Bottling 1st batch tomorrow... any last minute tips?

[charlesmartin]

OK so, I am working on my first batch...two and a half weeks in the primary and I will probably bottle in another ten days. I read the 45-page bottling thread mentioned in an earlier post and got a lot of good ideas but no solution to my dilemma. I started with a beginners set with just one bucket with a spigot which I used for my primary (I do not have an easily accessable LHBS to buy a second bucket). Since I do not want to disturb the yeast bed (and it is probably covering the spigot opening any way), how should I proceed to bottle? Should I rack to a temporary vessel like my brewpot with the priming solution already in there and then rack to bottles via siphon hose and filling wand? Should I rack to the brewpot, clean out and sanitize the bucket with the spigot, add priming sugar to the bucket and rerack to the bucket and use spigot with filling tube attached to bottle? Any other suggestions?

it's kinda like a puzzle. the racking to kettle on top of the priming solution and then trying to rack with the filling wand will be a job. it is possible, but you might get really frustrated.

racking twice (from primary to kettle to bottling bucket is not a bad idea...if you do it carefully. that would almost be the same as racking to secondary and then to a bottling bucket (you are just going from secondary to bottling bucket in a very short amount of time). if you do it this way, you would want to have your priming solution ready before you start any of the racking. you just don't want the beer to sit out in the open too long.

a final idea, which might make for some cloudy beer:
1-pour your priming solution into your beer in your bottling bucket
2-stir very carefully
3-prop the spigot side of the bucket on a book (1 inch maybe)
4-use your spoon (or your sanitized arm) to gently push the trub away from the spigot
5-wait a few minutes for it to settle a bit
6-sanitize the spigot from the outside
7-attach sanitized bottling wand
8-fill and cap bottles
9-purchase a primary--the better bottle sounds like a good idea.

i don't know about in japan, but restaurants or grocery stores with bakeries in the US get food grade buckets that contain icing, filling, etc. when they are finished with them, they give them away or sell them for a small amount. stay away from pickle buckets.

you can get one of those, clean it with baking soda--to help remove the lingering smell, and then use it as your primary. good luck.

 

[enkamania]

Got some help, doing it with two people is a snap

 

[Transamguy77]

you mean beyond the entire sticky that is titled bottling tips for the homebrewer????

No....

lmfao!!!!!

 

[HB92649]

Pro Tip: put your bottling bucket over your dishwasher and open the door. That way any drippings end up in the diswasher and not on your floor. SWMBO will be happier

I opted for the "wait until SWMBO goes to bed" method since I had a feeling there might be a learning curve and said learning curve could get messy. However, next batch I will definitely utilize this one.

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips, really made it easy for me to focus on the important aspects and not get caught up in he minute possibilities. My only concern is that I probably needed to do a better job with dispersing the sugar more evenly. I racked into the sugar water but it should have probably spent some time stirring or adding the solution as I transfered the wort.

 

[ikkyu]

it's kinda like a puzzle. the racking to kettle on top of the priming solution and then trying to rack with the filling wand will be a job. it is possible, but you might get really frustrated.

racking twice (from primary to kettle to bottling bucket is not a bad idea...if you do it carefully. that would almost be the same as racking to secondary and then to a bottling bucket (you are just going from secondary to bottling bucket in a very short amount of time). if you do it this way, you would want to have your priming solution ready before you start any of the racking. you just don't want the beer to sit out in the open too long.

a final idea, which might make for some cloudy beer:
1-pour your priming solution into your beer in your bottling bucket
2-stir very carefully
3-prop the spigot side of the bucket on a book (1 inch maybe)
4-use your spoon (or your sanitized arm) to gently push the trub away from the spigot
5-wait a few minutes for it to settle a bit
6-sanitize the spigot from the outside
7-attach sanitized bottling wand
8-fill and cap bottles
9-purchase a primary--the better bottle sounds like a good idea.

i don't know about in japan, but restaurants or grocery stores with bakeries in the US get food grade buckets that contain icing, filling, etc. when they are finished with them, they give them away or sell them for a small amount. stay away from pickle buckets.

you can get one of those, clean it with baking soda--to help remove the lingering smell, and then use it as your primary. good luck.

OK I managed the double rack (from fermenter to brewpot and back after cleaning out the bucket). A few little siphon issues due to poor diligence on my part (that siphon runs damn fast). Bottle washing took forever. I managed to crush only three bottle caps during crimping. Overall, it took a long time but most techniques went well thanks to suggestions on this thread and Revvy's thread on bottling. Only fail was that the pitched wort tastes a bit too alcoholic probably due to too high temps. Learned alot with this batch

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Glad it worked out well! Only 3 caps destroyed? That is good for a first attempt!

As for tasting a bit to alcoholic; Don't judge that taste until it has time to carbonate and condition. That flavor tends to be very present at bottling time, but in 3 weeks it should have faded a bit.

Hurray for success!

 

[HB92649]

it's kinda like a puzzle. the racking to kettle on top of the priming solution and then trying to rack with the filling wand will be a job. it is possible, but you might get really frustrated.

6-sanitize the spigot from the outside

QUOTE]

Forgot this detail... hopefully a good idea. I have pets around the house so pet dander and hair obviously a concern. After sanitizing I put saran wrap around the spigot to keep it from picking up stuff while the primary did its thing or I moved stuff around.

 

[ikkyu]

Glad it worked out well! Only 3 caps destroyed? That is good for a first attempt!

As for tasting a bit to alcoholic; Don't judge that taste until it has time to carbonate and condition. That flavor tends to be very present at bottling time, but in 3 weeks it should have faded a bit.

Hurray for success!

Thanks for the encouragement...with all the time and money invested in the first batch, it is kind of hard to relax and have a homebrew (especially when they are no homebrews to drink yet). It was fun and I can see how people can get addicted to the process...