Tips for anyone looking to speed the bottling process a bit

[m00ps]

I'm still doing exclusively bottling until I get a kegerator set up early next year. I know most brewers absolutely loathe the whole process and I thought I'd share some little techniques that help cut the time down a bit. Right now it takes me maybe 90min from rinsing the bottling bucket to having everything capped.

When filling bottles, I've found its best to do batches of like 24 beers. I take 4 6pack carriers and fill them from the bottles on the tree (tree made things much easier and faster btw) and just fill all of them with one hand and lay a cap on top of each with the other. I've found this is much faster than filling then capping each beer by itself.

Once I've got all the caps laying on the bottles, I arrange them in a staggered fashion seen here. Half of them are inside the cartons for stability and the other half are spaced apart outside. This arrangement lets me use my red capper thing to reach each bottle without hitting the surrounding ones. I don't need to touch any of the bottles, its just boom boom boom down the line. I cap the outside ones first then go for the ones in the carton. I'd say the hole capping process for ~50 beers (5 gal batch) takes me no more than 2 minutes.

 

[soccerdad]

I don't loathe it at all - it's part of the hobby/therapy/obsession. For us brewing and packaging beer is often a family affair (although SWMBO doesn't join in) - so I often have a kid or two - or a kid and a friend there to help with bottling. 3 people is ideal - one on the capper, one on the bottle filler and one schlepping bottles.

BTW - I see you bottle indoors. A short bucket like a 2G helps a lot for drips and spillage - load 8 or 9 bottles in, let the drips go to the bottom of the bucket, rinse it later. No sticky beer on the floor (or very little).

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

The act of bottling itself doesn't take that long, its all the other junk before hand that makes the process long. The actual part where I'm filling bottles is fun/therapeutic.

I will usually do the same thing, I always bottle a few in party bottles(22oz bottles, have one, and you're having a party), so I can set the bottling wand into a 22oz bottle and itll just barely start filling while I crimp 6 or 7 caps onto other bottles. I can alternate this way and cap 6 times/fill 6 times/cap 6 times/fill 6 times. I hate the rest of the bottling process, the filling and capping is fun and easy.

 

[m00ps]

Yeah everything up to the actual bottling can be a hassle,. I've managed to be able to sanitize all my bottles while the beer is en route to the bottling bucket. I also like to soak the bottling bucket in PBW with the wand and autosiphon the night before, along with boiling my carb sugar. That way, I just quickly rinse out the bottling bucket the next day, sanitize and get started.

 

[krackin]

This is how I learned the Texas Two Step back in the '70's.

 

[barnaclebob]

The best bottling tip I know is to do it over the dishwasher door to catch drips.

 

[Epimetheus]

OP, good methods with a wing capper.

Any suggestions for a bench capper arrangement where I can just side the bottles through?


Agreed, over the dishwasher is just perfect. But I no longer feel like hauling 5 gallons of wort and 5 of sanitizer and 2 cases up and down stairs. Now I bottle in the basement and use the lid of a Rubbermaid bin as a drip tray.

Aside - I treated myself to a vinator bottle sanitizer. It is much faster and cleaner than the dunk-and-dump methods.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I've followed most of the tips in this sitcky, but I do a few things to make bottling day, including clean up, managable in 90 minutes for 5 gallons, unless I want to drink while I'm bottling, in which case I add 30 more minutes.

I don't use the dishwasher door any more because I bottle in the garage - it saves time doing the bottling where I store my gear. Like Epimetheus, I use a Vinator to sanitize with Star San, and to eliminate the tedious process of washing bottles, I wash them as I empty them, and put them neck down into the case to keep dust out and so I know just by looking at the case that they have been cleaned. I put the caps into a cup of StarSan and use them directly from the cup.
Then I fill all 48+ bottles, and rest the caps on them, then do all of the capping at once.

 

[2trout]

My tips are......

Rinse WELL immediately after drinking.

Store rinsed bottles upside down in a speed rack.

Use a Vinator for sanitizing.

Bottle over the dishwasher.

Add a second tap to your bottling bucket.

trout

 

[MotorcycleMike]

First, I stay off the floor. That kills my back and knees just looking at it.
I rinse the bottles at the sink with a bottle washer, hand them to the wife who sanitizes them on my vintinator and puts them on the tree which is on the counter.
Bottling bucket goes on top of a ferment bucket on the kitchen counter next to the tree. This puts the wand a little over waist high. An aluminum pan under the wand catches drips.
The wife takes the bottles from me as they are filled and sets them on the counter with a cap on each.
After the bucket is empty I hit each with the capper and Shirley packs them in the cases on the kitchen table.
No bending, No squating and it never takes more than 90 min.

 

[soccerdad]

Vinator is a great tool ... will surely speed you up, but like others have said, start with clean bottles.

