My wife helps me on brew and bottle day. I ferment in a 5gal icing bucket. (Makes 4gal) I use my LBK as a bottling bucket. So I ask the mrs. to make the sugar/water mixture for 2 gallons. She got all confused with the whole tsp TBLSP thing. My chart said 20 tsp for 2 gallons. She makes the solution while I get everything all set up. Everything sanitized,etc. I pour the solution in the LBK, then siphon 2 gal into it. Go to make the solution for the next 2gal while she bottles. I ask how much she used.... She used 20 TBLSP. 3 times as much.. So now I siphon everything back into the fermenter hoping that the solution will mix with the whole batch and not mix up too much trub into everything. Then siphon back into the LBK and bottle. Then siphon the rest into the LBK and bottle the rest. Sooo... my bottles have 1.5x the amount of priming solution they need.
Luckily I have some PET bottles. So I filled 3 of them at various points in the bottling process. This way I can check the pressure while they prime. All the bottles are now in totes and a chest cooler while they prime. Just in case I still have bombs I can limit the mess.
Also I HATE PLASTIC CAPPERS!!! 3 bottles in the handle cracked. Then before the first 12 were done the metal cap holder broke off the plastic part that held it on. When I am carbing I store all my bottles in a very dark place. So I had 12 corona bottles on hand. I'm pretty sure those are the cause of my capper issues. It was an interesting bottling night.
I had already named this beer 'Latrine Wheat'. Since the first 2 days of fermentation I had it in my bathroom so if it blew up it wouldn't be on the carpet. Blow up it did. So between that, and it being a "poo-ey" bottling night, the name fits perfectly. The samples tasted really good though, so I remain optimistic. And pretty happy honestly. It takes a lot to anger me. Can't wait for this to be ready to drink. The mrs. wanted a shandy, so I just made a wheat and she can mix when she wants one. Might make an attempt at a bottled shandy later this spring/summer.
I think all of last nights issues were because she was drinking a vodka/cherry lemonade and I didn't have any HB open. I had them in the fridge, just never got around to opening. Never again!
Luckily I have some PET bottles. So I filled 3 of them at various points in the bottling process. This way I can check the pressure while they prime. All the bottles are now in totes and a chest cooler while they prime. Just in case I still have bombs I can limit the mess.
Also I HATE PLASTIC CAPPERS!!! 3 bottles in the handle cracked. Then before the first 12 were done the metal cap holder broke off the plastic part that held it on. When I am carbing I store all my bottles in a very dark place. So I had 12 corona bottles on hand. I'm pretty sure those are the cause of my capper issues. It was an interesting bottling night.
I had already named this beer 'Latrine Wheat'. Since the first 2 days of fermentation I had it in my bathroom so if it blew up it wouldn't be on the carpet. Blow up it did. So between that, and it being a "poo-ey" bottling night, the name fits perfectly. The samples tasted really good though, so I remain optimistic. And pretty happy honestly. It takes a lot to anger me. Can't wait for this to be ready to drink. The mrs. wanted a shandy, so I just made a wheat and she can mix when she wants one. Might make an attempt at a bottled shandy later this spring/summer.
I think all of last nights issues were because she was drinking a vodka/cherry lemonade and I didn't have any HB open. I had them in the fridge, just never got around to opening. Never again!
