Observations after 1st bew!

[rack04]

1.) Not having a tasty home brew available while brewing my first batch was a difficult.

2.) Planning and preparation is KEY! Having all the utensils laid out really helped to ensure that all steps were followed properly.

3.) I don't like plastic fermentation buckets. I realized very quickly that I want to see what's going on in there. I have already purchased a 6 gallon better bottle to replace the 6.5 gallon plastic fermentation bucket.

4.) Cooling 5.25 gallons of wort to yeast pitching temperature is painfully slow without a wort chiller.

5.) I much prefer using a blow-off hose to three piece airlocks.

6.) I am very pleased with the yeast starter I created. I feel much more comfortable knowing that I pitched healthy yeast.

7.) Maintaining 155 degrees F on my gas stove top is a challenge. The temperature of my steeping pot varied anywhere from 165 to 145. I'll have to practice this to get a little better.

8.) My propane burner uses a lot less fuel that I was expecting.

9.) Even though I haven't done it yet, I am beginning to understand how much "fun" bottling is going to be.

10.) I need to think about how to control the fermentation and bottling temperatures. Right now I'm using the ambient heat/cool of my house which is a constant 70 degrees F.

 

[joeunc]

9.) Even though I haven't done it yet, I am beginning to understand how much "fun" bottling is going to be.

-=--==- I am sure you know,it's not much fun. You will be kegging in the future


10.) I need to think about how to control the fermentation and bottling temperatures. Right now I'm using the ambient heat/cool of my house which is a constant 70 degrees F.[/QUOTE]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- search swamp cooler

congrats and keep it up!!!

 

[Revvy]

9.) Even though I haven't done it yet, I am beginning to understand how much "fun" bottling is going to be.

-=--==- I am sure you know,it's not much fun. You will be kegging in the future
!

Bottling doesn't have to be a chore....

You could do like this guy and wimp out and decide to keg. Or you could MASTER bottling, rather than letting it defeat you. You could beat the process into submission until you can bottle like many of us do, comfortably and in under an hour for a five gallon batch.

You just need to pimp your process.....we tweak all other aspects of the brewing process to what works best for us, but most brewers bottle EXACTLY the way that pappa charlie and John Palmer show in their books...never ever thinking of trying other ways...and then cursing and complaining about how hard it is to bottle.

Some of us have figured out how to make it no more onorous a chore than cleaning. It takes me less than an hour to comfortably bottle 54 beers. AND I get two cases + 1 sixer on average/ 5 gallon batch of beer.

We explain all in here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

I think folks that don't master something and then b1tch about it are wussies...so I dare you to be a Jedi of Bottling.

 

[BendBrewer]

1) Plan ahead and buy some good brew.

2) Keep them all in the same place before hand and you are good to go.

3) You'll get over that sooner than later.

4) That is why we use chillers.

5) Until you have to sleep near it.

6) Using dry yeast is really comfortable.

7) Doesn't really matter for steeping.

8) Sweet!

9) Bottling is fun. Until about the 5th batch.

10) Should work just fine. Use height to tweek temps a few degrees.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

As Revvy said, bottling is not difficult if you figure it out. Don't just wuss out and go to kegging. Kegging is for people that want to have a keg of beer and not bottles. It is all in the mentality, you want to have a keg sitting around and lug it to parties or have bottles available?

 

[Ace_Club]

3.) I don't like plastic fermentation buckets. I realized very quickly that I want to see what's going on in there. I have already purchased a 6 gallon better bottle to replace the 6.5 gallon plastic fermentation bucket.

Don't get rid of your buckets! You'll be back to using the cheaper, safer and more convenient buckets once you get tired of watching the yeast. Plus, carrying a full carboy is much more difficult than carrying one (or even two) full buckets.

 

[BendBrewer]

As Revvy said, bottling is not difficult if you figure it out. Don't just wuss out and go to kegging. Kegging is for people that want to have a keg of beer and not bottles. It is all in the mentality, you want to have a keg sitting around and lug it to parties or have bottles available?

Sounds like you still bottle. Filling bottles out of my keg is a lot easier than bottling it alone and I really enjoy sediment free bottles when out 'showing them off'. And it makes storing your beer in a kegerator a whole lot easier.

