Bottling Day!!!!!

[edco76]

So, today I plan on bottling my Dunkelweizen! Its been in the fermenter for 3 weeks. I will take a FG first and make sure its done but I will be surprised if it isnt.

Here is my plan though so since its my first go, I want to run it by you guys. Of course there are a few questions here as well.

-Wash bottles in dishwasher w/no detergent.
-put bottles in star-san solution
-beer is actually in a bottling bucket now. I have another bottling bucket for bottling.

I plan on using my siphon to transfer, should I just use the spigot? I'm assuming less trub with the suphon?

-Boil 2 cups of water w/corn sugar
I have 5 gallons in the fermenter but I'm assuming it wont all be bottleable beer. Should I plan on 4.5g? That comes to 163g of corn sugar?

-put cooled priming sugar in sanitized bucket
-add beer
-Do I need to dry the bottles well before using? Or will a little foam be ok? I dont want to pick up any stragglers on the way
-fill the bottles w/sanitized wand
-cap the bottles w/sanitized caps
-stare at beer impatiently for 3 weeks
-drink beer

 

[BierGut]

I run the dishwasher empty for a cycle w/o soap before I put my bottles in to rinse it. Assuming your bottles are clean already just run it on high heat, forget dipping them in star san after they come out and they'll basically be dry once they're cool enough to handle. Trust me those buggers will be hot. Use enough sugar for all 5gallons not 4.5 and use the siphon not the spigot, you don't want a lot of splashing, putting O2 in your beer. All of your other steps are good.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Looks like you've about got it.

A few observations:
1) If your bottles are clean (no stuck on gunk) you can skip the dishwasher and go right to the star-san. Alternatively, I've seen people on here just run their bottles through the dishwasher and get them sanitized that way, but I've not tried it.
2) You can transfer either via spigot (with a tube attached) or auto-siphon. Either way try to minimize splashing.
3) Assuming the measurements on your bottling bucket are correct (the one you're actually bottling from) I would get a final volume there and then calculate your priming solution based on that. It won't take long to chill down to a reasonable temp.
4) Don't fear the foam!
5) Most importantly, you forgot the part where you brew your next batch! The pipeline demands it!

Congrats on your shiny new beer!

 

[runkelia]

Looks like you've about got it.

A few observations:
1) If your bottles are clean (no stuck on gunk) you can skip the dishwasher and go right to the star-san.

Really? I don't have the stones to do that, but thought about it alot.
I rinse every bottle 3 times after use and looks clean, that would save so much time.
I bottle brush, rinse, star san every bottle - takes over an hour.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I should have mentioned that after I pour from a bottle I rinse thoroughly, then add a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide to the bottle and let it sit for a few days before rinsing again to break down whatever got left behind (if anything).
Using a dishwasher or a nice soak in oxyclean will get the job done too.

 

[BierGut]

Really? I don't have the stones to do that, but thought about it alot.
I rinse every bottle 3 times after use and looks clean, that would save so much time.
I bottle brush, rinse, star san every bottle - takes over an hour.

After I drink a bottle that I plan to reuse I just rinse out the yeasty dregs with hot water. On bottling day I fill the dishwasher and put it on the high heat setting. I've never had any bugs or weird stuffs, it's so friggin easy

 

[runkelia]

I did oxyclean once and rinsed with the faucet attachment, and had major head retention issues. After that went back to the trusty brush.

 

[JimEb]

I'm a little OCD when it comes to cleaning bottles. Even if they 'should' be clean, I wash them with PBW/bottle brush the night before and put them on bottling tree.

While my priming sugar is boiling/cooling, I star-san each bottle with a sulfiter. I dip the mouth of the bottles in the foamy star-san...I leave the bottles dripping in foam. Often when filling a bottle I'll push a big head of star-san foam out the top.

 

[edco76]

I usually rinse my bottles after use and Ive trained the wife to do the same. I cant be sure about all of the bottles tho so I think a run through the washer would be the safe bet.



