Air pocket in bottling wand

[maxwellwinter]

Ok so bear with me...I tried looking through the bottling/kegging thread but couldn't really find what I was looking for.

Just bottled Brewers Best West Coast IPA extract kit and am afraid I may have introduced too much oxygen while bottling. I use a 3" section of tubing attached to my bottling wand which then attaches straight to the spigot of my bottling bucket. I adjusted the spigot so that bottles would fill slowly as possible and things were going great...for a while. After about 2 gallons I noticed an air pocket and lots of air bubbles forming in the tubing (right under the tip of the spigot). I opened the spigot to increase flow which helped but was causing the bottles to fill a little more vigorous an had some air bubbles in the bottles. When I decreased flow the air pocket would return to the tubing.

What is this caused by and how do I ensure it doesn't happen again? In your opinion will the beer have "off favors"? Beer compromised? How much oxygen is "acceptable?" The FG sample tasted great so I really hope I didn't screw myself. Thanks in advance.

 

[Sailingeric]

You are fine. Odds are it was CO2 coming out of solution.

 

[microbusbrewery]

It was probably caused by CO2 coming out of suspension. The wand was probably trying to draw more liquid than the restricted spigot could supply, so it's essentially drawing a vacuum and the residual CO2 was forming bubbles. Open the spigot all the way; use the bottling wand itself to control the flow. BTW, were you really using 3 inches of tubing, or did you mean 3 feet? If 3 inches, I'd recommend 3 feet. I keg more often than bottle, but I will bottle for comps or if I have a beer I plan to age. I prefer 3/8" silicone tubing as it fits snugly over both the spigot and the bottling wand.

 

[maxwellwinter]

Yes, it was 3". It's a similar setup to the one Revvy uses in his bottling/kegging thread.

The bottling wand is pretty much all or nothing. It doesn't let me control the rate of flow. When the spigot is all the way open the bottles fill extremely fast and bubbles form...although it sounds like those could just be CO2.

Why would you increase the length of tubing? I don't see any advantage of using longer tubing bit I'm still new...

 

[meatcleaver]

you might want to try an even shorter piece of tubing so that you can slide the bottling wand all the way up to meet the bottom of the spigot. thats what i do.
I agree you should have your spigot fully open & if you haven't already, invest in a spring loaded wand...way better than the cheapos they give you with your starter kit.

 

[maxwellwinter]

Perfect. I'll definitely try a shorter section. I had a suspicion that the bottling wand was cheap. Definitely be buying a spring loaded one for my next bottling sesh.

 

[meatcleaver]

I have this one from NB. it comes apart for easy cleaning & it works famously. it drips a drop or 2 between bottles but really just a drop or 2.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...bottling-accessories/spring-tip-bottle-filler

 

[maxwellwinter]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[fun4stuff]

I once had this problem with my siphoner and it was due to a hairline crack in the siphoner where the vinyl tubing connected. It didn't not appear to be a 'through and through' crack. I bought a new siphoner and it fixed the problem.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I'm not familiar with Revvy's setup, but it sounds like it's intended to be hands-free on the wand. That should work just fine. On mine, I put the bottling bucket on the counter above the dishwasher, then rest the bottles on the open dishwasher door while filling, hence the need for about 3' of tubing. +1 what meatcleaver said, get a wand with a spring loaded tip. The non-spring loaded ones would probably leak/drip due to lower back pressure from the shorter tubing.

 

[charliehorse]

I once had this problem with my siphoner and it was due to a hairline crack in the siphoner where the vinyl tubing connected. It didn't not appear to be a 'through and through' crack. I bought a new siphoner and it fixed the problem.

If you get a bottling bucket, you won't have to worry about your syphon. You'll also have the added benefit of not worrying about trub getting into your bottles (boil a couple of cups of water and add your priming sugar then dump that directly into your bottling bucket and rack your beer on top).

 

[fun4stuff]

I keg now and prefer less steps and less to clean. I find that gelatin plus cold crashing does an excellent job at clearing beer without that extra step of a bottling bucket (or small added risk of oxidation). I do now use a stainless steel racking cane though and no longer use the same pump siphoner, which I abhorred.

My point was for the OP to check for small cracks in his plastic equipment. The crack I had was not an obvious crack- just small thin, nondisplaced short white line but it was enough to suck in air while siphoning.

Of course if anyone asked me I would first recommend they keg if they can afford it. I think the ease and time it saves is well worth the start up cost.

 

[charliehorse]

Of course if anyone asked me I would first recommend they keg if they can afford it. I think the ease and time it saves is well worth the start up cost.

And if they can't, pick up coins in parking lots until they can. Seriously, once you start kegging, you won't want to bottle, except fro the rare occasion.

 

[maxwellwinter]

Thanks for tips. So kegging really that much easier? And what makes it easier? How much would it cost for a basic kegging setup?

 

[fun4stuff]

Thanks for tips. So kegging really that much easier? And what makes it easier? How much would it cost for a basic kegging setup?

With keg'ing you no longer have to clean 25-50 bottles (both after drinking and before bottling) and also no longer have to cap that many- this saves a ton of time. You don't have to worry about priming sugar and have much better control over carbonation... And you can drink your beer much sooner: best after 5-10 days but there are ways to carb and drink on day 1 (force carb or carbonator cap).

How much it costs depends on what you have already and how good Craigslist is in your area. if you an old minifridge or regular fridge available, then it'll only cost a couple $100. You could start with the minimum: 5 lb co2 tank, 5 gallon keg, tubing, primary regulator, and picnic tap. If you need a fridge, you can usually find them for cheap on Craigs list... That would usually be another $50-150. If you build a keezer, it'll cost more but you can always wait to buy more kegs or faucets and just use picnic taps.