First time bottling questions

[ncoutroulis]

So I'm going to be bottling my first batch this weekend, and I have a few questions about the process as it relates to sanitizing.

I need to sanitize everything, right? (bottles, caps, siphon, etc).

First question is, when I sanitize the bottles (48 or so of them), what do i do with them so they don't become contaminated? I don't have a bottle tree.

How long after i've sanitized them, are they "ok" before airborne bacteria and such will contaminate them again?

And when I sanitize the bottles, should I run them through the dishwasher, then rinse in Star San? I know there's lots of ideas around this, so just curious what everyone suggests.

Any help walking me through this will be much appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[mkyl428]

Yep Sanatize everything Starsan has a contact time of 2 minutes, that means after 2min of Starsan being in contact with your equipment you can consider it Sanatized...
No need to rinse it is a no rinse Sanatizer...
Don't fear the foam it has no taste & is ok to rack beer on top of.

After I sanatize my bottles I put them in an empty beer case till I fill them shortly after this makes them easy to move too..

 

[ncoutroulis]

Yep Sanatize everything Starsan has a contact time of 2 minutes, that means after 2min of Starsan being in contact with your equipment you can consider it Sanatized...
No need to rinse it is a no rinse Sanatizer...
Don't fear the foam it has no taste & is ok to rack beer on top of.

After I sanatize my bottles I put them in an empty beer case this makes them easy to move too..

Thanks!

so that's part of my question. After Star Sans, its "ok" that the bottles remain out in the open for the duration of bottling? That process probably takes 20-30 mins, right? so just curious, no airborne bacteria or anything is a threat during this time? and if i don't have an empty box or case, can i just line the bottles up and fill then cap them?

thanks

 

[dkevinb]

1. Always sanitize anything that touches your beer and anything that touches anything that touches your beer.

2. I turn them upside down in a 12-gallon rope tote lined with paper towels and sprayed with StarSan. Some people put them upside down on their dishwasher racks that are clean and sprayed with StarSan.

3. While they are wet from the StarSan they are safe. While they are upside down they are most likely safe. But always sanitize right before you use them.

4. You can wash them in the dishwasher, then sanitize. They just need to be clean before they're sanitized.

 

[Michael_K]

And here's a tip I learned here: buy a bottle brush, snip off the handle, put your cordless drill on the end of the wire, and bottle-washing has never been easier of faster!

 

[dkevinb]

Thanks!

so that's part of my question. After Star Sans, its "ok" that the bottles remain out in the open for the duration of bottling? That process probably takes 20-30 mins, right? so just curious, no airborne bacteria or anything is a threat during this time? and if i don't have an empty box or case, can i just line the bottles up and fill then cap them?

thanks

Yes to all the above, except it will probably take more than 20-30 minutes. I use amber PET beer bottles with screw on tops. It takes me about 2 hours to bottle a 5-gallon batch from starting to think about it until I'm done cleaning up. YMMV.

 

[Mexibilly]

I make up close to 5 gallons of sanitizer in a bucket, fill a dedicated spray bottle, sanitize my table, fill a bowl with sanitizer and put all my caps in, siphon sanitizer into the sink, put my siphon, siphon hose, wand, valve assembly (disassembled) and any other stuff in the bucket for a few minutes, assemble my bucket, dump sanitizer in my bottling bucket, make contact with all surfaces, run some through my wand, dump the gallon or 2 from the bottling bucket in the sink, make my primer, rack to my bottling bucket, put 10 bottles or so in the bucket upright, full and beneath the surface for a few, pull and dump them back in and set them on the table, put 10 more in, fill the first 10 and repeat until it's all bottled. I have a tree full of thoroughly rinsed bottles and just pull them from it to the bucket. Works pretty smoothly for me. Don't know why my buddies think bottling sucks so bad.
1.5 hours maybe including thorough cleaning of everything and everything put away

 

[mkyl428]

Thanks!

so that's part of my question. After Star Sans, its "ok" that the bottles remain out in the open for the duration of bottling? That process probably takes 20-30 mins, right? so just curious, no airborne bacteria or anything is a threat during this time? and if i don't have an empty box or case, can i just line the bottles up and fill then cap them?

thanks

Right, as someone else said though it will probably take you a couple hours to bottle.