In the 'family bottling party method" (aka 6 hands R better than 2), he who schleps bottles has a Vinator of Star San atop the bottle tree and hands fresh rinsed bottles to he who runs the bottle wand who passes filled bottles to he who runs the capper.

The fact that the Vinator fits right on the bottle tree is one of those things that proves God loves us and wants us to enjoy our beer.

 

[beersk]

The fact that the Vinator fits right on the bottle tree is one of those things that proves God loves us and wants us to enjoy our beer.

OR that the person who designed the vinator made it for that specific purpose. Either way

Since my vinator broke, I started making about 2 gallons of starsan in my 5 gallon kettle, dunking 2 bottles at a time and letting them filling slightly, cap ends with my thumbs, shake for a few seconds, dump, and put on bottle tree, go to next pair. I've found this is about twice as fast as the vinator.

Also, to speed up bottling, you don't need to let the priming sugar solution cool. Just dump in the bottling vessel and rack beer in. The temp of the solution will very quickly acclimate.

 

[Kampenken]

.... cap ends with my thumbs, shake for a few seconds, dump, and put on bottle tree, ...

I was with you, until there, maybe I'm a sanitize-freak, but I do not cap with my fingers for fear of the last step in the whole process is the one that could cause infection. So for me, I've put 2 bottles in bucket, fill in, grab 2 more, upright the first two in the bucket, fill the next two and then take upright ones and shake vigorously downwards into the bucket. No fingers! If perchance I touch the ends I will follow with a quick neck dip (the bottle, not me!) into the bucket. Overkill maybe, but don't want any chances!

 

[Psylocide]

I just have a buddy over, get drunk, prime the batch, spray each bottle inside with StarSan then spray the caps... I fill, he uses the bench capper.

50 beers in 1 hour, start to clean-up. Most of that is siphoning time/filling time anyway.

And you get to get bombed. Best way I can think of to do it.

 

[jmcquesten]

I also put a second spigot on my bottle bucket. A bottle wand attached to each spigot with a short piece of racking tube and you're ready to go. Cuts bottle filling time in half. If only I could come up with an easy way to cap 2 at a time. I have an idea, but don't feel like fabricating another gadget.

 

[Sailingeric]

I enjoy bottling. It is like giving birth, bringing a new beer to the word. I do bottle in 22oz so that saves time. Fill 3 to 5, cap and repeat.

 

[JohnSand]

I have a method too, but it's more about ergonomics. I bottle over the dishwasher door, but seated. I sanitize a case of bottles at a time in a pot in the sink. Well, two at a time until I have a case. Then I fill six pack carriers one at a time, while seated. A bottle comes off the counter to the left, fill and place in a six pack on the left. No bending, kneeling or twisting. Each six pack gets capped when full. I stand for that and put the full ones back into a case box. I don't mind standing then sitting, it keeps me from getting stiff.

 

[Salty-Dawg]

Wife and I bottled our first batch last night.

She washed the bottles using the attachment on faucet. Then she sanitized using vinator on table (more comfortable than reaching up to top of tree. Once sanitized she put them on tree. Then put caps in vinator.

Meanwhile I was sanitizing all bottling equipment and racking from fermenter to bottling bucket using auto siphon.

I don't like being on the floor so.... We have a work surface that i set the bottling bucket on and I put one tub upside down on floor and a second tub on that. I fill the bottles in that tub to contain spillage. I do about 12-14 at a time and then move them 4 ft. To table and cap. This allows me to sit on a chair while filling. Wife then wipes them down and puts them in case while I go back to filling. Repeat til finished. Wife marks caps to indicate what's in bottles and I start cleaning all equipment.

Start to finish 5 gal. (48 - 12oz and 1 - 22oz.) everything cleaned and put away....75 minutes.

 

[passedpawn]

If you use a vinator, just toss the caps into the starsan solution in the vinator reservoir. When you done sanitizing, the caps will already be done too. No need for boiling them. In the pic below, you can see the yellow caps in my vinator.

Also, as someone mentioned above, double-barrel bottling is twice as fast

 

[unionrdr]

I have a 45 bottle tree with vinator & the Super Agata bench capper. While the priming solution is in the bottling bucket getting the beer racked onto it out of primary, I use the vinator about half full of Starsan to sanitize 45-12oz bottles. I have a bag of o2 barrier caps next to a small container of Starsan on my bottling table ( 2 X 5' folding table from Walmart). My flat-top 122 pack cooler to one side with the empty case or 12 pack box to the other. A broken wooden chair with the bottle tree/vinator on it to one side to make reaching easier. The bottling bucket with bottling wand/hose attached on the bottling table to the right. This way I can sit down the whole time with bad back & hips. I fill 12-13 bottles, setting caps dunked in Starsan on'em as I go. Then run'em through the bench capper & repeat. I can do 55-12oz bottles with set up/clean up in about 2 hours. I've gotten it to the point where it's an enjoyable part of the process of getting the beer through the final phase.