I have made several brews before...
about 4 with a Mr Beer kit, and generally all those were good. I used growlers with rubber stoppers (about 24 of them??).
This xmas I upgraded to a brewmaster kit, and increased growler count to about 60 growlers. Generally speaking, I cannot tell one growler from another.
My first brewmaster brew was a Belgian Wheat. Of the first 7 bottles I opened, 3 were flat. Of the other 4, 2 had only a little carbonation. I have since opened a few more and each bottle has had only mild carbonation.
The beer tastes really good, so I think I brewed OK and need some work on bottling. Thus far my only bottling experience is the Mr Beer technique with sugar right in the bottle, and using growlers with rubber stoppers, and my first brewmaster where priming sugar is added to the bottling bucket.
I have another beer fermenting now (it is a red ale). For sentimental reasons it is really important I not screw up this bottling (the beer mix was a gift from someone).
I have another set of 24 bottles which needs caps. My plan was to bottle about 24 growlers with stoppers and 24 bottles with caps.
Here are some bottling questions and issues which I know I need to pay attention to, or seek advice on. Please chime in if you have a comment:
1) When I sanitized my bottles, it is possible I did not dry all the sanitizer out. How much would this effect the end result? I rinsed the bottles in the sanitizer from the 5 gallon bottling bucket, then sprayed sanitzer into the bottles as well.
2) I did not fill the bottles with beer past the neck, I am thinking an extra ounce of beer (or less) might build up more pressure for carbonation?
3) Someone pointed out that its possible the new growlers (and the seal) are not as good as the Mr Beer ones I have used for years. Comments?
4) This could come down to technique, maybe I did not mix the priming sugar into bottling bucket correctly (consistently)? I still have about 24 bottles left to drink and the one I opened last night did have a decent head on it.
about 4 with a Mr Beer kit, and generally all those were good. I used growlers with rubber stoppers (about 24 of them??).
This xmas I upgraded to a brewmaster kit, and increased growler count to about 60 growlers. Generally speaking, I cannot tell one growler from another.
My first brewmaster brew was a Belgian Wheat. Of the first 7 bottles I opened, 3 were flat. Of the other 4, 2 had only a little carbonation. I have since opened a few more and each bottle has had only mild carbonation.
The beer tastes really good, so I think I brewed OK and need some work on bottling. Thus far my only bottling experience is the Mr Beer technique with sugar right in the bottle, and using growlers with rubber stoppers, and my first brewmaster where priming sugar is added to the bottling bucket.
I have another beer fermenting now (it is a red ale). For sentimental reasons it is really important I not screw up this bottling (the beer mix was a gift from someone).
I have another set of 24 bottles which needs caps. My plan was to bottle about 24 growlers with stoppers and 24 bottles with caps.
Here are some bottling questions and issues which I know I need to pay attention to, or seek advice on. Please chime in if you have a comment:
1) When I sanitized my bottles, it is possible I did not dry all the sanitizer out. How much would this effect the end result? I rinsed the bottles in the sanitizer from the 5 gallon bottling bucket, then sprayed sanitzer into the bottles as well.
2) I did not fill the bottles with beer past the neck, I am thinking an extra ounce of beer (or less) might build up more pressure for carbonation?
3) Someone pointed out that its possible the new growlers (and the seal) are not as good as the Mr Beer ones I have used for years. Comments?
4) This could come down to technique, maybe I did not mix the priming sugar into bottling bucket correctly (consistently)? I still have about 24 bottles left to drink and the one I opened last night did have a decent head on it.
