I hate bottling

[Alamo_Beer]

I just bought everything to build 2 of these (just need to find some damn 5/8" washers!) http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/cheap_3_liter_kegs.htm

I filled 4 and a half 3 liter bottles with IPA the other day and it was INSAINLY easy. We'll see how everything works out after I "tap" my first one...

 

[Mustangfreak]

I dont mind it. Half of my bottles are big swingtops so its not a big deal.

 

[Finster]

I dont mind it. I started brewing about 2 years ago and the first batch I made went strieght into a keg. Made an outmeal stout a couple months ago and my keg was still half full,(only have one) So I bottled it. Guess I haven't bottled enough to get sick of it yet.

 

[Rick_R]

Quoth dpt222:
What's the best kind of sanitizer to use with these things? Do you need to change out the solution after doing a certain amount of bottles or can you safely do 50 bottles in one go?

I use Star San and did fifty bottles in one go, didn't need to add any. The bottles are clean, of course, to start with. With Star San there is a lot of foam; it foams anyway, and when you get the squirting action you increase its "foamation." I bought some iodophore for that purpose but ended up using Star San instead. I may try iodophore next time just to see how it works, but I wasn't sure about spraying the bottle stand with Star San then hanging the idophore'd bottles on there.

Rick

 

[Evets]

I don't mind it at all. In fact just today I bottled a nice smoked porter. I have one corny sitting in the garage. I'll probably, eventually, use it to keep a Haus Pale on tap, but I'll likely keep bottling everything else.

 

[TerapinChef]

I hear so many people complain about bottling but I don't understand it myself...I have never spent more than an hour bottling any batch of beer that I have made. I do have a bottling tree/vinator combo which makes the sanitation part very easy, but I still don't understand what it is that everyone hates about it! The actual capping part of bottling is what takes me the longest time, at about 15 minutes for a whole 5 gallon batch. This is all in 12 oz bottles also. I have done whole batches in Grolsch bottles, which makes things MUCH faster, and whole batches in 22's also, which is a bit faster due to the fact that there are less bottles involved. I don't mind bottling at all, and I hate to see so many people get so down on it on HBT because more and more new brewers seem to think that they need to go straight to kegging because everyone makes bottling out to be this tedious process....

 

[bgrand281]

I don't mind the proccess of bottling, and I love bottlrd beer. Just you can't drink out of the bottles anyway, i plan to keg just to have clean bottles stocked and ready to drink. No glasses is the goal.

 

[vtchuck]

As I have 2 kegerators.... one in the den that holds a cornie & a 5 lb tank and an ancient one in the cellar that has a 30 lb tank and will hold at least 2 cornies.

I've been trying to bottle a few of each batch I keg. Before I force carbonate the keg I draw off three bottles, drop in a Cooper drop and cap. As the first draws on the keg are usually a bit yeasty, I'm assuming that there will be enough for natural carbonation in the bottles.

Anyone else tried this?

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I have 10 gallons of beer to bottle soon. I dont mind the actual bottling, its cleaning bottles that sucks. I need to get my co2 tank filled soon.

 

[glennduggin]

I just bottled a 5 gallon batch tonight....probably 45 minutes (with my fiancee). It is an abbye ale, so I felt it needed to bottle condition. I do like the speed of kegging but bottle conditioned ales are where its at a lot of the time.

 

[Beerthoven]

I bottled a 5-gallon batch this weekend. 47 12-oz bottles. It took about 1.5 hours. SWMBO was helping (as she always does), and we drink beer and talk about how good the new beer is going to be.

I know there are ways I could shorten the time it takes, but I'm comfortable with my process and really don't mind it that much.

 

[Rudeboy]

I find bottling a PITA. Especially as my two assistant brewers (age 4 & 6) kinda slow things down. Just moved into kegging and love it. A free freezer on Craigs list, a used Johnson controler and just using picnic taps makes it pretty cheap.

I'm still keeping my bottles though. I see myself as having two cornies on the go with "Draught Beer". One a British type Ale and the other a Lager or a Kolsch or a Haus Ale. Then I'll have "Specials" in bottles. You know like a Porter or a big IIPA, something you don't want to drink all 5 gallons in one go. Well not that I mean one sitting but...oh you know what I mean.

I've got a question though. I make 23 litre batches so in theory I'll have a couple of extra litres. When I have the time/patience I'll keg condition so I can just use a bottling bucket with the full amount of Corn Sugar but when I don't how much corn sugar do I put in an individual bottle. I realize it depends on style and bottle size but in general for a 355 ml bottle? (I've never seen Cooper's tablets up here.)

Thanks

Rudeboy