newbie needs advice for bottling day

[woody34]

Thanks to this forum, I now have a planned method of cleaning my bottles. My question here is about my plan to sanitize them on bottling day.

My Plan: I'm going to fill my bottling bucket with a starsan mix. That will sanitized the bottling bucket. I then plan on filling my bottles with that mix too, and then placing the starsan filled bottles on the counter to soak for a few moments, as I siphon my beer into the now sanitized bottling bucket.
I then plan to dump the starsan out of each bottle right before I fill them with beer. Is that an ok plan, or will I have a bunch of star san residue in each beer bottle and does that even matter? As I am filling the bottles with Starsan, will the bottling bucket become unsanitized as it empties, or is that not really an issue?
This will be my first time bottling, (first time brewing actually) and I really just wnat a general idea of the logisitcs on bottling day. what works well for people, and mistakes to avoid. Thanks all in advance. PS I have a 5 gallon batch of beer and have 48, 16 ounce bottles.

 

[Ryan11]

Yeah that plan sounds good...but if you want instead of just dumping the star san out of the bottles you can put the star san in another bucket or something so you can re-use it. I'd put some in a spray bottle to keep handy. Its not recomended to re-use over and over but you can at least once. As for the bottling bucket becoming unsanitary as you fill your bottles...put the lid on of some foil. Also dont worry about the star san foam in your bottles it won't hurt your beer when you fill them.

 

[Draken]

Thanks to this forum, I now have a planned method of cleaning my bottles. My question here is about my plan to sanitize them on bottling day.

My Plan: I'm going to fill my bottling bucket with a starsan mix. That will sanitized the bottling bucket. I then plan on filling my bottles with that mix too, and then placing the starsan filled bottles on the counter to soak for a few moments, as I siphon my beer into the now sanitized bottling bucket.
I then plan to dump the starsan out of each bottle right before I fill them with beer. Is that an ok plan, or will I have a bunch of star san residue in each beer bottle and does that even matter? As I am filling the bottles with Starsan, will the bottling bucket become unsanitized as it empties, or is that not really an issue?
This will be my first time bottling, (first time brewing actually) and I really just wnat a general idea of the logisitcs on bottling day. what works well for people, and mistakes to avoid. Thanks all in advance. PS I have a 5 gallon batch of beer and have 48, 16 ounce bottles.

You might consider getting a 5 gallon bucket from lowes to mix your Starsan up in. That way you can save it for your next brew session.

 

[petey_c]

I used to do something similar to what you're doing. Cleaned the bottles in 5 gals of SS and then upside down in the dishwasher rack (sterilized). Wasted a lot of SS. Got a vinator and cut my SS use down by about 80%. Use SS in a spray bottle for everything else. SS residue will actually turn into nutrients for your yeast.

 

[mattmcl]

You could even dump the bottles out all at once, before you start bottling. The Star San will still be wet for quite a while. When I bottled, I was able to cap one bottle while the other one filled, which really cuts down on exposure and time.

 

[medusa1066]

Read This.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

 

[woody34]

Thanks fellas.
So I can store a starsan misture and use again (once)??How long can I store it for if it's covered? Are we talking hours, days or weeks?

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Thanks fellas.
So I can store a starsan misture and use again (once)??How long can I store it for if it's covered? Are we talking hours, days or weeks?

Mixed at the correct solution it can store for up to 3 months i believe
if the ph drops below 3.0 its useless

 

[ludomonster]

You might consider getting a 5 gallon bucket from lowes to mix your Starsan up in. That way you can save it for your next brew session.

I bottle during the next brew's mash. When I'm done with the bottles, I leave the racking equipment and airlock in there.

 

[dfaridoni]

I bottled my last batch using these suggestions and it was so much easier than my first two attempts. Works remarkably well

 

[HibsMax]

I rinse out each bottle with hot water after I pour my beer out of it (rather than leaving bottles with sticky residue inside them).

On bottling day I rinse each bottle out using a bottle washer attached to my faucet (very quick). I spray the bottle tree with Star-San. I fill a 5-gallon bucket with Star-San. I dunk each bottle in the bucket, let it fill, empty it and then put it on tree. I save some Star-San in a spray bottle and dump the rest. It's pretty cheap so I don't mind mixing up a fresh batch each time.

 

[mattmcl]

I believe that Star San works as long as the pH doesn't fall below a certain level. Not sure what that is though. I store mine in an old 5 gal glass carboy with a lid and reuse it until it goes cloudy.