Improving my bottling game

[Hedley]

My bottling game is weak. During last night’s bottling session I made a mess. I siphon from the primary into 500ml bottles. After sucking on the tube, I kept spraying beer everywhere as I tried to attach the tube to the bottling wand. The flow was rubbish (I think I kept getting hops stuck in the racking cane). I was at a weird, uncomfortable angle trying to hold the racking cane straight and the bottling wand in the bottle. I kept disturbing the sediment. Plus I struggled to see how much beer I was putting in, etc.

There are two options that appeal:

1. Get a bottling bucket
I have heard these are basically buckets with a tap a couple of inches from the bottom. As I understand, the tap has a cane that goes into the bottle and you simply turn the tap on to release the beer into the bottle. Sounds perfectly easy.

One question: Can I use the bucket as a primary fermentor too? As I don’t do a secondary this would mean I can do fermenting and bottling from one bucket if so.

2. Dispense with bottles and get a keg

I guess with these I would need to add some sugar liquid to the keg for conditioning and carbonation? (I currently use the carbonation drops - one per bottle). Also, doesn’t the keg have a lot air space in it? (I only make 2.5 gallon batches to start with, plus air space is obviously created as beer is consumed).

Grateful for any thoughts or advice from anyone.

Ross

 

[PADave]

Yes, your current bottling process sounds like a nightmare. If you are going to continue to bottle, get a bottling bucket. Works exactly as you described it. You can then ditch the carb drops and use corn sugar added to the whole batch. You don't want to ferment in the bottling bucket because all the trub would be at the bottom, and give you problems. The whole setup is only about $10-15.

 

[snathanb]

2. Dispense with bottles and get a keg

I guess with these I would need to add some sugar liquid to the keg for conditioning and carbonation? (I currently use the carbonation drops - one per bottle). Also, doesn’t the keg have a lot air space in it? (I only make 2.5 gallon batches to start with, plus air space is obviously created as beer is consumed).
.

Ross

Kegs typically use C02 tanks to carbonate the beer.. and the C02 displaces the oxygen in the head space.

 

[Painter]

Definitely get a bottling bucket. You may have to install your own dip dube, but there are numerous suggestions on this board. I made mine out of pvc that screwed right on to the inside of the tap. And one of the best cheap equipment investments that I made was an auto siphon. No more sucking and messy spills.

 

[Hedley]

Thanks people! Super helpful as ever!

Ross

 

[cegan09]

If you really want to bottle right from the primary, you can get something like this (there are other options with the same feature, this was just the fastest for me to link to)
http://www.northernbrewer.com/siphonless-big-mouth-bubbler-ported-6-5-gallon

But a bucket is nice because it will allow you to mix in priming sugar without stirring up sediment.


With kegs you can either naturally carbonate with priming sugar, or force carbonate with CO2. Either works just fine, but forced carbonation can be faster. They also make kegs in varying sizes. I own a couple 5 gallon, but I'm going to pick up a 3 gallon soon. If you match your batch size to your keg size, there is very little head space, and then as the beer is consumed it is replaced by CO2. (You need a CO2 bottle no matter your carbonation method).

 

[WarEagleBrewer]

Do both! Get the bottling bucket first. A small piece of advice, if you have a dishwasher (not the SWMBO), open the door and fill the bottles over the washer. When you get into kegging, you will still want to make beer and the ability to bottle means you can keep more beer in your line-up. I just counted the other day and I'm up to 166 bottles and 3 kegs. Good Luck!

 

[theowlman16]

I never understood the racking cane idea, I just use the bottling bucket with the spigot. Throw a towel on the floor, bucket on the kitchen table, and go. I do not use the bottling bucket for fermentation, I like to transfer off the trub and onto the water/sugar mixture (avoiding aeration).

 

[TheSquid]

I second WarEagle's suggestion about doing it over the open dishwasher. I bought a bottling bucket that has a hose barb on the spigot. Carefully rack your beer onto the correct amount of sanitized corn sugar solution. I put a 1" "nipple" of nylon tubing on the hose barb and the other end slid right onto the bottling wand. Now I place the bucket above the dishwasher and the racking cane extends down past the counter top. The bottling wand is spring loaded so all you do is slide the bottle up around the wand and when it hits the bottom of the bottle it fills it up. When you pull the bottle out it leaves the perfect amount of headspace. Filling is a one handed job. I usually have the next bottle in the other hand ready to go. Once I fill about 10 or so I'll cap them and then sit back down and fill the next 10. Of course, having an assistant handling the capping makes it a streamlined process.

 

[C-Rider]

Yes, your current bottling process sounds like a nightmare. If you are going to continue to bottle, get a bottling bucket. Works exactly as you described it. You can then ditch the carb drops and use corn sugar added to the whole batch. You don't want to ferment in the bottling bucket because all the trub would be at the bottom, and give you problems. The whole setup is only about $10-15.

