That point before bottling..

[DutchMafia]

Once I have my bottles washed out and such, would it be bad to just have a large rubbermaid tub with my starsan solution in it and then just take out 6 bottles as needed while i am filling them up? Bascially how dry do the bottles have to be before filling them?

 

[gandalfiii]

Actually, that's more or less how I do it. I let them dry a little. I soak them in a bucket of star san. Then i pull them out and stick them upside down in empty beer cases. Them I grab them as needed. Works pretty well for me. Some of them are wetter than others but I haven't observed any taste from star san in the bottles.

 

[TyTanium]

No need to let them dry. It's not some nasty chemical, it's just a concentrated acid that gets diluted to yeast food when you add the beer.

It's a wet-contact sanitizer, so once it dries, it ceases to sanitize. Leave 'em wet, fill right on the foam.

And actually, there's no need to soak at all, just wet contact. So squirt the inside, give it 2mins, then fill 'er up! These makes bottling a piece of cake:

 

[brewnz]

Here's what I do (I use plastic PET bottles):

- When I finish drinking a bottle I rinse it, pour some water in, put the cap on and then shake it to make sure there's no funk in the bottom. I then get my StarSan spray bottle and give it a few bursts, grab the cap, spray that too, put the lid on, shake it some more and then store it.

- When it's bottling time I grab maybe two or three bottles at a time, shake them to redistribute the contained StarSan, take the caps off and throw the caps into a bucket of StarSan, shake out the excess StarSan into my kitchen sink, stack the bottles in my dishwasher and repeat until the brew is bottled.

Never had a problem and it's a relatively painless process - hope this helps!

 

[beergolf]

I use the poor mans Vinerator ( a turkey baster) A bowl of starsan on the dishwaser door, squirt a bottle with starsan, shake, drain back into bowl and into the dishwasher rack. I do 12 at a time. Fill the 12 and repeat.

easy.

 

[SilverZero]

I just take them out one-by-one from my dishwasher. They're already rinsed from previous use (or, if I haven't used them before, soaked in an ammonia solution to get them ready for the rotation) so I just fill the dishwasher rack and run them through a hot rinse and heated dry cycle. They go in upside-down, and they're even too hot to handle once the drying is done, so I just leave the door open, fill 6-8 bottles at a time, and then cap them and repeat the process. Just my system, it's nice not to mess with wet bottles, foam getting pushed out the top, etc.

 

[CidCitrus]

Just getting the vinator cut my bottling time by a half an hour.

 

[logan3825]

I didn't get a vinator. I just use the same spray bottle that I use to sanitize everything else. I got a bottle tree and I love that durn thing.

I make up one gallon of sanitizer which I use to run through all my tubing then use for the bottle caps and to dip the top of the bottles in before putting them on the bottle tree.

 

[tj218]

Not too happy with my way as I think it takes too long but here it is:

**All bottles are rinsed twice as I drink them, so at worst they may have some dust in them.**

1. 5gal bucket with Star-San solution is autosiphoned into bottling bucket. (Sanitizing auto-siphon and bottling bucket)
2.Then filler wand is used to fill empties half full of Star-San. (Sanitizes spout on bottling bucket and filler wand)
3. Shake empties vigorously and let sit. (Sanitizes bottles)
4. Empty Star-San in bottling bucket back into my 5gal Star-San bucket.
5. Priming sugar mixture into bottling cuket
6. Auto-Siphon beer into bottling bucket.
7. Dump bottles with Star-San, fill with beer (don't fear the foam) and cap. I do 12 at a time before capping, move on to the next 12.

It takes me between 2-3 hours counting clean-up. I am sure a Vinator would speed it up, but I haven't gotten around to ordering it as I keep dreaming of going the kegging route.

 

[logan3825]

1. 5gal bucket with Star-San solution is autosiphoned into bottling bucket. (Sanitizing auto-siphon and bottling bucket)

I would cut this down to 1g.

2.Then filler wand is used to fill empties half full of Star-San. (Sanitizes spout on bottling bucket and filler wand)

Buy a spray bottle or a vinator. A little dab will do ya.

3. Shake empties vigorously and let sit. (Sanitizes bottles)

I shake them after spraying into them.

4. Empty Star-San in bottling bucket back into my 5gal Star-San bucket.

I empty it through the bottling wand.

5. Priming sugar mixture into bottling cuket

I put mine in the bucket instead.

6. Auto-Siphon beer into bottling bucket.

Me too.

7. Dump bottles with Star-San, fill with beer (don't fear the foam) and cap. I do 12 at a time before capping, move on to the next 12.

I take mine off the bottling tree. Most of the star san is already drained out but the are still a little wet.

