First time bottling predicament.

[ragertom]

Hey guys in a couple days I will be ready to bottle my first batch. A problem I ran into is that I also made some wine and now have no extra buckets. When I bottle can I rack into the stainless steel pot then siphon to bottle?

TIA

 

[ted464]

As long as your sanitation is sound I do not see a problem.

 

[jmcm_brew]

Siphoning into bottles will be very hard to get the fill levels right.. Could be a nightmare.. Bottling buckets are pretty cheap Id say definitely just order one with a spigot and hook your tube to that and use the bottling wand... Bottling is tedious as it is and it would be even less fun with a siphon.

 

[ragertom]

Well I have the bottle filler and hoses to hook it together.

 

[monkeymootj]

Honestly, if you have a bottle filler, hose and auto siphon I don't see the problem. Never done it myself but I don't see why it wouldn't work

 

[jmcm_brew]

Ok I thought by your original post you were siphoning into bottles without a bottle filler.. That sounded like a nightmare haha...only thing about hooking the filler up to the siphon tube is the way the siphon works continuously is by having a continuous flow.. You won't have a continuous flow in between filling bottles so I'm not sure it will work

 

[jmcm_brew]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/auto-siphon-bottle-filler-145198/

 

[biodarwin]

Honestly, if you have a bottle filler, hose and auto siphon I don't see the problem. Never done it myself but I don't see why it wouldn't work

I use this setup and it works fine. I rack to a corney keg for aging. Then bottle directly from the keg with an bottle filler attached to my auto-siphon. Never an issue.

 

[DrWill]

Ok I thought by your original post you were siphoning into bottles without a bottle filler.. That sounded like a nightmare haha...only thing about hooking the filler up to the siphon tube is the way the siphon works continuously is by having a continuous flow.. You won't have a continuous flow in between filling bottles so I'm not sure it will work

As long as you don't bleed air into the end of the filler (and that's essentially the point of the filler) the siphon will continue. It's like pinching a piece of tubing that's running a siphon; when you let go, the liquid continues to flow.

 

[jmcm_brew]

As long as you don't bleed air into the end of the filler (and that's essentially the point of the filler) the siphon will continue. It's like pinching a piece of tubing that's running a siphon; when you let go, the liquid continues to flow.

I gotcha.. Makes sense.. I think I will still stick to my bottling bucket when I bottle.. I try to keg everything because bottling is my LEAST favorite part of the process.. Although making labels is fun!

 

[DrWill]

I gotcha.. Makes sense.. I think I will still stick to my bottling bucket when I bottle.. I try to keg everything because bottling is my LEAST favorite part of the process.. Although making labels is fun!

I am right with you. I bottle from the keg, which allows me to force carbonate and only bottle what I want in bottles.

Of course, if the OP just puts a ball valve on his kettle, he's got a lovely stainless bottling bucket.

 

[jmcm_brew]

I am right with you. I bottle from the keg, which allows me to force carbonate and only bottle what I want in bottles. Of course, if the OP just puts a ball valve on his kettle, he's got a lovely stainless bottling bucket.

Yep.. Do you use a beergun or turn the pressure down and pour into bottles? I have yet to try bottling from a keg.. Usually just fill a growler and go on my way if I take it somewhere... I have thought about bottling from it before for gifts just haven't tried it... Usually will bottle a few with the carb tabs in the bottle and keg the rest if it's a beer I want to give out... Although bottling from keg would be much more convenient

 

[DrWill]

Yep.. Do you use a beergun or turn the pressure down and pour into bottles? I have yet to try bottling from a keg.. Usually just fill a growler and go on my way if I take it somewhere... I have thought about bottling from it before for gifts just haven't tried it... Usually will bottle a few with the carb tabs in the bottle and keg the rest if it's a beer I want to give out... Although bottling from keg would be much more convenient

Got a Blichmann beergun a while back. It took some tweaking but now I've got it so I can singlehandedly bottle half a keg with very little waste and no difficulty. I've never had any success using the carb tabs but I'm told there's a new version coming out soon.