Another question. Do you guys bottle alone? Or do you recruit some help? I'm thinking myself, the wife, and my daughter could get a nice assembly line going.

 

[edco76]

I'm a little OCD when it comes to cleaning bottles. Even if they 'should' be clean, I wash them with PBW/bottle brush the night before and put them on bottling tree.

While my priming sugar is boiling/cooling, I star-san each bottle with a sulfiter. I dip the mouth of the bottles in the foamy star-san...I leave the bottles dripping in foam. Often when filling a bottle I'll push a big head of star-san foam out the top.

I need a tree and a sulfiter........And about 100 other things lol

 

[edco76]

ok. Slight problem.....

I only have 5oz of corn sugar. 141.75g.

Sugars I have on hand are

Table sugar
light corn syrup
brown sugar
honey
maple syrup



What to do?

 

[TisTheSaison]

While I've never had to do this, you could use 20 grams of sucrose (table sugar) you have on hand which would be equivalent to the 22 grams of corn sugar needed. That's probably what I would do unless the LHBS is close by.

 

[Subdivisions]

You should only need 5 oz to carb 5 gallons to 2.5 volumes CO2.

EDIT: Forgot it was a wheat

 

[soccerdad]

5 oz should be plenty

do you gently stir the 5 G after the sugar goes in to equalize the solution (same prime in each bottle)?

 

[Subdivisions]

I think he's going for a 3 volume carb level since it's a weizen

 

[edco76]

While I've never had to do this, you could use 20 grams of sucrose (table sugar) you have on hand which would be equivalent to the 22 grams of corn sugar needed. That's probably what I would do unless the LHBS is close by.

Seems like a good plan. My LHBS is 50 miles away

 

[edco76]

5 oz should be plenty

do you gently stir the 5 G after the sugar goes in to equalize the solution (same prime in each bottle)?

I planned on putting the primer in the bucket and adding beer on top. My understanding is that that is the safest way to mix

 

[edco76]

I think he's going for a 3 volume carb level since it's a weizen

You sir, are correct

 

[grainbill]

to figure priming this site is pretty good... http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
If you have any DME left over, you can use that to make up the difference

 

[KeninMN]

I have a five gallon bucket of used PBW that I save from when I wash my primary fermentor carboy. When I empty a bottle it gets rinsed with hot water to remove the yeast dregs and then submerged in the bucket of PBW. When the bucket get full of bottles (about 20) I scrub each bottle with a bottle brush, rinse in very hot water and then dry the bottles on my FastRack bottle rack:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fastrack-beer-bottle-drying-storage-system.html?gclid=CjwKEAiA2JqkBRDshIOY_9eMghkSJABvNd1QLjzspjshXRU5TEp6X_LdgjdGW_vpoIxsjuAsJP0rHRoCrEvw_wcB

Once the bottles are dried they are packed up in case boxes/twelve pack boxes/six pack holders and stored.

On bottling day each bottle that I need gets filled with and fully submerged in StarSan for two minutes, emptied and placed on the FastRack. I then begin the transfer to the bottling bucket and then on to bottling. The foam will stay in the bottles long enough to keep them all sanitized throughout the bottling process.

 

[doug293cz]

I don't do much for cleaning bottles that I have emptied. Just rinse (with shaking) with hot water about four times immediately after pouring (before drinking the beer) and put in the dish drainer to dry. For bottles I get from elsewhere, I clean with Oxy and rinse well. I store the cleaned and dried bottles until bottling day. I use only Star San while bottling, and have yet to have an infection.

I have always used table sugar (sucrose) for priming, and get good results. I put the boiled and partially cooled priming solution in the sanitized bottling bucket, and rack the beer from the fermenter into it using a long piece of tubing on the fermenter spigot. I try to make sure the tube is positioned in the bottom of the bottling bucket and pointed so that it causes a circular flow within the bucket to help mix in the priming sugar. After filling the bottling bucket, I then stir gently with a sanitized implement. Filling and stirring both done in a way to minimize oxygen pick up.

