Am I the only guy that actually enjoys bottling ?

[BierMuncher]

...Most keggers run screaming from it like the gurly gurls they are, then they complain about it and come onto bottling threads acting like the poster is too dumb to not have ever heard about kegs...but they're the dumb ones, they were DEFEATED BY BOTTLES...that's the same as being beaten by a gurl. If you look in the dictionary under WUSSIE you see the words KEGGER the thirs entry down.

"keggers were defeated by bottles".

Hmmm..

Hadn't heard quite that spin put on it before. Those bottles must have really beaten the hell out of me. I mean...20 kegs, 10 taps, two stationary kegerators and one rolling kegerator? Half a dozen catered parties a year with homebrew on tap?

Yep...those bottles were merciless to me alright.

 

[BBBF]

I don't mind bottling, but my kegs and numberous flip-top bottles would make you think otherwise.

 

[metaltim]

I bottled my first 16 batches (~800 bottles) before I bought my first kegging system. I didn't mind it, I had my system down pat, I stored empty bottles in beer cases in xtra bedroom closet.
but i must say, kegging was much easier, and I'd never go back to bottles.

 

[jessup]

i really don't mind bottling. it takes me about 45 minutes per 5 gal batch using all 12 oz bottles. if i use bombers, even less time! what's so bad about that? plus you can age for long periods, hide bottles to find later on down the road and bring them whereever you want whenever you want. i do have a 3 gal corny for serving and a coupla 5 gal cornies for aging, but other than that bottles are king in my domain. bottling is especially important for sours, the champagne bottles with corks and cages are so nice and presentable i couldn't imagine serving from a keg.

 

[rico567]

I bottled my seond batch today. It took all of an hour and a half, from brewing my morning coffee to actually rinsing the carboys outside. It wasn't a ten gallon batch, but I did fill around 30 bombers.

Maybe that's the secret: bombers that have been baked in the oven the night before. I just had to rip the foil off, fill, place a cap and seal with the bench capper. The actual bottling phase took all of 30 minutes...

Now, cleaning bottles and getting the labels off. I still have three cases of bombers to do plus another of 12 ouncers to have enough bottles for my next batches and I can tell it is going to suck immensely.

No, no you're not. I bottle only, and look upon kegging as needless expense, maintenance, and complexity.
My bottles get sanitized and sit in the dishwasher for about two hours after it runs until I'm ready to bottle. From then, like you, it's about 90 minutes until I'm done with cleanup. Quick & easy....and I mostly do 12 oz. longnecks.

 

[jfr1111]

I'm thinking of picking up a bottling tree and one of those sanitizer dispensers to make things more fun. do you think it's worth it? last time i just filled em completely with star san then dumped the star san right before filling them.

You do know you don't have to fill them completly with starsan right ? And that starsan solution keep for months ?

 

[northernlad]

I'm thinking of picking up a bottling tree and one of those sanitizer dispensers to make things more fun. do you think it's worth it? last time i just filled em completely with star san then dumped the star san right before filling them.

The best thing I ever did was get a Vinator. I got a used dish rack from work that holds 49 bottles.

 

[sportscrazed2]

cool i think i am going to get one of those bottle trees with a vinator. do most hold 22 oz bottles? I think i'm going to use only 22oz bottles from now on. also do you have to sanitize the tree or just the bottles?

 

[northernlad]

I spray down the pegs of my dishrack for good measure.

 

[randomsample]

I brew with a friend who doesn't have kegs, so we've been switching off between bottling and kegging. I have to say that I do like having bottles around: it really makes you appreciate each beer more.


I don't trust my bottling bucket (I use it as a sanitizer bucket exclusively), so we:
-boil the priming sugar solution
-cool it in the freezer
-toss it in a sanitized keg (lines and all)
-rack beer on top
-bottle from picnic tap on very low pressure
-rack second batch to keg, carb etc.

It's really not too bad with two people, one person filling one capping/emptying sanitizer from bottles. That being said it's a lot harder than kegging.

 

[MrInternet]

I enjoy bottling... I always do it after everyone's in bed. It's serene... turn on a Brewing Network podcast, fill up the bucket, and sort of zen out. It's never more than a couple hours' effort, and it's nice to be able to pass them out/share.

That being said, I'm moving up to 10G batches, and I like the idea of filling a keg and bottling the rest. Or bottling from kegs, always wanted to try that. I just like the idea of saying I know how to do everything associated with homebrewing, so I want to try it all.

 

[BierMuncher]

When it comes to kegging and bottles...you can have your cake and eat it too.

Whether I'm running next door for an evening backyard fire, or heading out to a big bash, just a few minutes with the BMBF and I can tote along as many bottles as I want.