First go at bottling

[jc03]

I apologize in advance for such a simple question. I'm going to bottle this weekend out of my bottling bucket from Northern Brewer for the first time. Does anyone have any advice? Do you fill one bottle and cap it or can I fill all of them then cap? Should I make a home made bottling gun? Thanks again.

 

[Upthewazzu]

I always do it with my wife; I fill and she caps. I really can't see trying to do it by myself. I suppose it could be done but it's already painful enough.

 

[max384]

I lay out all the bottles I'll need. Then I fill all of them. Then I place the caps on all of them. Then I use the capper. This is the closest I can get to an assembly line. I've found this is the fastest and easiest method. Doing one bottle at a time would be excruciating... Plus, finding a place to lay the filler in between each bottle without contaminating it or spilling beer would be a royal PITA.

 

[unionrdr]

I put the bottling bucket full of beer & priming silution on top of my fermenter stand. I have a long 3/8" tube on my bottling wand. I set my sanitized bottles on top of an old 12 pack cooler & fill them. I set them on a round end table in front of me,dunk a cap in Starsan & place it on the bottle. I repeat about 12-15 times. Then run'em all through the bench capper & do it all again till all the beer is bottled. Then into 12 pack or case boxes that close up to keep the light off them.

 

[Zepth]

I lay out all the bottles I'll need. Then I fill all of them. Then I place the caps on all of them. Then I use the capper. This is the closest I can get to an assembly line. I've found this is the fastest and easiest method. Doing one bottle at a time would be excruciating... Plus, finding a place to lay the filler in between each bottle without contaminating it or spilling beer would be a royal PITA.

I'd say this is the best method. I do virtually the same except only move about 6-8 bottles aside from the herd, set the caps, then crimp the caps. The only reason I do this method is limited counter and table space. I suppose I could have enough room if I used my table instead of counter top but spent quite a lot of time refinishing it and am treating it like a baby. Then again all that time was layers of polyurethane, it should withstand a beating. That's my problem though, not yours.

If you can find a friend to help you out you can get more of an assembly line going on, one filling and one capping. Saves a lot of time working in parallel. Also gives your friend a chance to be part of the operation, since they'll no doubt enjoy the rewards.

 

[unionrdr]

I start off filling my 45 bottle tree with bottles I've sanitized with the vinator. Then proceed as above. I can do it in 1.5 hours or so with set up & clean up.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I would put my bucket at workbench height, and wand off the spigot with a short section of tubing. I would bottle about as many as would fit comfortably on the other bench. Typically 15 or so. Cap them and put in my box or crate.

I kinda enjoyed bottling. Turn on the radio, have some cold carbonated beers from last time, and I have no problems.

 

[fuzzy2133]

I start off filling my 45 bottle tree with bottles I've sanitized with the vinator. Then proceed as above. I can do it in 1.5 hours or so with set up & clean up.

I would put my bucket at workbench height, and wand off the spigot with a short section of tubing. I would bottle about as many as would fit comfortably on the other bench. Typically 15 or so. Cap them and put in my box or crate.

I kinda enjoyed bottling. Turn on the radio, have some cold carbonated beers from last time, and I have no problems.

+1 with slight mod that works for me. I use dish washer to hold sanitized bottles on the lower rack and keep the door open to catch drips from the bottling wand.

 

[flars]

I apologize in advance for such a simple question. I'm going to bottle this weekend out of my bottling bucket from Northern Brewer for the first time. Does anyone have any advice? Do you fill one bottle and cap it or can I fill all of them then cap? Should I make a home made bottling gun? Thanks again.

Sounds like you don't have a bottling wand that attaches to the bucket spigot. The bottling wand makes bottling very efficient and pleasant. No long tube to set down somewhere that is sanitary while capping. Creates the perfect headspace without doing anything extra. Pushes the Starsan foam out out the bottle.
You could wait a few days to bottle until the wand arrives.
I'll fill about 12 bottles then move to the bench capper. 12 bottles takes up the space within easy reach without having to move the rolling stool I sit on to far.

 

[adamdillabo]

I read somewhere filling them all and then capping in the order filled will allow a bit of co2 to build up and push some air out reducing oxidation in the bottle. No clue if it's true or enough could build up to do anything In that short time.

 

[BigSumpin]

I read somewhere filling them all and then capping in the order filled will allow a bit of co2 to build up and push some air out reducing oxidation in the bottle. No clue if it's true or enough could build up to do anything In that short time.

Just "setting the cap on top" between filling and capping...

 

[zdbrown1]

I start off filling my 45 bottle tree with bottles I've sanitized with the vinator. Then proceed as above. I can do it in 1.5 hours or so with set up & clean up.

+1 for the vinator...love that thing

 

[dsaavedra]

I just bottled for the first time this past weekend and it went surprisingly smoothly. Here's what I did:

Bottling bucket on the counter above open dishwasher to catch drips, wand attached to bucket spigot with 1" of tubing. I sprayed about 10 pumps of Starsan into each bottle and swished it around, coating the inside, then I placed a sanitized cap on each bottle. Then I arranged 24 bottles on the counter by my bucket, grabbed a bottle, tossed the cap in a bowl of Starsan, filled it, grabbed the cap out of the bowl, set it back on top, and set that bottle to the side. Repeat for 24 bottles then cap them all. Then I did the other 24.

 

[flars]

I read somewhere filling them all and then capping in the order filled will allow a bit of co2 to build up and push some air out reducing oxidation in the bottle. No clue if it's true or enough could build up to do anything In that short time.

That's just an old bottlers tale. Often repeated, but never made true by repeating.

 

[Ilan34]

Vinator.

I have all my bottles on the bottle tree, pulling them off one by one as I fill them.

Bottling bucket on counter, me in chair, dishwasher door open.
Tubing and bottling wand attached to spigot - it can just hang in the air between fills.

All caps sitting in a small bowl of starsan.

Fill a bottle. Place on dishwasher door. Place cap on top of bottle. Move on to the next bottle, etc. Until all are filled, covered, and sitting on dishwasher door. I love you, dishwasher.

Rinse out bucket and tubing. Move chair over to table and cap bottles in the order I filled them.



Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app