For bottling, I set up an assembly line. I have a bottling bucket full of Star San and the bottling bucket with beer. I put the bottling wand on a fairly long piece of tubing attached to the bottling bucket spigot, as that allows me to tip the bottling bucket when it's getting close to empty. I put a piece of 2x4 under one side of the bucket to tip it, so that it stays tipped, and I am not sloshing beer back and forth by tipping multiple times. Then I loop thru the following process:

1. Fill a bottle with Star San using the spigot
2. Fill another bottle with Star San
3. Empty the Star San from the bottle filled first (don't worry about residual foam)
4. Fill the first bottle with beer using a bottling wand
5. Fill another bottle with Star San
6. Empty the Star San from the bottle filled earlier
7. Remove bottling wand from full bottle and place in empty bottle
8. Fill new bottle with beer
9. Cap previous filled bottle
10. Loop back to step 5 until all bottles filled

With this sequence, the wand is always in a bottle, so I don't have to worry about contaminating it.

I get a pretty efficient flow going, and have no trouble bottling single-handedly (SWMBO & SWMBO jr aren't into helping with my hobby.)

Brew on

 

[Wrangled13]

After I drink a bottle that I plan to reuse I just rinse out the yeasty dregs with hot water. On bottling day I fill the dishwasher and put it on the high heat setting. I've never had any bugs or weird stuffs, it's so friggin easy

I have also done this for EVERY brew I have done. Also have never sanitized caps (which may be against some people religion!) Never had anything go wrong. If it does happen some day I will change my process, but until then, not fixing anything that isn't broken.

 

[chuckcomm]

I rinse each bottle with hot water after pouring the beer into a glass then dry it in dish drainer. Once dry they go into 12 pack boxes.

On bottling day i put starsan in a bottle and then pour that into the next bottle keeping the first bottle tipped and rotating it to cover all the surfaces. Once I get a case done I begin to bottle.

I sanitize the dishwasher door and place empty sanitized bottles on the door. On the counter above is the bottling bucket and a dish towel to put filled bottles on.

I have my bottling wand hooked to the bucket spigot with a short piece of tubing.

Grab a chair...sitting is less stressful than squatting or kneeling.

Then I grab a bottle and put it up to the wand and fill each bottle.

Once the first case is filled I cap them and then go on to the next 24 bottles.

Never had any issues with this process.

I bottle alone more hands would be helpful to get done quicker.

 

[rlmiller10]

Not to derail to much but it is a bottling thread. I see several mentions of letter the priming mixture cool. Can anyone tell me the reason. I have always poured the hot mixture into the bucket and then racked the beer onto it. I don't see any harm that a little warm/hot sugar could cause.

 

[edco76]

Just opened a growler of Ballast Point Victory at Sea..........bottling will either be delayed or a lot of fun!

 

[edco76]

Not to derail to much but it is a bottling thread. I see several mentions of letter the priming mixture cool. Can anyone tell me the reason. I have always poured the hot mixture into the bucket and then racked the beer onto it. I don't see any harm that a little warm/hot sugar could cause.

Ive read several people say they do that. I dont see what it could hurt. When I listed it I just meant that I would take it off of the heat and get other stuff ready because I plan on keeping an eye on it. Boiling sugar can do bad things

 

[bacgabe]

I don't do much for cleaning bottles that I have emptied. Just rinse (with shaking) with hot water about four times immediately after pouring (before drinking the beer) and put in the dish drainer to dry. For bottles I get from elsewhere, I clean with Oxy and rinse well. I store the cleaned and dried bottles until bottling day. I use only Star San while bottling, and have yet to have an infection.

I have always used table sugar (sucrose) for priming, and get good results. I put the boiled and partially cooled priming solution in the sanitized bottling bucket, and rack the beer from the fermenter into it using a long piece of tubing on the fermenter spigot. I try to make sure the tube is positioned in the bottom of the bottling bucket and pointed so that it causes a circular flow within the bucket to help mix in the priming sugar. After filling the bottling bucket, I then stir gently with a sanitized implement. Filling and stirring both done in a way to minimize oxygen pick up.

