Am I the only one who enjoys bottling?

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I don't mind bottling at all. I still bottle lots of beers, although I also have 2 kegs. The anticipation of how the beer will turn out, from carbonation, colour, clarity, aroma, taste, etc. is one of the points that keep me going.

I've bottled more than 100 batches, which in total gives about 5000 bottles, more or less. So I don't mind it. I do like kegging as well. It's fast, easy and you do the whole batch from one go, without the time and energy spent on cleaning bottles, rinsing, cleaning equipment, filling and capping each bottle, etc.
 
I dont have any problems bottling, altough I brew smaller batches and put 8.5 or 10.5 liters in bottles each time. When we get a bigger house in a couple years I will probably start kegging but likely keep bottling bigger beers to keep for longer periods.
And having a SO who helps is crucial, when wife fills the bottles and I squirt a little co2 and cap, we are usually done within an hour from pulling the fermenter out of the FC to start cleaning the bottling bucket and fermenting bucket.
 
thehaze said:
I don't mind bottling at all. I still bottle lots of beers, although I also have 2 kegs. The anticipation of how the beer will turn out, from carbonation, colour, clarity, aroma, taste, etc. is one of the points that keep me going.

I've bottled more than 100 batches, which in total gives about 5000 bottles, more or less. So I don't mind it. I do like kegging as well. It's fast, easy and you do the whole batch from one go, without the time and energy spent on cleaning bottles, rinsing, cleaning equipment, filling and capping each bottle, etc.
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That seems like a good approach, kegging the rotational everyday beers, and bottling the bigger ones.
I might just imagine it, but I think belgians, strong ales etc just aint the same without bottle conditioning.
 
I've been kegging for several years, but now I'm thinking of spending some of my stimulus cash on a Blictmann beer gun and bottle off the kegs when there is about a gallon or so left.
Bottling is a tiresome chore, but I think hand bottled homebrew can become oxidized and if you don't drink it up quickly, your beer quality goes downhill. I noticed an improvement in my beer when I switched to kegs.
These days I usually only bottle high ABV imperial stouts and barley wines, or very small batch experiments.
 
I need to both keg and bottle. Not all batches go on keg, some favor being bottled and put up separately. Others do better on keg where you are pulling pints every night.

The great thing about home kegged beer is that you are pulling a clean glassful of clear beer without bottle dregs.

The great thing about bottles is the wide variety of batches you can have on hand from previous brew sessions and better portability.

Beer chores are beer chores, whether bottling, cleaning kegs, carboy, lines, etc. most brewers have high tolerance for mundane tasks like this otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.

The downside is the huge space requirements for it all. That is the one thing I did not envision when I started brewing. It just seemed like such a cool hobby to be able to make beer...
 
I have 2.5 and 3 gal kegs. Usually I keg half and bottle half of a 5 gal batch. I moved an hour away from my brewing and drinking buddies a few years ago. Carrying a short keg around is a PitA so I travel and share with bottles and drink out of kegs at home. Sanitizing and storing bottles sux, but it’s just part of the deal. I would not go so far as to say I enjoy bottling, but it’s better than stepping on a nail.
 
Like somebody else said, my kegerator has 2 taps and space for 3 kegs. I don’t have a second kegerator or a keezer in the garage. So if I was happy with being limited to 2 beers at once, I wouldn’t bottle.

My 2 kegs on tap and the spare waiting are all full. I have 12 cases of bottles, 9 of those have beer in them and the other 3 are spoken for.

Do I “enjoy” bottling? Not really. But I don’t hate it or dread it. I’m filling 30 bottles with my batches instead of 50, so that makes it a little better.

Designing labels in Photoshop is a whole lot of fun and I probably spend more time on labels than I do on bottling. I found the Fastlabels about a year ago and they are great, no more gluing and scraping labels.

It is great to be able to give away a few beers or put some in competitions, etc. But I hate it when people don’t give you the bottles back, even after you ask and remind them every time.
 
