hey great video.
there are a ton of threads on bottling. i think theres a bottling tips sticky.
anyway. i think i do everything the best way ( look at some of my posts ) lol. so ill add some tips.
lets start with secondary. almost no need for secondary ever. really. even adding fruit or oak or bourbon barrel whatever. i use tinctures they work better IMO. primary yeast cake is your friend. dont fear the yeast. just like the starsan foam, its good for beer. autolysis is not really a thing. increased headspace, oxidation, and infection are not worth the benefit of secondary.
starsan:
starsan is really amazing. get a spray bottle, . you can spray the $#@t out of everything. spray youself if you want to. spray the cat. i think i have. spray away. 1.5 ml per quart. 6 per gallon. you dont need nearly as much starsan as you think. and 30 seconds to 1 min contact time is enough,.
the point is you can rinse your bottles real well with water and let them dry and store them like that. then on botttle day i just spray 10 squirts in each. give them a good shake the foam gets everywhere. ( the foam is as good or potentially better then the liquid at sanitizing) then drain and they are ready, i never soak my bottles. i never have since i got starsan 12 years ago. get a bottle tree. it is highly worth it. i know a lot of people like the vinator sanitizer sprayer that sits on top of them. also. starsan can also be used on paper towels or sponges as a sanitizing wipe. and starsan can also be reused but when used in a sprayer it stretches it out so much that you wont need to reuse it. it can be used several times supposedly until it gets cloudy or the ph changes enough but i dont tend to reuse it too much anymore.
bottle over a dishwaher with the door open to catch any spills. i like to do hot rinse in the machine first with no soap then spray the rack with starsan and you can then use it to drain bottles i have many many times. a second bottling wand is an option on the bottling bucket to half bottling time.
i have had those wands drip some times also between bottles which is a pia not sure how to fix that. get a cheap pvc 1/2 inch elbow to attach to the inside of the spigot which makes a great pick up tube. it leaves almost no beer behind maybe 4 ounces or less.
in terms of conditioning. you really want 3 weeks at room temp before cold conditioning. 2weeks WILL carb up you beer usually. but 3 really gets the gas in the beer and the bubbles nice and tight. IMO. ( note some beers carb up differently depending on body graivty malt etc especially stouts. )
and age that stout. two to three months in the bottle improved all my stouts i found. (age them cool or cold. - although not necessary i found it cleans them up better)
this is what i picked up bottling over the last 35 years. i started kegging very late in life . lol
btw great job on the stout . it looks amazing. congrats.
