Bottling observation

[Just1pepsi]

So against conventional wisdom I bottled my brew as I personally feel that it is fine after a week fermenting. I guess I will find out for sure in a couple weeks.

Bottling is somewhat of a hassle, and a tip for any newbies reading this, put your carboy higher than your bottling bucket when transferring the liquid from one to another because once you get about half way, it will stop siphoning. Same holds true when transferring to the bottles, seems somewhat obvious since its gravity fed, but reading it in advance might help it click before you end up screwing around and getting pissed off.

I used 16oz bottles w/ a standard crown type cap, so I only had to fill 36 bottles rather than 48 - I was glad I opted for using the larger bottles to minimize the number of bottles I needed to clean and cap.

 

[KevinW]

Bottling in a week is OK as long as your FG is stable, you really should check about 3 days in a row. If you bottle green beer with fermentation still happening you will be cleaning up beer and glass from every corner of the room (and ceiling)!
More time in the fermenter may also give you better tasting beer but of course that is up to you!!

I use oxyclean-free ~1tbs/gallon, soak overnight if I use really hot water or soak for a week if I use cold (depending on how I plan my bottling session). I rinse/swish the bottles out at least 2-3 times with very hot water, sanitze, fill, cap, and wait!

No more scrubbing!!!!! (I used to scrub) Oxyclean free eats up all the "yucky" stuff. It is awesome!!!

Of course you can use any percarbonate cleaner like PBW but oxyclean-free is pretty cheap!

I like to use a combination of 12 and 22oz bottles. I always do at least a few 12's for any competitions or freebies to my friends. The bigger bottles may take a little longer to carb but it is worth the wait!

Good luck