Check out this thread there are some great tips there

 

[TennBrewer]

As stated before, sanitation is everything. I use the dishwasher for bottling so if you do not have access to a dishwasher or one without sanitizing facilities, skip the rest of this and use a liquid sanitizer.

I read in a posting somewhere sometime ago about using the dishwasher to sanitize and fill the bottles. There are gobs of threads on this subject but I have personally used the dishwasher to sanitize the bottles, setting the dishwasher controls to heated wash and dry (five batches and no contanimation yet). Some models may have a "sanitize" setting, use whatever is appropriate. Allow sufficient time for the bottles to cool, i.e. wash and cool overnight or wash in the morning and bottle in the afternoon. A dishwasher is very handy for storing inverted bottles for drying too. When I'm ready to begin bottling, I open the dishwasher (all the way so the door is parallel to the floor with the bottling bucket on the counter above) and pull out several bottles setting them on the open door of the dishwasher. This way, any spillage can be cleaned up by simply closing the door. I fill about 12 bottles at a time, then move them up onto the counter and put a cap loosely on each one (the caps are in a sanitizer solution). Using the capper, I crimp the cap and put the bottle into a case or box. Repeat until the all the beer is bottled, then remove any unused bottles from the dishwasher and close the door. Done.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I usually bottle 10 gallons at a time. I fill two buckets with sanitizer. One for the bottles and one for the bottle bucket and everything else...... I set up and start the siphon while my wife starts dunking bottles. Mix in prime sugar and when the bucket is full she already has around half the bottles ready. I fill and when she is done rinsing she starts to cap. I rinse the empty carboy or cover if I plan to save the yeast. Clean up the auto siphon and rinse bottle bucket and start on number two. Takes right at 1 1/2 hrs for 10 gallon start to finish.

 

[BowAholic]

if you can find an economy 45 bottle tree and a Bottle Rinser (Italian Vinator) you will love bottling and never look back. I think the tree can be found for maybe $25 and the Vinator for about $15. These are maybe the best 2 things I've bought for making beer.

 

[ncoutroulis]

As stated before, sanitation is everything. I use the dishwasher for bottling so if you do not have access to a dishwasher or one without sanitizing facilities, skip the rest of this and use a liquid sanitizer.

I read in a posting somewhere sometime ago about using the dishwasher to sanitize and fill the bottles. There are gobs of threads on this subject but I have personally used the dishwasher to sanitize the bottles, setting the dishwasher controls to heated wash and dry (five batches and no contanimation yet). Some models may have a "sanitize" setting, use whatever is appropriate. Allow sufficient time for the bottles to cool, i.e. wash and cool overnight or wash in the morning and bottle in the afternoon. A dishwasher is very handy for storing inverted bottles for drying too. When I'm ready to begin bottling, I open the dishwasher (all the way so the door is parallel to the floor with the bottling bucket on the counter above) and pull out several bottles setting them on the open door of the dishwasher. This way, any spillage can be cleaned up by simply closing the door. I fill about 12 bottles at a time, then move them up onto the counter and put a cap loosely on each one (the caps are in a sanitizer solution). Using the capper, I crimp the cap and put the bottle into a case or box. Repeat until the all the beer is bottled, then remove any unused bottles from the dishwasher and close the door. Done.

Thanks, this is all great info.

I do have dishwasher nearby...if i run it a couple hours before and let them cool inside, there's no risk of contamination? The bottles are still sanitized?
And i've also heard you need to dip those bottles in Star Sans as well, is that not true?

Thanks again

 

[brewprint]

Here's a couple tips from my experience:

1. Buy a bottle tree, you will not regret spending $20

2. Buy a vinator, you will not regret spending $20

If you sanitize your bottle tree in starstan, then you can use your vinator to sanitize every bottle and just put it back on the tree.

Then you won't have to balance bottles in a tote or dishwasher.

 

[TennBrewer]

Thanks, this is all great info.

I do have dishwasher nearby...if i run it a couple hours before and let them cool inside, there's no risk of contamination? The bottles are still sanitized?
And i've also heard you need to dip those bottles in Star Sans as well, is that not true?

Thanks again

Make sure to keep the door closed until you are ready to bottle. The door should seal out most everything, it is water tight after all. As long as the dishwasher can maintain a washing temperature at least 171 degrees and a rinse about 180 degrees, everything inside should be fairly sanitized. I am not sure if the drain remains open at the end of the cycle, I am guessing that it is closed, when I pour water into it, it does not drain out so I am not really worried that anything is getting inside through the drain.

