First bottle day ?

[brewmadness]

Ok, so it's bottle day. just a couple easy questions.
I've seen it stated a both ways, but should you boil the caps or just soak them in a sanitizer bath.....or both? Or like other things is it just a personal preference.
You add priming sugar to carbonate your beer after it is bottled, got it. After fermenting is complete and it rests for a while, doesn't the yeast drop out of the beer? Is there enough yeast left in suspension to eat the sugar and carbonate, or is there another step here that I'm missing.
Thanks!

 

[JasonInBTR]

Just soak the caps in sanitizer. You will want to boil your priming sugar in some water, cool it then add it to the bottom of your bottling bucket. Rack the beer on top of the priming sugar to get it mixed. There is still enough yeast in suspension to ferment the priming sugar in the bottles.

Have fun bottling!

Jason

 

[bdupree]

Just soak your bottle caps in sanitizer for a few minutes. There will be plenty of yeast left in suspension to carbonate. Mix your priming sugar (should be about 5oz) with 2 cups of boiled water and add to your bottling bucket then rack the beer on top of it. It should mix together well in the bucket while racking. It's pretty simple. The sanitizers available work very well and if used properly, you don't have to really worry about infection. Just wait about 3 weeks and try a few.

 

[brewmadness]

Thanks guys. I know I read somewhere about boiling the caps but wondered if it was necessary if you do a sanitizer bath. Should be a fun time, my daughter wants to help bottle.

 

[rico567]

I soak my caps in a standard Star San solution. I mix the dextrose (I use 5 oz. / 5 gal. of beer) with 2 cups water and bring to a boil, but I don't bother to cool it, I just dump it right on top of the beer in the bottling bucket when racking begins. The racking, and subsequent bottling appears to mix the sugar solution with the beer 100%, because I never detect any non-uniformity in carbonation. Also, 2 cups of boiling sugar solution isn't enough to affect the yeast in 5 gallons of beer.....

 

[beergolf]

What they said.

Also try the tip that is posted somewhere on the forum about just using s very short piece of hose (3 or 4") to connect your bottling wand to your bottling bucket. Set your bucked on the kitchen counter above the dishwasher. Open the dishwasher door, pull up a chair and bottle away.

To clean up any drips.... Just close the door.

That is one of the best tips I learned from this place.

 

[JasonInBTR]

Here is one of Revvy's masterpieces. The dishwasher method is stellar.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

Jason

 

[Revvy]

Don't boil your caps, that's an old hangover from 30 years or more ago. Take one of your caps in your hand and flip it over...go ahead I'll wait......

See that little plastic gasketty thing in there? They didn't exist "back in the day" if it had anything back then it was cork....but you know what happens to a lot of plastics when you dunk them in boiling water, they get soft, right? Then they often warp after.

Do you think that's a good idea for making a tight seal on your bottles?

There's a lot of bottling tips here...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

 

[Sammy75]

Definitely +1 on the dishwasher method. That's saved me lots of cleanup!

 

[johnnyspade]

The dishwasher tip is good but if you're using a bottling wand, you don't lose much beer to drips, at least I don't, maybe a couple of teaspoons at most. A well placed tea towel works nicely.