes of contact? Ideally, I'd just pump each bottle on the vinator and then stick the bottle on the bottle tree to dry.

Also, do you sanitize all the bottles at once? Or do you sanitize one, fill it, put it down, repeat?

A couple of squirts with the Vinator then dunk the neck,
put that bottle, neck down, on the bottom rack of your dishwasher do another until you have more than enough for the whole batch.

3. Priming Solution

Just want to be clear on this. Three questions:

a) It's 2 cups of water to a boil, dump in priming sugar and stir till dissolved. Do you need to boil for 10 minutes and then dump in the sugar? Or right when it boils?

I put it in when hot enough to dissolve, then bring to a boil. I go less than one minute.

b) You then let it cool. Cool to touch? Or to 75 degrees?

I don't let it cool. It is a very small amount of hot in a large amount of cool wort.

c) Does it matter if you put the priming sugar in before or after you start siphoning the beer into the bucket? I've seen both.

I start the siphon first. For protection of the bucket against 200 degrees.

4. Siphoning Into Bottling Bucket

Curious what works best for folks here. Based on videos I've seen, I often see two people working together. Reasons: You want to keep the racking cane tip near the top of fermenter to avoid the crud and you also want to keep the siphon that goes into the bottling bucket "quiet" and near the side of the bucket.

For the above, does anyone use some kind of clamp for both the racking cane in the fermenter and the siphon in the bucket? Or do you just hope you're coordinated that day? Lol.

I bottle alone so no one else to help hold anything.
I have a clip for my autosiphon, I don't use it. Start the siphon high,
lower it as the level drops, tilt the fermenter so you get as much beer as you can. Stop when you see debris in the tubing.

Also, how long of a tube do you use on average for siphoning from the racking cane? I have 4 feet and plan on elevating the fermenter on a table and putting the bottling bucket on the floor. Seems ok, but I've practiced and definitely see a little risk here.

Get a siphon hose long enough to go from the fermenter to the bottom of the bottling bucket and lay in a curve along the side on the bottom of the bucket so it swirls when flowing. You definitely want it all the way to the bottom of the bottling bucket. NO SPLASHING.

5. Bottle Filling & Capping

A few questions here:

a) Assume you should put the lid on the bottling bucket so nothing falls in there.

I don't

b) I don't love the idea of grabbing one bottle, filling it, and then putting it to the side one by one. I could see myself knocking a whole bunch of bottles over. Curious if anyone gets some kind of small container or tub that fits 24 bottles nicely so that a) they stand sturdy there while you bottle, and b) in the case where you fill too much, any excess falls into the container. I could then lift that whole bunch up at once and move to capping. Make sense? What do you use?

I put a pan under the spigot to catch overflow. I then fill a bottle, put it on the table, place a cap on top, fill another etc, then crimp all the caps at once. In six years I have knocked over one bottle.

c) Caps: Was thinking of sanitizing a bowl and putting caps in starsan solution. I can just pick them up and put on the top of the bottle with my hand. Hand would be constantly in starsan so I'm thinking that's ok.

I put the caps in the Vinator.

d) Capping: Do most fill all of their bottles first, put their caps on, and do a bunch of bottling? Or do you fill and then cap, fill and then cap each one? I've read that the cap should sit on the bottle a while.

See above. I feel that if you wait a little before crimping the co2 might force oxygen out.

Sorry for the long post and all the questions. Just want to nail this.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Biscuits]

Same as above...my thoughts in red.

Folks,

I'm targeting mid next week for my first bottling effort. By that time my IPA will have been in the fermenter for 2.5 weeks. I've read most of that bottling thread and watched a ton of videos, but just wanted to confirm some things and ask some advice on others.

Here we go...WARNING: Long post!

1. Cleaning

Would you recommend a thorough cleaning for bottles? These are new bottles. Could certainly dunk them in some oxyclean overnight or just rinse out in hot water.

2. Sanitization

I plan on dunking all the tubing, racking cane, etc. in starsan solution, connecting the tubing from the bottling bucket and running some starsan solution through the whole apparatus prior. Figure that will take care of the bucket and all tubing connected. On bottles, do most dunk in starsan solution? Or would a quick, few squirts of starsan via the vinator be ok? I keep hearing you need 2 minutes of contact? Ideally, I'd just pump each bottle on the vinator and then stick the bottle on the bottle tree to dry.

Also, do you sanitize all the bottles at once? Or do you sanitize one, fill it, put it down, repeat?

The easiest thing to do with brand new equipment is to vill your bottling bucket with your starsan solution and do a 'dry' run of bottling. This will run starsan through all of the equipment you need for bottling, including the bottles..and it will give you a practice run to make sure there are no leaks and it will give you a feel for the process.

3. Priming Solution

Just want to be clear on this. Three questions:

a) It's 2 cups of water to a boil, dump in priming sugar and stir till dissolved. Do you need to boil for 10 minutes and then dump in the sugar? Or right when it boils?

b) You then let it cool. Cool to touch? Or to 75 degrees?

c) Does it matter if you put the priming sugar in before or after you start siphoning the beer into the bucket? I've seen both.