When I first started brewing, a very long time ago in the Carter administration, I used a large laundry sink filled with a bleach solution. I soaked the bottles in that for awhile, rinsed very well and left them upside down to drain and dry before filling. I never had a problem with contamination back then and I don't expect to have any problems now.

 

[ncbrewer]

I use a completely different method. Vinator at my side - sanitize/drain one bottle while filling the previously sanitized bottle with the other hand. When done at the same time, sanitizing takes almost no additional time. I only use a 40 second contact time for the Star San because in an interview, Charlie Talley (inventor of Star San) said the required contact time is really only 30 seconds.

 

[Jim311]

I fill a cooler and a 5 gallon bucket with sanitizer, I use bleach which needs a contact time of 30 minutes so @ 15ML/Gal. I make it up and soak my bottles in it well in advance, sometimes the night before. Then when it's time to bottle I just pull each bottle out of the sanitizer, pour out any sanitizer in the bottle, then fill it with beer. Since the bottles stay in the sanitizer until I'm ready to fill them there's no worry about environmental dust or contaminants.

 

[eelpout]

Bleach with out rinsing?
I call troll post here.
The first taste of that beer and you would never bottle again.

 

[Jim311]

You won't be able to taste 15ML/Gal dilution. It's no rinse according to John Palmer in his book "How to brew." Used it on my last batch with no rinse, and no problems or off flavors. Bleach is stupid cheap and always available.

 

[PatrickLS83]

Something to think about, if you have oxygen absorbing caps you don't want to soak those for very long because they won't be able to absorb oxygen anymore. A hit of star san spray and let them dry, that's all I do. To sanitize the bottles I use those bottle washers where you hold the bottle upside-down and shoot sanitizer into the bottle. One of my buddies bakes his bottles in the oven for like 20 min and then lets them cool. To each his own. I've come to love my corny kegs, one and done.

 

[Sailingeric]

I bottle in my kitchen this is my process. I fill the sink up with hot water and starsans. I get my racking cane in the sink, pump some the water through it, let it sit while I get my bottles, capper, and caps ready. I use a small dish to soak my caps in. I then rack my beer on top of the conditioning sugar mix in my bucket. While that is going on I put 4 beer bottles in the sink. When I am ready to bottle I pull out four bottles and add 4 more to the sink. I put beer into 4 bottles, then go over to the other counter and cap those. Then pull out the 4 bottles and put 4 more in the sink. Beer in the bottle, cap and repeat. This way I don't have the bottles sitting out of the starsans water too long and don't have too many uncapped bottles running around.

 

[yeastylad]

A bucket of StarSan and a Fast Rack works well for me. Fill your clean bottles with StarSan and empty , then store them on the FastRack for ready for bottling. They are stored suspended upside down on the FastRack so you don't need to worry about anything falling into them, and they'll drain any excess StarSan they're waiting to be filled.

 

[GHBWNY]

I hot-rinse every bottle 3X right after pouring, then store them. At bottling, I again hot-rinse each bottle 3X then lay several at a time in a deep plastic basin of StarSan, shake each one vigorously to get a good froth, pour out the excess and stand them up. I bottle immediately making sure the inside is still foamy with StarSan. If the StarSan has dried out, it is no longer effective.

 

[myerstyson]

You cannot go wrong reading every bit of the Sticky in the Bottling forum on how to do bottling. I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but you've got plenty of answers above.

But I must tell you, I did my first batch before reading the Bottling sticky, and I wish I'd read it. Now my bottling day goes by swimmingly and I actually enjoy it.

Edit: Here.

 

[doug293cz]

I use the continuous flow process I described here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/bottling-day-507512/index2.html#post6554692. The advantage to this is not having to worry about if my sanitized bottles have sat around for too long. I also don't have filled, uncapped bottles sitting around either. Finally, the bottling wand is never out in the open where it could get contaminated.

I'm looking to get a vinator for sanitizing to speed things up, but the rest of the process will remain the same.

Brew on

 

[C-Rider]

Here is my 2 cents in a 15 min video

 

[eadavis80]

A bottling tree and vinator will cut down your bottling time a lot. If you can, I would invest in those. I can get 50 bottles sanitized in 10 minutes tops now.