Bottling Two Batches, time saver?

[JJ900]

Hi All,
I am thinking of trying to brew two batches in such a way that I'll be able to bottle them on the same day. One that takes longer before bottling then another batch that takes less time. I'm assuming that I'll really save some time by doing it this way, less set up, clean up, etc overall. Does anyone do this and am I perhaps overestimating the time savings? I imagine rinsing out the bottling bucket with star san after the first beer is done, but little else prep for the second batch.
thanks!

 

[kh54s10]

It sounds like a plan but I would be out of commission for a while due to the extreme backache I would have after doing over one hundred bottles in one sitting.

 

[JJ900]

I hear you, I think I would have to include several bombers to reduce the effort.

 

[kh54s10]

Kinda like letting the pipeline run low then do back to back all grain batches in one session. I did a pale ale and started a brown as soon as the Pale was cooling. It was a long day.

 

[CGish]

I do this on a regular basis - brew two batches on the same day that use the same yeast and thus need similar fermentation profiles. Then they need to be bottled at the same time. Yes, you do save a little time. However, like kh54s10 points out above, there are a lot of bottles to handle. Several days ago I bottled 10 gallons of Ordinary Bitter from two fermentors, 2 gallons of Barley Wine, and ten excess bottles from the primary fermentor out of a porter I racked to a secondary with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. This was three priming sugar preparations, three rackings to the bottling bucket, and 144 bottles sanitized, filled, capped, labeled, and stored. Every time I bottle I swear I am going to buy a kegging system. Yeah, you save a little time on cleaning and sanitizing - that is why I set it up this way, but it is still a lot of work at one time.

 

[metanoia]

I'm not sure you'll save much time. I just bottled 5 gallons last night, and the bulk of the two hours was spent cleaning and sanitizing bottles, and then putting the beer into the bottles, two things you'll have to double in time if you double in volume. I'd say there was *maybe* half an hour of cleaning unrelated to bottles/beer, so you'd save a bit of time, but it wouldn't be with the extra effort to me.

 

[Hello]

I think the time saved would be setting up. Maybe the momentum of just going forward with two batches would save a little time, but overall, it's just a marathon bottling session. I would be tired and like the guy above, I'm sure my back would hurt.

 

[QuadConPana]

You must be a LOT more disciplined than I am.

My biggest fear would be that after 60-70 bottles, I would want to hurry the process and begin to get sloppy.

 

[jmcquesten]

Make sure you add a second spigot to your bottling bucket
2 spigots with a bottle filler attached to each will save you some time. This will at least cut the filling time in half. Just gotta get used to filling 2 at once.

 

[beergolf]

I just always bottle when I brew. I rack to the bottling bucket while my strike water is heating up. Start the mash and bottle. If my bottles are clean before hand,then all I have to do is a quick squirt with Starsan and bottle. I can sanitize and bottle a whole batch in about 30 minutes during the mash.

Very easy and a good use of time.

 

[JJ900]

I just always bottle when I brew. I rack to the bottling bucket while my strike water is heating up. Start the mash and bottle. If my bottles are clean before hand,then all I have to do is a quick squirt with Starsan and bottle. I can sanitize and bottle a whole batch in about 30 minutes during the mash.

Very easy and a good use of time.

That really amazes me, I have seen a few people mention bottling while brewing and I know I would get distracted by the bottling and neglect the boil. But, I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I am hoping that I'll save the set up and clean up times, plus a few more intangible moments. I'm using a vinator for bottle cleaning so it goes really fast. For me the things that always take the longest with bottling are getting everything together and then autosiphoning the 5gallons; takes at least 15 mins to get it into the bucket.

 

[1977Brewer]

I have 2 one quart Lagunitas sucks bottles ready to roll on bottling day in case I just don't feel like effing with it. I've only used them once. I like my single serves quite a bit.

 

[WI_Wino]

I have quart bottles and love them. Use them for any beer I know I'll drink two of in a night.

 

[55x11]

I honestly don't think it would save that much time. Cleaning the bottles, filling the bottles takes most time in my case.
You would probably need to thoroughly wash the bottling bucket and siphon/ transfer lines/bottling wand in-between anyways. And I would sanitize them as well. So it may actually take you longer in some sense - since I would usually sanitize things ahead of time.
You will probably need to boil two batches of priming sugar ( you could try to combine them and divide by half, but that may not be worth the trouble, plus batches may be slightly different in volume anyways). If bottling two batches at once, you should also keep track of which bottles go where, so you don't mix them up accidentally. I usually print bottle cap labels, but I can do it later, since the only unmarked bottles are from the last batch.

Plus you have to time both batches to finish at the same time. I wouldn't bother and just bottle as them as they are ready, really.

Finally, I wouldn't bottle while brewing. Maybe while mashing. But brewing requires some decent attention. checking interwebs, listening to podcasts etc. - are ok for multi-tasking. But bottling in my opinion wouldn't work - at least not for me. I need to be close to the wort and keep track of time/boil.

 

[cannman]

I hear you, I think I would have to include several bombers to reduce the effort.

This is how I reduced the pains of bottling. Screw the 12ozers.

Op, I have found that when I brew two batches in one day, the quality of one or both of the batches suffers. The first one is kinda "I gotta hurry up I have a second batch to go" and then the second batch I forget my process, have had a bit too much beer and make mistakes, or I just didn't give a good enough cleaning and sanitation to the equipment before starting batch 2. For these reasons I stick to 1 high quality batch a day.

 

[beergolf]

That really amazes me, I have seen a few people mention bottling while brewing and I know I would get distracted by the bottling and neglect the boil. But, I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I do it during the mash. you have an hour with basically nothing to do, so bottle then. Done before the boil.

 

[VegasBrew1]

Sounds reasonable. I've made the switch to exclusively 22 oz bomber bottles, as I hate bottling. Really does go faster, and less capping.

 

[mattdee1]

I've bottled on brew day. It's a good way to make efficient use of your hobby time, but it is a bit hectic. What seems like a long wait during a mash or boil gets awful short when you start wanting to use that time to do something else. Plus, I found that the bottling resulted in a bunch of additional "stuff" being with me out in the driveway and it got kind of overwhelming trying to keep track of where everything was, what was sanitized, what wasn't, etc. Very doable though, and I'm sure I'll do it again.