buraglio
Well-Known Member
Well, I successfully bottled my first batch tonight. In the process, I learned a few things that I thought could be useful, some may be obvious.
1. It's hard to do with a cracked valve. Mine had a crack in it that I didn't notice until it was too late. Beer leaked pretty steadily and went everywhere. I lost probably 3-4 bottles in the process because of the steady leak. At that point it was too late to stop, I'd passed the point of no return.
2. Check all of your equipment beforehand. See #1
3. It's pretty messy (could be because of #1)
4. It would be easier with 2 people.
I guess the real lesson it to check everything out first. Overall it went OK but clean up took almost as long as the bottling process (I had to haul rear to get it in bottles so I don't lose too much. I ended up with 28 12oz bottles and 2 36oz bottles.
I tasted some of what was left in the bucket and it was actually pretty good. It's smells awesome.
This weekend I start a spiced ale hopefully ready for the xmas/new years time frame..
1. It's hard to do with a cracked valve. Mine had a crack in it that I didn't notice until it was too late. Beer leaked pretty steadily and went everywhere. I lost probably 3-4 bottles in the process because of the steady leak. At that point it was too late to stop, I'd passed the point of no return.
2. Check all of your equipment beforehand. See #1
3. It's pretty messy (could be because of #1)
4. It would be easier with 2 people.
I guess the real lesson it to check everything out first. Overall it went OK but clean up took almost as long as the bottling process (I had to haul rear to get it in bottles so I don't lose too much. I ended up with 28 12oz bottles and 2 36oz bottles.
I tasted some of what was left in the bucket and it was actually pretty good. It's smells awesome.
This weekend I start a spiced ale hopefully ready for the xmas/new years time frame..