Bring water to boil - add sugar being careful not to clump - allow to dissolve and boil for 10 minutes. I don't know if there is a hard and fast rule, but I let bottling sugar cool to within 10-20 degress of my wort and I add it first and rack on top of it.


4. Siphoning Into Bottling Bucket

Curious what works best for folks here. Based on videos I've seen, I often see two people working together. Reasons: You want to keep the racking cane tip near the top of fermenter to avoid the crud and you also want to keep the siphon that goes into the bottling bucket "quiet" and near the side of the bucket.

For the above, does anyone use some kind of clamp for both the racking cane in the fermenter and the siphon in the bucket? Or do you just hope you're coordinated that day? Lol.

Also, how long of a tube do you use on average for siphoning from the racking cane? I have 4 feet and plan on elevating the fermenter on a table and putting the bottling bucket on the floor. Seems ok, but I've practiced and definitely see a little risk here.

I use about 5 feet of tube. You want to make sure it can reach the bottom of the bottling bucket to avoid splashing. Some siphons come with a clamp for the side of the bucket, but I have never had much success with them...you just have to feel it out. You're going to suck up some trub....it's just the way it is, just try not to get too much.


5. Bottle Filling & Capping

A few questions here:

a) Assume you should put the lid on the bottling bucket so nothing falls in there.

b) I don't love the idea of grabbing one bottle, filling it, and then putting it to the side one by one. I could see myself knocking a whole bunch of bottles over. Curious if anyone gets some kind of small container or tub that fits 24 bottles nicely so that a) they stand sturdy there while you bottle, and b) in the case where you fill too much, any excess falls into the container. I could then lift that whole bunch up at once and move to capping. Make sense? What do you use?


Everyone has their own methods...if you have a box or something to set the bottles in by all means use it. I usually fill six bottles at a time, cap them, and repeat. Putting a top on it is not a bad idea..just set it on top.

c) Caps: Was thinking of sanitizing a bowl and putting caps in starsan solution. I can just pick them up and put on the top of the bottle with my hand. Hand would be constantly in starsan so I'm thinking that's ok.

This is what I do with great success.

 

[kyoun1e]

Kh5 and Biscuits,

Thanks much for the responses.

I love the idea of doing a dry run. First, I think I need to nail the size of the siphon tube to make sure it coils at the bottom of the bottling bucket as you say. And then as part of sanitization, also love the idea of running starsan solution through bucket, spigot, tube, and bottling wand to a few bottles. If I can get that right, I sanitize and can get in the groove. Brilliant.

On priming solution, sounds like it's ok to put in first or after the brew starts flowing. Still somewhat unclear on boiling of the solution, but it sounds like it doesn't matter too much.

Have a feeling I may be more apt to fill a few bottles and then cap 'em to mix it up a bit. I could totally see me filling 48 bottles without caps and my 10 year old daughter knocking them all over! Would also allow me to stand up and stretch a bit.

Probably going to have more questions, but feeling better about this. Going to set up the "bottling operation" with an old table and set up in the basement. Will maybe take a pic and see what everyone thinks.

Thanks!

 

[kyoun1e]

Yeah, it looks like I need a longer hose.

I just put the bottling bucket on a milk crate and it still seems like when I lift the racking cane that the tube may come out of the bucket. And this is a 5 ft hose. Think I need 7 ft.

 

[kyoun1e]

Got the 7 ft tube. Much better. Also a nifty little tube holder for the bottling bucket which should keep the siphon tube "quiet" and in place.

Read the sticky on bottling and one of the key recommendations was attaching the bottling wand to the spigot with 2-3 inches of tubing and tiny clamps. I just cut off a small piece of tube and that seems to fit rather snugly into the spigot and the wand. Don't even think I need a clamp at all. Will practice to make sure.

Also think I may end up having the same setup as Revvy in that bottling sticky. If I put the bottling bucket on top of another bucket and piece of plywood that are all on the table, my bottling could be close to eye level.

Things may be coming together...

 

[AkTom]

All the above is good. I don't boil my water. 1 cup hot out of the tap (well water) mix my sugar, dump into bucket and siphon on top. What ever works for you. Sorry, it's only beer. Relax, etc.
Brew on.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I agree with all of the above. However, I do keep a lid resting on top of my bottling bucket while I bottle. I tend to have fruit flies around and even one in your wort will turn your beer to vinegar in no time

 

[C-Rider]

Here is another video....Answers most questions w/actions.

 

[kyoun1e]

C-Rider...thanks for the video. Dude seems pretty relaxed.

Think I'm going to be moving left to right. Grab a bottle with my left hand, fill it, put it on the right on the table where it is ready to be capped. Maybe do 6 at a time, repeat.

One quick question on sanitizing bottles: If you soak the bottles in starsan, do they need to dry before bottling? Or could they go right to bottling? I was thinking of soaking say, 6 at a time, have my vinator handy for maybe one last squirt or two, and then taking it right to filling the bottle.

 

[thehaze]

If you have the possiblity to get a grain bag ( one used for mashing BIAB ), you could put the siphon in and then siphon from the fermenter, to get a clearer beer in the bottles.

