Better Bottles - how to get every drop?

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DaBearSox

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So hello everyone, first thread on here but I have been homebrewing for a few years now, greenboard is in shambles so I moved on.

So I have been using ported better bottles for a little while now. I just find them so much easier to use than carboys because I don't have to siphon. The one problem is that all of the goodness sometimes does not want to come out. The reason being is that the better bottles have an arm that extends from the spigot so you can posistion it right above the trub. They claim that gravity does the work, but when the arm is lower than the spigot that doesnt work anymore.

Occaisionally the suction will be strong enough that it will be able to empty itself, but more times than not it is unable to clear out so I have to use my dirty grimy lungs to blow some air in at the top and complete the process.

I never really ran into a problem until this last racking, I moved an APA to the secondary and had to do this process...Now there are little white specks on the top (I know I know, wait it out) that look like grease in water so I think I may have infected it by blowing in the top.

So basically my question is does anyone have a better way of getting everything out of my better bottles?
 
I used my BB with spigot once so far and had the same problem you experienced. I shook my head and decided to use it only as a last resort. I was not impressed with the over priced mini racking port. If you have CO2 you could hook that up to push the last bit out.
 
I use an auto-siphon and prop up the side opposite the bottom of the siphon with a piece of 2x4. With that, I get down to the cake with no problems.

Would angling the bottle help?

How much lower than the BB are you racking to?
 
Well, it all depends on how much trub I have left at the bottom. I'll have pale's that have a very small amount or then I made a PB&J Porter that had a ton of PB left on the bottem...

Both ideas could work, the CO2 would probably work the best, I would just have to go get some in those little cartridges and construct a tube system somehow...

The problem I have with proping it is that it could distrupt the trub and get some into my 2ndary or bottling bucket, which wouldnt be a bad thing, but I may as well just bottle from the BB if that happens.


*Oh and I am racking I would say maybe a foot or 2 lower to my next BB. I set one on a table and one on the carpet below...
 
Yes, I do use a piece of tubing to minimize oxygen absorbsion.

And if anyone knows a good way to straighten out tubing that would be great too...ha
 
You could also use and aquarium pump with a micron filter on it instead of C02 if you don't already have a kegging setup. Then get an aeration stone (if you don't have one) and you have a way to aerate your wort too.
 
Thats a really good idea Truckmann...I have been meaning to get one for aeration purposes anyway but have relied on the shack the hell out of it method for too long now. I am guessing those don't run too high right?
 
Those pumps are cheap at wal-mart (under $10 I think) and the micron filters are only a couple bucks at almost any HBS store.
Aeration stones are a little price for what they are. You can get a fairly cheap one that just fits on to the end of a hose or the nicer ones have a long stainless tube on them so they are easier to get to the bottom of the wort.

Although now that I'm thinking about it you could probably get one like this and get a piece of stainless tubing from the hardware store that will fit over the barb cheaper than buying one pre-made that way.

Quick check and Morebeer has the whole setup like this for $32.99
 
That's not too bad...is it bad to use just an actual stone that are used in aquariums? I can see that those may have a problem with being cleaned/sterilized...


Also am I going to run a higher risk of oxyidation when trying to push out the last bits? Well I guess I could just fill it up with enough pressure to keep the flow going, so myabe not..I like when I can snswer my own questions
 
I wouldn't risk using the aquarium stones unless they are stainless and can be sanitized and I agree oxidation should not be a problem since you are just pressurizing the vessel not injecting it into the beer. I used to use this method to start a siphon on my glass carboys.
 
I only have one better bottle and it isn't ported. However, when I ferment in any carboy I tilt it slightly so most of the trub accumulates on one side. When I siphon I tilt it the other way and manage to remove all but a little liquid. I think this might work with the ported version as well, just be sure to tilt it so that the trub accumulates on the non-ported side. If the port is still too high off the bottom to remove even when tilting, then it might be possible to fashion a dip tub out of flexible copper tubing like I've seen some do on their bottling buckets.
 
I use ported BBs with their valve/spigot/dip-tube and have never had this issue. Using tubing attached to the spigot (with whatever container you're racking to lower than the BB) creates a siphon effect and, along with slightly tilting the BB towards the dip-tube near the end, gets more than enough for me. Usually, I have to be careful not to get too much trub.
 
I only have one better bottle and it isn't ported. However, when I ferment in any carboy I tilt it slightly so most of the trub accumulates on one side. When I siphon I tilt it the other way and manage to remove all but a little liquid.

You know I always tilt my carboys when I rack to another carboy or to the Bucket... NOT one damned time did I think of proping the side up while fermenting to get the yeast/trub to fall more to one side then the other....

will the next time though to see how it works for me :)
 
You know I always tilt my carboys when I rack to another carboy or to the Bucket... NOT one damned time did I think of proping the side up while fermenting to get the yeast/trub to fall more to one side then the other....

will the next time though to see how it works for me :)

I know! I feel like a moron for not thinking of that.

Next batch, I'm sticking a tennis ball under that better bottle. :mad:
 
I'm going to go do it with a primary that I have going right now, even though the trub has probably already settled. Maybe it'll ooze down a little if it hasn't settled too much yet.
 
Those pumps are cheap at wal-mart (under $10 I think) and the micron filters are only a couple bucks at almost any HBS store.
Aeration stones are a little price for what they are. You can get a fairly cheap one that just fits on to the end of a hose or the nicer ones have a long stainless tube on them so they are easier to get to the bottom of the wort.

Although now that I'm thinking about it you could probably get one like this and get a piece of stainless tubing from the hardware store that will fit over the barb cheaper than buying one pre-made that way.

Quick check and Morebeer has the whole setup like this for $32.99

Its a good thing it qualifies for free shipping, they have it weighing 100 lbs :)

My three kids dipped face down and blowing bubbles into the wort would be a lighter aeration system!
 
....*Oh and I am racking I would say maybe a foot or 2 lower to my next BB. I set one on a table and one on the carpet below...


Is the TOP of the 1st BB only a foot or two higher than the TOP of the 2nd BB? Are you losing siphon because the beer level in the second (when nearly full) is approaching the same as the nearly empty beer level of the 1st?
 
as "mensa" said above, I use ported BB's exclusively and just slightly tilt near the end and mine always flow fine and as he said I have to be careful to make sure I don't get trub in there. I usually get nearly all the liquid.
 
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