Oh yeah....THIS is why I loathe bottling

[linusstick]

So I brewed my first homebrew in many years. I started kegging before I took a break and I decided to start bottling again until I got back into the swing of things. I tried bottling my one gallon batch today (by myself which was a mistake) so I'm not too annoyed at what happened. I let the guy at my LHBS talk me into 6 feet of beer line and it ended up being way too much. I just racked the beer into a 2 gallon bucket and was using a mini autosiphon and bottle filler to fill the bottles. Well with how long the line was it took many pumps to get the beer flowing. Lots of oxygen going into the first bottle. Then each bottle the fill ended up stopping and it required more pumps to get it going again (wih lots of bubbles and oxygen flowing into the bottle). I think I need to get a spigot and make a bottling bucket for my next batches because with such a small amount this siphon just introduces too much oxygen I think. It didn't help that it was only half a gallon because I boiled off more than I was expecting. Should I just expect a beer that tastes like cardboard?

 

[mredge73]

You just have a siphon problem if you have to pump it multiple times and between bottles.
You have leak somewhere that is letting air in, this is either at one of the hose connections or on the auto-siphon gasket.
Anyway, you only got a few bottles. Even if you oxygenated them a little I would expect them to still be drinkable, drink them up as soon as the carbonate and you should be fine.
RDWHAHB

 

[flars]

Was this an extract brew? With extract you can top off the fermentor to the recipe volume with sanitary brewing water. Your boil may also have been too vigorous to lose so much volume unless your kettle was rather large diameter. Greater diameter kettles will lose more volume during the boil than a smaller diameter kettle.

 

[Kharnynb]

sounds indeed like a leak, or not enough height difference, where the bottles next to the vessel or was there a big upward loop in the line?

 

[bleme]

Was this an extract brew? With extract you can top off the fermentor to the recipe volume with sanitary brewing water.

To clarify, you can top off any batch. It doesn't have to be extract. If you add at flame-out, that will sanitize it. It just can't have chlorine in it.

And bottling does suck, but since it sounds like your issue was with your siphon, you would have had the same problem going to a keg.

 

[GOOCHY]

Do this - it's a lot easier. A couple inches of hose connected to the spigot and the bottling wand. If possible, position it over an open dishwasher. Easy peasy.

 

[z-bob]

I have one of those short auto-siphons, and mine leaks air at the seal too. I almost never use it, instead I use a clear plastic racking cane. Much less hassle.

 

[20grit]

You should bottle from a bottling bucket. Using the autosiphon or any other siphon is just going to stir up sediment every time you restart to fill the next bottle. Transfer with your autosiphon to the bottling bucket. Let whatever sediment transferred settle out, and then fill as Goochy suggested. A bottle filler is a few dollars. A foodgrade bucket is cheap at lowes, and a valve is another few dollars.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

You should bottle from a bottling bucket. Using the autosiphon or any other siphon is just going to stir up sediment every time you restart to fill the next bottle. Transfer with your autosiphon to the bottling bucket. Let whatever sediment transferred settle out, and then fill as Goochy suggested. A bottle filler is a few dollars. A foodgrade bucket is cheap at lowes, and a valve is another few dollars.

Agree with above. Also, place the cooled priming solution into the empty, sanitized bottling bucket and let the siphon process swirl around and quietly mix the solution into the beer.

 

[isomerization]

Agree with above. Also, place the cooled priming solution into the empty, sanitized bottling bucket and let the siphon process swirl around and quietly mix the solution into the beer.

Doesn't even need to be cooled, I dumped mine in after boiling (sat for a few minutes) and racked on top. The temp is normalized by the much larger amount of liquid you are racking with.

 

[linusstick]

Do this - it's a lot easier. A couple inches of hose connected to the spigot and the bottling wand. If possible, position it over an open dishwasher. Easy peasy.

Yup just did that with my last batch that I bottled. I was just being too lazy to go buy a step bit and making the bottling bucket myself. Was so much easier.

 

[Brownalemikie]

Yup just did that with my last batch that I bottled. I was just being too lazy to go buy a step bit and making the bottling bucket myself. Was so much easier.

What is a "step bit"?

 

[flars]

I use this type of spade bit when adding a bucket spigot. The cutters on the outside of the bit keep it from wandering and cut a clean round hole. They are also inexpensive.

 

[z-bob]

What is a "step bit"?