 

[Revvy]

9) Bottling is fun. Until about the 5th batch.

Bottling's never fun...It just doesn't need to be difficult or long, or make little whiny babies have to always answer in every bottling thread "he he you should keg..." Like we've never heard of kegging, or hasn't been said 20 bazillion times or anything.

 

[mixedbrewer]

I think bottling is fun. As I do it, I know its the last step and soon the beer will be mine to drink. I haven't read anyone else's description on how to bottle, but it comes pretty naturally once you start thinking about efficiency.

 

[Tall_Yotie]

I brew with friends and family, so bottling is a bit of that "everyone gets to help" step. A usual bottling day is my father in law and I sanitizing stuff and getting the priming sugar ready, and then him, myself and my wife (and sometimes my brother in law) bottling. I hand bottles down from the tree and keep an eye on the level, F.I.L. fills, wife caps, B.I.L. wipes down the bottles and stores. I know it is a lot of hands in there, but this way we all can have a hand free for a beer to be drinking!

 

[brrman]

I hate bottling. If I share my brew it gets bottled from the keg.

 

[rack04]

so I dare you to be a Jedi of Bottling.

Challenge accepted!

5) Until you have to sleep near it.

Very good point. I can't rule out that my closet will eventually be filled with fermenting beer.

Don't get rid of your buckets! You'll be back to using the cheaper, safer and more convenient buckets once you get tired of watching the yeast. Plus, carrying a full carboy is much more difficult than carrying one (or even two) full buckets.

I'm not getting rid of the buckets. In fact, I'm already planning how to fill them.

 

[rack04]

Another observation: It's very hard to choose what to brew next.

 

[RM-MN]

Today I put my wort into a carboy. I'll not go through that again unless I have my fermenter buckets all full again when I want to brew. So much easier to just dump it in the bucket instead of racking it into the carboy.

 

[Revvy]

Another observation: It's very hard to choose what to brew next.

Here ya go!

The knights of the Mashing Fork Magic Brewing 8 Ball.

 

[mlyday]

Another observation: It's very hard to choose what to brew next.

Until you build up a good pipeline, brew stuff you know youll really like, then experiement and try some more off the wall stuff.

 

[philogeek]

Today I put my wort into a carboy. I'll not go through that again unless I have my fermenter buckets all full again when I want to brew. So much easier to just dump it in the bucket instead of racking it into the carboy.

Yeah, this is painful!
My first wort put into carboy had a lot of beneficial splashing, but it took forever to get done since I had to spend time waiting for the fizz to subside so I could continue pouring the wort in...

The second one, I thought ahead and used my autosiphon. But then, there was NO air getting into the wort since there was no splashing. So I had to backtrack and introduce some air into the carboy using my wine degasser drill attachment - what a PITA.

 

[Homercidal]

The carboy is fun to watch the first few times, then you get to appreciating the easy cleanup of a bucket and how easy they are to carry when you have to, and don't shatter and cut through your tendons and stuff.

 

[brrman]

yeah, carrying a full carboy is the only aspect of my brew day that concerns me. My wife bought me a "brew-hauler" for Christmas, but apparently misplaced it before she could wrap it... lol

Carboys are such a PITA to have around when not in use as well. I may very well start going to buckets soon.

 

[rack04]

4.) Cooling 5.25 gallons of wort to yeast pitching temperature is painfully slow without a wort chiller.

Well I hope I have this problem solved.

Picked this up today from the metal scrap yard. I only paid $27.

And after a little elbow grease I have this.

I will recirculate ice water using a pump.

 

[BarflyB]

Been spending way to many hours on this forum the last few weeks as I started my first batch. Since there is a lot of bottle bashing going on in this post, it reminded me to say THANKS to Revvy for the link he posted above. I bottled my first batch this week and took some (not all) of the tips listed there, as well as elsewhere in the forum and it made for a much easier process than anticipated. A few more tricks I hope to incorporate on batch #2 to make it smoother, but all in all it was a fun way to spend an hour on a snowy day. Did I love it? No - but it was in no way a burden. For me, I think the ability to grab a 6 pack and head to a friends to share my beer far outweighs the burden. Looking down at a box of 50 freshly capped bottles was quite a pleasant sight.