Boil and sanitize the bag. But it should actually filter lots of unwanted debris from the yeast cake and the hops, if you used it.

 

[kyoun1e]

If you have the possiblity to get a grain bag ( one used for mashing BIAB ), you could put the siphon in and then siphon from the fermenter, to get a clearer beer in the bottles.

Boil and sanitize the bag. But it should actually filter lots of unwanted debris from the yeast cake and the hops, if you used it.

Huh...this seems to make a ton of sense yet I see nobody doing it. So a regular muslin bag?

 

[eadavis80]

One thing I think will really help is if you cut off like a 1-2" piece of plastic tubing and connect it to your bottling wand. Then, attach that fixture to the bottling bucket's spigot. I rest the bottling bucket (covered in sanitized foil) on my counter and sit in a folding chair and bottle 12 and then cap. Repeat 4 times. As for the priming sugar solution, I cool it to the touch before adding it to the bottling bucket and then rack on top of the beer. After racking from carboy to the bucket, I remove the siphon from the carboy and then gently stir the priming sugar and beer up with the siphon to help ensure proper mixing of the priming sugar. Use a priming sugar calculator to find out how much sugar to use. 5 oz. is usually way too much for 5 gallons of most beer styles. Have fun and enjoy!

 

[thehaze]

A regular brew bag like these should work fine: https://www.brewinabag.com/

I think muslin bags might not work as well, due to the bigger holes, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think this could be a good thing to try and see if it pays up.

Let us know if it worked.

 

[thehaze]

Huh...this seems to make a ton of sense yet I see nobody doing it. So a regular muslin bag?

A muslin bag could work, if the holdes are not too big/wide. But I think something like https://www.brewinabag.com/ might work better.

 

[Revvy]

Have you looked at my bottling tips sticky? It will make your bottling easier.

 

[EagleScout]

The thing I like to do is, the night before or first thing in the morning, run the bottles through the dishwasher with the sanitize setting on. Then I only need to wash and sanitize my buckets and tubing before I start. I also fill the bottles on the door of the dishwasher so that I just need to close the door and run a rinse cycle when I'm done to clean up any overflow.

 

[kyoun1e]

One thing I think will really help is if you cut off like a 1-2" piece of plastic tubing and connect it to your bottling wand. Then, attach that fixture to the bottling bucket's spigot. I rest the bottling bucket (covered in sanitized foil) on my counter and sit in a folding chair and bottle 12 and then cap. Repeat 4 times. As for the priming sugar solution, I cool it to the touch before adding it to the bottling bucket and then rack on top of the beer. After racking from carboy to the bucket, I remove the siphon from the carboy and then gently stir the priming sugar and beer up with the siphon to help ensure proper mixing of the priming sugar. Use a priming sugar calculator to find out how much sugar to use. 5 oz. is usually way too much for 5 gallons of most beer styles. Have fun and enjoy!

I did exactly that the other day -- I cut off 2-3 inches of tubing and connected my spigot and wand. It seems pretty snug to the point where I don't even think I need any clamps. Going to do a dry run with water and see how it goes.

 

[kyoun1e]

A regular brew bag like these should work fine: https://www.brewinabag.com/

I think muslin bags might not work as well, due to the bigger holes, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think this could be a good thing to try and see if it pays up.

Let us know if it worked.

Actually, this bag looks perfect for aerating my wort no? My process is to dump the wort into a sanitized bucket first then into the carboy. On my first brew, the transfer to the carboy got tricky because the funnel strainer got clogged. I was thinking if I had some kind of strainer over the sanitized bucket first to grab crud it would then make the transfer from bucket to carboy even better.

Would this brew bag work for that? Basically as a strainer?

Thanks

 

[kyoun1e]

Have you looked at my bottling tips sticky? It will make your bottling easier.

I have!

I actually may have your same setup where I put my bottling bucket on top of another bucket and piece of plywood. By elevating it and then attaching the wand to the spigot I'm thinking I could have a comfortable setup.

 

[kh54s10]

One quick question on sanitizing bottles: If you soak the bottles in starsan, do they need to dry before bottling? Or could they go right to bottling? I was thinking of soaking say, 6 at a time, have my vinator handy for maybe one last squirt or two, and then taking it right to filling the bottle.

Do not let Starsan dry. If it does it is no longer working.

If you have the possiblity to get a grain bag ( one used for mashing BIAB ), you could put the siphon in and then siphon from the fermenter, to get a clearer beer in the bottles.

Boil and sanitize the bag. But it should actually filter lots of unwanted debris from the yeast cake and the hops, if you used it.

If you siphon carefully you should not get more that just a tiny bit at the very end of the process. It tells you to stop!

On my first brew, the transfer to the carboy got tricky because the funnel strainer got clogged. I was thinking if I had some kind of strainer over the sanitized bucket first to grab crud it would then make the transfer from bucket to carboy even better.

Would this brew bag work for that? Basically as a strainer?

Thanks

I use a paint strainer bag to contain my hops. That is most of the debris. The rest goes into the fermenter. I don't strain. You don't need to. All the junk will settle to the bottom and compact fairly tightly. Some say all that stuff is actually good for the beer.