I don't mind bottling. It's just part of the process. Besides, it forces me to allow the beer to condition longer. I have a rotation; after two weeks of conditioning to carb up I move the bottles into basement storage and then move them into the fridge a six pack or two at a time. It's fun to watch the taste evolve over time.
 
Snuffy said:
I have 2.5 and 3 gal kegs. Usually I keg half and bottle half of a 5 gal batch. I moved an hour away from my brewing and drinking buddies a few years ago. Carrying a short keg around is a PitA so I travel and share with bottles and drink out of kegs at home. Sanitizing and storing bottles sux, but it’s just part of the deal. I would not go so far as to say I enjoy bottling, but it’s better than stepping on a nail.
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Better than going to the dentist.
 
I keg, but I still bottle styles that I prefer bottled or want to keep a long time like Belgians or barrel-aged beers. I don't think it's an either-or proposition, and that "you'll never look back." I don't particularly enjoy kegging or bottling; one just takes a little more time than the other. I don't understand why some brewers talk about bottling as though it's a form of torture.
 
hamachi said:
In so many threads, I see people comment about what a drag bottling was for them and how happy they were when they finally moved to kegging. But I enjoy bottling days almost as much as brew days, and in some ways more because the process is simpler, and it's when I finally get to sample the (admittedly still flat) product.

I find the rhythm of sanitizing, filling, and capping relaxing. I like being able to give 6 packs to friends. I really like being able to keep a large number of beer varieties at hand. (I currently have 20+ different types available.)

Does anyone else really like bottling, or am I the only one?
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You aren’t alone, I enjoy it too. I used to keg and just didn’t care for it. I drink maybe 5-6 out of each batch I make, the rest goes to friends and family.
 
I’d never go back to carbing in the bottle but I recently starting bottling from the keg a little bit. When I want to get something new on tap or I’m getting tired of a big batch, bottle some of it to empty a keg.
 
For the last 8-10 years I've been collecting old, embossed beer bottles at garage sales, estate sales, and a few antique stores. I now have a couple hundred from mostly small, defunct breweries. I even have a 2-liter "picnic bottle", which was made for just that reason. Most are from the midwest, where so many Germans settled in the mid-1800's. I really like their uniqueness. A lot of the older bottles are thicker glass so are well-suited to higher carb level Belgians, etc. (long ago, exploding bottles, glass shards, etc. actually taught me something). I'm among the "crank up some tunes and enjoy" group. I also like the portability as well as being able to have many styles available to choose from at any time.
 
porterguy said:
For the last 8-10 years I've been collecting old, embossed beer bottles at garage sales, estate sales, and a few antique stores. I now have a couple hundred from mostly small, defunct breweries. I even have a 2-liter "picnic bottle", which was made for just that reason. Most are from the midwest, where so many Germans settled in the mid-1800's. I really like their uniqueness. A lot of the older bottles are thicker glass so are well-suited to higher carb level Belgians, etc. (long ago, exploding bottles, glass shards, etc. actually taught me something). I'm among the "crank up some tunes and enjoy" group. I also like the portability as well as being able to have many styles available to choose from at any time.
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Very cool. I don’t have anything like that but I have 2 cases of Fullers bottles I use only for barleywine, 1 case of Young’s Old Nick bottles which is missing 1 or 2 of the bottles and most of a case from Worthington’s White Shield, 16oz, again missing 1 or 2 bottles I probably gave away and never got back. I won’t give any of these away.
 