You can also use plane old table sugar. The yeast won't know the difference and it's cheaper.

 

[Pantherjon]

Get a bottling wand..It has a spring loaded tip..Place all the way in the bottle, press against bottom of bottle opens the valve, watch the flow and stop when your beer reaches the top. Remove wand and you have perfect head space in the bottle..Works best hooked up to a carboy/bucket that has a spigot..

 

[bkboiler]

agreed with the other comments about a bottling wand, bucket, and premix the sugar with sanitized and chloramine/chlorine free water into the bucket and rack onto that.
also, i'd look into a bottle washer attachment to aggressively spray out any junk out of the bottom of the bottle. and also a drying rack.
sanitizing the bottles properly and reliably takes quite a bit of time but you will get better! or just switch to kegging...

 

[flars]

Don't have a dishwasher door to bottle over. Restaurant bussing trays from Sam' Club. Spring tip bottling wand on the bucket. I have the bucket tilted to get more beer out before I tilt by hand. This is where the spring tip wand comes in handy. Can fill the last few bottles with one hand.

edit: I need a new picture. Have since cleaned up the area.

 

[mattdee1]

If you’re going to bottle the beer, then a dedicated bottling bucket is a no-brainer, considering the small investment required vs. the value it brings.

Mind your spigot; not all are made alike. My LHBS sells cruddy white plastic spigots that get the job done but the better choice is the red “Italian” style spigot. They are so much nicer because they allow you to rotate the actual spigot outlet separately from the body of the assembly. With the “fixed” white ones, if you rotate the spigot, the whole assembly rotates and might actually loosen the seal to the bucket enough to start leaking beer all over the place.

Bottling wands, at $3-$4 each, might be the single best bang-for-your-buck item in the whole process. Single hand filling and a built-in mechanism for achieving consistent and proper headspace in the bottles.

Lastly, you might want to consider installing 2 spigots on your bottling bucket. This is what I did, so now I can fill 2 bottles at a time.

 

[Brewenstein]

My bottling game is weak. During last night’s bottling session I made a mess. I siphon from the primary into 500ml bottles. After sucking on the tube, I kept spraying beer everywhere as I tried to attach the tube to the bottling wand. The flow was rubbish (I think I kept getting hops stuck in the racking cane). I was at a weird, uncomfortable angle trying to hold the racking cane straight and the bottling wand in the bottle. I kept disturbing the sediment. Plus I struggled to see how much beer I was putting in, etc.

There are two options that appeal:

1. Get a bottling bucket
I have heard these are basically buckets with a tap a couple of inches from the bottom. As I understand, the tap has a cane that goes into the bottle and you simply turn the tap on to release the beer into the bottle. Sounds perfectly easy.

One question: Can I use the bucket as a primary fermentor too? As I don’t do a secondary this would mean I can do fermenting and bottling from one bucket if so.

2. Dispense with bottles and get a keg

I guess with these I would need to add some sugar liquid to the keg for conditioning and carbonation? (I currently use the carbonation drops - one per bottle). Also, doesn’t the keg have a lot air space in it? (I only make 2.5 gallon batches to start with, plus air space is obviously created as beer is consumed).

Grateful for any thoughts or advice from anyone.

Ross

Read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812 It's a sticky in the bottling/kegging forum.

 

[Lefou]

My method ...
Transfer wort from glass carboy to bottling bucket using a racking cane. Once that's done, cover the bottling bucket with a lid and attach a bottling wand to the spigot valve with one-half inch tubing. Drop in sugar cubes or glucose tabs into each bottle, fill and cap one at a time. Once you have everything set up, filling and capping doesn't take long. Last brew took me about 35 minutes to complete priming, bottling, and capping 17 bottles of wheat ale.

The hardest work is waiting for them to condition and drink ... sometimes around St. Patrick's Day weekend.

 

[buckinin]

Read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812 It's a sticky in the bottling/kegging forum.

I second this suggestion. My ease/speed of bottling were dramatically improved after reading the procedure in that thread.

For a dip tube to avoid having to tilt the bottling bucket to get the last couple bottles filled, I used some plastic tubing shoved into a stopper. I then shoved the stopper into the spigot inside the bucket. The curl in the tubing from being wound at the lhbs made it sit nicely at the bottom of the bucket and I could maximize the beer I could bottle.

 

[Singletrack]

How does that first beer taste? Exactly. It tastes like another. Save half the bottling (well actually 10/22), by bottling bombers. Bonus: Fewer caps. Use a bottling bucket with a spigot. Prime with cane sugar. Put the bucket on a tall surface. Use a longish hose. Put empty bottles in a case at a comfortable height and fill 12 bombers at a time, one after the other. You can set a loose cap on each after you pull your wand. Bottling over the dishwasher is okay. I'm happier in the garage.