^^^This. I always rinse the bottles with hot water immediately after they are emptied. The way I see it, it was a liquid solution only seconds before, it cannot be gunked on so bad that a good rinse and vigorous shake won't remove all particulates.

On bottling day, I have a similar process that suits me well. I prepare 2.5 gallons of starsan solution in my bottling bucket and attach my hose and bottling wand. I then arrange all needed bottles on the counter. Finally, I place my bottling bucket so it is elevated slightly above the bottles. Then with the bottling wand I quickly inject about 1-2 oz. of solution into each bottle. You should have plenty of star San leftover. Then, grabbing two bottles at a time, I put my thumbs over the opening and give them a quick shake to coat the entire interior with solution. Then I put the bucket on the floor and starting with the first bottles I shook, I empty them four at a time into the bucket, dipping the mouths briefly to eradicate anything that may have contaminated the mouths when I put my thumb on them. The entire process goes very quickly. I used to submerge the bottles in the bucket, but found that the time they took to fill was agonizingly long. The above process streamlines the process substantially.

I use nearly the exact same process to fill with beer (I.e. fill them all at once). Once filled I dole out caps onto each bottle top, then cap one-by-one.

Also, I too usually go with 3/4 cups (give or take 1/8 cup or so depending on desired carb level) table sugar boiled in 2 cups or so of water, let it cool a bit, then put it in the bottom of the bottling bucket and rack on top with tube at angle to promote a swirl. When transfer is complete I usually give it a quick stir with the racking cane that has already been in contact with the beer, as a little insurance against stratification.

That's about it. It's the process that has worked best for me, but to each his own really. I have always had an aversion to using the dishwasher to sanitize or even clean bottles. I can't seem to get over the thought of all the brown water and detergent that was only just in it. But if it works for others than keep on doing what works. I found that the above process works well for me, and above all, cuts down on the bottling time.

 

[bacgabe]

Duplicate...

 

[bacgabe]

Duplicate #2, thanks for the tip Doug.

 

[bacgabe]

Yikes! Triple post. Sorry, not sure how to delete duplicates.

 

[doug293cz]

Yikes! Triple post. Sorry, not sure how to delete duplicates.

You need a moderator to delete. You can edit each post down to something like "oops, duplicate."

Brew on

 

[edco76]

Yikes! Triple post. Sorry, not sure how to delete duplicates.

postwhore

 

[WVHomeBrewer]

I run the dishwasher empty for a cycle w/o soap before I put my bottles in to rinse it. Assuming your bottles are clean already just run it on high heat, forget dipping them in star san after they come out and they'll basically be dry once they're cool enough to handle. Trust me those buggers will be hot. Use enough sugar for all 5gallons not 4.5 and use the siphon not the spigot, you don't want a lot of splashing, putting O2 in your beer. All of your other steps are good.

I agree but I use carbonation drops myself

 

[C-Rider]

Here is my system. Never had an OxyClean problem:
1-rince bottle after drinking and let it dry upside down
2-wait til I have 12 bottles cleaned
3-place them in a bucket w/OxyClean
4-when I have another 12 bottles I take out the first batch, lables are gone by then.
5-rince and let drip dry upside down (the 12 that just came out of the oxyClean
6-store the cleaned, de-labled,dry bottles in a closed plastic box
7-soak clean bottles in Star San on bottleing day for a few minutes
7a-put bottle caps in a strainer and dip into StarSan and let drip
8-place bottles on lower rack of dishwasher after spraying StarSan on the rack
9-place bottling bucket on the diswasher
10-fill bottles and place on counter
11-place sanitized caps on bottles and cap.

 

[edco76]

1 week in the bottles and no explosions yet!

I'm going to drink one tomorrow!