I don't hate it I just prefer kegged beer. I haven't carbonated in a bottle for probably the last 4 years or so. But the first few years of brewing I did about 6.25 gallons into the fermenter. I kegged 5 gallons (never want to be short) and would bottle the extra 1/2 to 1 gallon that I would have left. The kegged beer to me was better 100% of the time on every single batch. Some of the bottled beer didn't even remotely taste the same and some was fairly close. I am cheap and don't want to waste my money so I did this double process. I have switched from bottling the extra beer to using 2 liter bottles and force carbonating with a stainless steel cap with a little beer line that goes to the bottom of the bottle. I've got carbonated beer to drink right then and there if I want to. It is not mature obviously but better than flat if your giving it to the wife or neighbor who might pop in. I've never minded flat gravity samples myself. I don't get the comments about drinking the last out of the bucket unless your are adding sugar directly to the bottles which the drops would make sense then as no sugar in the bucket. Tried the Blichmann gun and sent that back, little plunger on the end never wanted to seal right an beer dribbling or squirting everywhere sucked. If I want to send a buddy with bottles instead of growlers or 2 liter bottles I use growler tubes that I put in the taps for filling bottles. Hit it with CO2, then fill cap on foam or hit it on top with CO2 then cap. Everyone has their own tastes.
 
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Bottling is all I know and I don’t mind it that much.
The only thing that causes me to consider the move to kegging is that I still have trouble achieving a consistent level of carbonation. It would be nice to be able to dial that in.
 
porterguy said:
For the last 8-10 years I've been collecting old, embossed beer bottles at garage sales, estate sales, and a few antique stores. I now have a couple hundred from mostly small, defunct breweries. I even have a 2-liter "picnic bottle", which was made for just that reason. Most are from the midwest, where so many Germans settled in the mid-1800's.
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Yeah I was on that track too, I even restored them with flip tops for bottling.

Then you realize most of these old bottles were buried in the ground or thrown into outhouses. Then you try to clean them adequately and realize there are all these popped holes inside the bottles that hold crud and cannot be cleaned.

So you end up like me not using them, but end up with a collection of embossed bottles.
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381C9ED4-790C-4299-9AAB-7D375EB9D517.jpeg
8892CEBC-A398-41A7-A79F-C8DE53798DC9.jpeg
 
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hamachi said:
In so many threads, I see people comment about what a drag bottling was for them and how happy they were when they finally moved to kegging. But I enjoy bottling days almost as much as brew days, and in some ways more because the process is simpler, and it's when I finally get to sample the (admittedly still flat) product.

I find the rhythm of sanitizing, filling, and capping relaxing. I like being able to give 6 packs to friends. I really like being able to keep a large number of beer varieties at hand. (I currently have 20+ different types available.)

Does anyone else really like bottling, or am I the only one?
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Yes!
 
My abhorrence for bottling pushed me into kegging and so far have never looked back. Still have bottling equipment for the occasional bottle but have no plans on bottling full batches.
 
madscientist451 said:
I've been kegging for several years, but now I'm thinking of spending some of my stimulus cash on a Blictmann beer gun and bottle off the kegs when there is about a gallon or so left.
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I do this on occasion, especially when I get tired of something and want to get another something on tap.

I should invest in a beergun.
 
I enjoy bottling, but I'm retired and have plenty of spare time. I enjoy seeing the row of iridescent, freshly-capped bottles build up on the counter like so many jewels in a dragon's hoard. Kegs, and I own several from my wine-making days, remind me of the muffler on the Minneapolis Moline tractor I learned to drive on. Sure, I know; looks aren't everything. Lucky for me, too, or the woman who bought me my brewing setup for Christmas two years ago would never have married me. But I enjoy bottling, bottled beers, and the enviable task of pouring a fresh one into a glass without disturbing the yeast layer.

My precious! Oh, my precious!
 
I didn’t find bottling to be such a pain once I had a ”system” for doing it. I only brew for me so it isn’t like I brew more that 5 gallons at a time or 2-3 times a month. Nonetheless, kegs — actually, mini kegs have some appeal — I live in a smallish one bedroom condo so I brew in the kitchen. I’m more concerned about getting a small fridge or freezer for better control of fermentation. I’ve heard of some leaving the hobby because they hate bottling but I wonder if they were really not that excited about brewing if that was the reason for quitting.
 
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I could add to my earlier post that I really think for me, kegs would be a slippery slope. I've seen a few posts about being able to only pour a small glass instead of having to drink an entire bottle. I can't be the only one that would tend to lose track or take pulls every time I walked by the damn tap, right?
 
