Bottling...not that bad

[bucknutbrew]

I just bottled my first batch of beer tonight and I have to say that it wasn't that bad or time consuming. I prefer bottling beer over wine for sure. I just thought that it wasn't going to be a bigger issue after reading other posts.

I do have two refrigerators so I am sure that it just a matter of time

 

[homebrewer_99]

The complainers are usually of the lazy type and prefer to keg because it's faster.

Me? I have over 20 cases of German .5 liter bottles, 15+ minikegs and 20+ kegs.

One of my biggest decisions is to keg or bottle. It really depends on if I'm planning on sharing some later. Then I'll bottle.

I still like bottling.

 

[Shonuff]

If you have someone to BS with while you are doing it then it's that much better!

 

[billtzk]

I'm kegging now, but I still enjoy bottling certain brews. I brewed 10 gallons of a Belgian strong dark ale recently. Tonight I bottled 5 gallons of it in a mixture of 22 oz bombers and .5 liter bottles. I left the other five gallons aging in a corny keg for eventual dispensing from my kegerator. Best of both worlds.

 

[bucknutbrew]

Do you buy 22oz bottles new or do you buy a certain beer that comes in 22oz bottles? I could definitely see bottling in the bigger bottles since i rarely have a single 12 oz bottle in a session.

Does the size of the bottle impact the aging process? Meaning, do you have to wait longer to drink a 22oz bottle?

 

[bucknutbrew]

.

Me? I have over 20 cases of German .5 liter bottles, 15+ minikegs and 20+ kegs.

I still like bottling.

You have quite the set up. I thought I was getting bad by adding a carboy every couple of months. How many gallons do you brew in a year? I looked a a corny keg set up but it was $150+.

 

[Moonpile]

Do you buy 22oz bottles new or do you buy a certain beer that comes in 22oz bottles? I could definitely see bottling in the bigger bottles since i rarely have a single 12 oz bottle in a session.

Does the size of the bottle impact the aging process? Meaning, do you have to wait longer to drink a 22oz bottle?

I don't know about the time. Never really noticed any difference.

Just keep in mind that unless you have a big glass, if you have a bottle conditioned beer in a bomber then have two glasses handy (even if you're not sharing!) when you pour. It's really hard to pour, set the bottle down and pour again later without disturbing the sediment, but if you pour and then don't tip bottle back up much, you can switch to the second glass without disturbing it much.

We've bought a case of 22ozers, inherited another case, and cleaned labels off plenty more. Anything from Bear Republic cleans up easily and has the bonus of being relatively inexpensive and very good. Otherwise, I just think of buying bombers as a fun quest in beerworld, with bonus bottles at the end!

A long soak in StarSan apparently works wonders at getting silkscreened "labels" off of bottles like Stone and Southern Tier.

 

[Revvy]

The trick to bottling is to make the process work for you...to make yourself as comfortable as possible during the process. It took me a few batches but I got it dialed in enough to get it done in about an hour for a 5 gallon batch....not including clean up.

You just gotta dial in your process,....try different things until they work for you, until you've pimped it down to the bare minimum of steps...and practice practice practice...and if it doesn't work for you, then scrap it and change it again...

For example I hated the bottling wand on the end of a hose, with the bottles in beer case method, that most people use..You know, then one shown in Papazian's book where the bucket is on the counter and you sit on the floor and fill the bottles sitting in the cases....well the first time I did that, I lost track of where I was in order, and actually capped about a half dozen empty bottles...as well as spilling a sh*tload of beer because I could really see when the wand was putting the beer to the lip of the bottle....a ton would spill out....

Plus sitting for so long on the floor was bad for my back....

So I kept tweaking my process until I was happy...

I start my priming sugar water boiling before I start sanitizing my bottles with my vinator....after the first case is sanitzed then take it off the stove to let it cool a bit.

I have my bottling wand mounted right on my bucket's spigot...

So I can sit at my dining room table and fill bottles confortably...I prop my bucket on a pot, or fermenter bucket to bring it up to my eye level. (Actually that pot is too low, I have now moved it to the top of my boil kettle...a fermenter bucket is about the same height and works great as well.

I have a dip tube in my bucket so I get all but about 4 ounces of stuff from my bottling bucket.

Since I'm a lefty I work right to left on my table....I put my two cases of sanitized bottles on the right hand side of the table (on the chair next to me,) I put the vinator on the table to the right of the bucket filled with my bottles caps sanitizing away. then when I fill the bottle I place a cap loosely on it, and move it to the left side of the table...with the bottling bucket in the middle of the table there's room for a case worth of filled bottles on the table on the left side.

When I hit 24 bottles, I stand up, move the empty case to a chair on the left side of the table, then I pick up my capper and cap the first case of bottles, putting them in the case on the chair nearby...Then I grab a beer from the fridge, and sit back down and do the next case of beer....

I can get them all done and the bottling bucket and stuff soaking in oxyclean between 45 minutes and an hour....

I usually start a basic brewing podcast then get started..and I usually hit the end when I'm done bottling.

 

[talleymonster]

While I am dying to start kegging, I do like having beer in bottles. Especially the beers that I like to present to people. I like being able to call them "bottle conditioned" beers.

 

[menschmaschine]

Revvy, where'd you get those little white clamps for the little piece of hose between the bottling wand and spigot?

 

[Revvy]

Revvy, where'd you get those little white clamps for the little piece of hose between the bottling wand and spigot?

LOL...it's funny you should ask, when I was putting the post together I had a section about the clamps...but the 4 pic limit burned me so I had to delete the info...

I get these from my lhbs, to clamp the wand to my sigot, I use a 1 inch "bridge" piece of bottling hose....If the LHBS doesn't have them, I'm sure you can find them a a hardware store too...it's nice because there is no worry about rusting, of the fact that sometimes the screw is galvanized.

Micromatic has them (that's where the pic is from) and IIRC McMaster Carr has them as well...I think they're also on a few online hbs's...I thin Northern Brewer and Austin Homebrew does as well...

 

[menschmaschine]

Thanks, Revvy. I know I've seen them before, just couldn't think where. I use the same setup, sans clamps, and although the hose piece fits pretty snugly, I do get a little bit of a dribble down the bottling wand. Those particular clamps look like the perfect solution.

 

[Beerbeque]

I like my beer in bottles and I can get it done in 100 minutes including cleanup which makes bottling day quick and easy compared to brew day. I bottle while sitting on one of my dining chairs in front of the open dishwasher with my sanitized bottles draining on the bottom rack. To sanitize I just dunk my bottles into the kitchen sink filled with warm starsan solution, pour it out and drain on the lower dishwasher rack.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You have quite the set up. I thought I was getting bad by adding a carboy every couple of months. How many gallons do you brew in a year? I looked a a corny keg set up but it was $150+.

I think I'm at batch 37 or 38 for the year so far...last year I did the max (cough, cough) - 40 which is 200 gallons.

 

[desertbronze]

Kegging is nice and easy, but there is something about a bottle conditioned beer. Like others have posted, I used different methods on different beers. Just crank up the tunes and go to work.