It takes me between 2-3 hours counting clean-up. I am sure a Vinator would speed it up, but I haven't gotten around to ordering it as I keep dreaming of going the kegging route.

Takes 2 of us about 60-90m including prep and cleanup. Filling and capping about 20m.

 

[tj218]

I would cut this down to 1g.



Buy a spray bottle or a vinator. A little dab will do ya.



I shake them after spraying into them.



I empty it through the bottling wand.




I put mine in the bucket instead.



Me too.




I take mine off the bottling tree. Most of the star san is already drained out but the are still a little wet.



Takes 2 of us about 60-90m including prep and cleanup. Filling and capping about 20m.

I make a 5gal batch and keep it for 3 months or longer, so it's not like I am making a fresh 5 gal batch.

60-90 min is fast, any idea how much, if any slower you go doing it solo?

 

[a6ladd]

Once I have my bottles washed out and such, would it be bad to just have a large rubbermaid tub with my starsan solution in it and then just take out 6 bottles as needed while i am filling them up? Bascially how dry do the bottles have to be before filling them?

To answer your original question, let the bottles stay in contact with the StarSan for a minimum of 30 seconds and proceed directly to bottling StarSan is actually designed to feed you yeast as well as sanitize your bottles so you are just fine when they are all wet/covered with foam.

Don't fear the foam!

 

[logan3825]

I make a 5gal batch and keep it for 3 months or longer, so it's not like I am making a fresh 5 gal batch.

60-90 min is fast, any idea how much, if any slower you go doing it solo?

Probably closer to 90m. 60-90m was a conservative estimate. With 2 of us we can usually bottle during a 60m boil. Probably about half an hour for everything except cleanup. We start after we feel there is no more chance of boilover and are usually done before the second hop addition around 20-15m left in the boil. With 2 of us we can brew one batch(extract) and bottle another in 3 hours including cleanup. Measuring everything, crushing grains. Makes for a very busy 3 hours though. Things are much more relaxed if we brew and bottle on separate days which we have started doing instead.

 

[Stauffbier]

With the use of a Vinator it takes me 45 minutes to bottle a batch if the bottles are already washed. This includes clean-up. I can even wash the yeast without adding much more than 10-15 minutes to the process. It's all about timing and procedure, but the Vinator definitely speeds things up.

 

[Peppers16]

I dip 'em in a bucket of starsan, drain and place a sanitized cap over all my bottles. The foam is still sanitising the sides by the time I bottle. I do have a spray bottle but was a little unsure about how well it would cover the entire inside-surface of the bottles compared with a few seconds of soaking.

 

[ludomonster]

I rack into a carboy when I bottle, so I also need to sanize that, plus a funnel. I wash and sanitize all my bottles before bottling. The actual bottling part goes by quickly because I have someone help. If we have all the bottles ready to go, we can knock out bottling in no time. I usually soak 12 bottles in a 5 gallon bucket (with enough star san to immerse them) for a few minutes (they only need 30 seconds, but I end up doing other things). Then I drain them and put them upside-down in a case. I add the next 12 bottles. Once I have more than 5.5 gallons of bottling capacity done, I get the priming sugar and caps ready. I have a wide variety of sizes and capacities, so it's not a straight 53-bottle job. I have many bombers, 500mls, short and long neck 12's and some odd-sized bottles. I'm trying to work in as many new bombers and swing-tops as I can.

 

[DutchMafia]

Once again thank you for all of your propmt responses on this subject, we are a go for bottling our first batch of Amber Ale tomorrow night and judging by the smell of it we are going to be in for a treat

 

[kh54s10]

About two cups of Starsan in the vinator.
Spritz a bottle and set it on the rack in the dishwasher.
Repeat for all 50+ bottles
Fill a bottle
Set a cap from a bowl of Starsan on top
Fill the next bottle
Repeat until all bottles are filled
Crimp all the caps

About 1 hour start to finish.

 

[DoctorMemory]

Another satisfied Vinator user here. Got one with the matching bottle tree and it really cuts the hassle for me. I bottle in the basement, so previously I was wrestling the dishwasher rack down there (if it was clean. If not, then I had to run the dw and unload it and...) Anyway, it takes me maybe an hour and a half to bottle a 5G batch. That includes boiling the priming sugar, sanitizing everything, bottling, capping and cleaning up. If you can get ahold of a friend, it really speeds things up to set up a "production line", with one person filling and the other capping and casing. If you don't have one yet, I recommend getting an auto-siphon. I used the plain tubing that came in my starter kit for my first brew and didn't have any problems, but the auto-siphon is a lot less hassle.