Immocles said:
I could add to my earlier post that I really think for me, kegs would be a slippery slope. I've seen a few posts about being able to only pour a small glass instead of having to drink an entire bottle. I can't be the only one that would tend to lose track or take pulls every time I walked by the damn tap, right?
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well, my glasses are much bigger than 12 oz, so I can say "Honey I have only had 3 beers" when it is actually 3 24oz beers.
 
porterguy said:
For the last 8-10 years I've been collecting old, embossed beer bottles at garage sales, estate sales, and a few antique stores. I now have a couple hundred from mostly small, defunct breweries. I even have a 2-liter "picnic bottle", which was made for just that reason. Most are from the midwest, where so many Germans settled in the mid-1800's. I really like their uniqueness. A lot of the older bottles are thicker glass so are well-suited to higher carb level Belgians, etc. (long ago, exploding bottles, glass shards, etc. actually taught me something). I'm among the "crank up some tunes and enjoy" group. I also like the portability as well as being able to have many styles available to choose from at any time.
Click to expand...

I thought I was the only one that likes to put my beer in old beer bottles? I too like the variety, and it works well for brett sours that like a lot of time ageing before drinking.
 
I tried 5 L mini-kegs for a while, but after the time I accidentally put too much priming sugar in the bucket I filled them from, I decided to go back to bottles.
 
This is my first time posting anything on here. I am in the middle of building a 5 tap keg system and as excited as I am about having the new system I still dont mind bottling. I am excited about the look of a keg system in my mancave, and im excited to be able to drink the beer a little sooner then waiting for bottles to carbonate. But I really dont mind the process of bottling.
I have my normal Sunday ruteen down, I start heating my brew water and then sanitize my bottles. I mash in and then take what was brewed a few weeks before and transfer it to my bottling bucket. In the time of the mash I have everything all bottled and capped. And also enjoy tasting the uncarbonated beer to see how it turned out.
Only part I dont like is the few weeks waiting till its ready to drink.
 
ChiknNutz said:
My abhorrence for bottling pushed me into kegging and so far have never looked back. Still have bottling equipment for the occasional bottle but have no plans on bottling full batches.
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I haven't bottled in 20 years. And I have a counter pressure bottle filler but no longer use it. Once I learned the potential negative consequences of bottling vs kegging I simply stopped bottling. In the late 90s I bottled for competitions only. I too have a stash of bottles. But I think it is time to dispose of them.
 
I hated washing the bottles. I hated sanitizing them. I hated to wait three weeks to wait for carbonation. I hated the empty bottles all over the place. Hated to cap them with my cheap 20$ capper.

I will bottle some batches of hefe's soon, tho. For tradition.
 
I have a couple of kegs and I bottle. Certain beverages I prefer to be bottled. These tend to be age worthy brews: Barley Wines, Hopped Meads and higher ABV beers. I also bottle for practice reasons - I want to move a beer into the keg but the kegerator is full. Bottling can solve that problem, so can pouring it out. That’s probably a different post.
 
bwible said:
Very cool. I don’t have anything like that but I have 2 cases of Fullers bottles I use only for barleywine, 1 case of Young’s Old Nick bottles which is missing 1 or 2 of the bottles and most of a case from Worthington’s White Shield, 16oz, again missing 1 or 2 bottles I probably gave away and never got back. I won’t give any of these away.
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I have a White Shield clone fermenting on Notty now. First time brewing it.
 
I don't hate it but it's definitely more of a chore on larger batches. I keg most of my larger batches but for mixed fermentation beers I like to bottle them to avoid issues with contamination in my tap lines and I can draw out aging the beers without an all or nothing decision.
 
moorejl57 said:
I also like washing dishes by hand, so I may be an outlier
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only 50% i hate bottling, but do like washing dishes by hand! mostly because when i ask people why my dish washer never cleans dishes, they tell me "you need to wash the dishes before you put them in it"...i pulled mine out and hauled it to the dump, but i'll be damned if i do the same to my co2 cylinder, and kegs! they actually put out!
 

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