Bottling Day Groaners

[cms]

So I bottled my "Simple Amber" over the last hour or so, and made a pretty interesting discovery...

So far, the toughest piece of equipment to clean and sanitize has to be my bottling wand. I usually fill and drain and fill and drain, etc. to make sure I get it as clean as possible and plenty of sanitizer all through it.

Well, my amber was dry-hopped and still had a fair bit of solids floating and in suspension - they just never dropped out all the way. So I siphoned carefully and what I got in my bottling bucket seemed reasonable. A few bits and pieces, but I was good to go. So I start filling bottles and when I get down to the gallon mark, I noticed some flakes going through the wand. No worries, but at the 1/2 gallon mark, the bottles were filling very slowly. So it occurred to me that the goop was plugging up the tip of the wand. So as I'm sitting there for 5 minutes trying to top off a bottle, I am wondering - how am I going to get that stuff out if I can't fill+drain+fill+drain through the wand, and what a poor design these things are that they're so hard to clean, etc. So I finally finish that bottle and pull the wand off the bucket and start inspecting a way to get in there to get my last few bottles full. Then I realize. The flipping thing comes apart at the tip into three east-to-clean pieces! I can't believe I never noticed that before. I haven't had a funky beer yet, but I wonder what sorts of mold and germs have been lurking around in there before I noticed the obvious. What a ****...

My other beers were much clearer of debris so maybe there wasn't much packed in there - who knows. Maybe it was completely clear of goop. No idea.

I had a similar head-slap moment with my autosiphon after my second batch - I had no idea the cap at the end came off, so I did my beast to clear with the cap on there.

 

[devilishprune]

God for you. I bottled about 4 batches before I realized that the darn thing comes apart.

 

[FifteenTen]

That why I love this forum. I have not bottled yet and now I know my wand will dissamble. Which of course I did not konw thirty seconds ago. Thanks.

 

[MTB]

That why I love this forum. I have not bottled yet and now I know my wand will dissamble. Which of course I did not konw thirty seconds ago. Thanks.

x2. i had no idea either!

 

[unionrdr]

I guess since I'm the naturally curious George type,I just had to see if it came apart. Gently,of course. Can't be ham handed with this HB stuff. Good thing I noticed that when I soaked all overnight with that Cooper's sodium percarbonate stuff.
Don't forget to take spigots out of vessels that have them (like my Cooper's FV). Gotta clean the threads in the FV,& take apart the tap & clean that. Soak in sanitizer for a min or two. Then re-assemble. You WILL smell old beer if you don't. I noticed this right away when I was cleaning my FV for the next batch.

 

[MTB]

What kind of wand do you have? I just took a look at my wand and it doesn't look like it can be taken apart. My wand is the one that comes with the midwest kits. It doesn't have the spring in there like some of the wands I have seen

 

[Golddiggie]

I took mine apart on my first bottling day (did two batches)... I saw some flecks going down the wand, but didn't end up in the brew, so I knew they were trapped. Checked out the end, gave it a gentle pull with a slight twist, and it came apart. Now, after every bottling session, I take the end off, separate the parts, give them a good rinse, and place them where they'll be safe until next time. Before I put the want together for the next bottling day, I sanitize the crap out of them. I also make sure to clean out the rest of the bottling bucket. I inspect it a couple of days after cleaning to make sure it's still kosher, as well as earlier on bottling day. No issues so far.

I don't have any spouts in my fermenters. Unless I get a conical at some point, I probably never will.

 

[unionrdr]

My Cooper's FV (the "micro brew kit" style) has one built in an inch or two off the bottom to keep the tap above the trub. The bottling wand pushes up into that. I can sit in a chair & bottle away.
Kinda cool that,while I'm typing,the wife was letting one of the dogs in. She noticed a package on the porch for me. It was my Ferrari bottle washer! Been waiting for it since the beginning of February. Better late than never...should be using it next weekend on my pale ale. Got some nice German bottles saved up. Just hope I got enough,or off to the LHBS...

 

[cms]

It's a fermtech (90% sure).

I tried to open it up at one point, and it felt like the end was glued on. Now I suspect that it felt that way because there was old, dried beer in the seam.

I am pretty good about taking everything apart (spigots, etc.) and have been pretty conscientious about cleanliness and sanitation. Of course, there's room for improvement at every turn.

Live and learn, I guess.

 

[unionrdr]

^^^as do we all. No worries,m8.