tips for first time bottling 12 OZ bottles??

[fishinfur1]

Hey guys, I'm only on my 3rd batch of beer and I have been putting it in the 22oz bottles that came with my MR. Beer setup. I've desided to try bottling with old Sam Adams bottles I took the labels off. Just wondering if you guys had any tips for sterilizing bottles? amount of priming sugar? do I have to sterilize the caps? any other tips??

This forum has been great for me starting and I love the conversations.

 

[chickypad]

A rinse with sanitizer is a common way although some folks do heated sanitizing cycle on their dishwasher (no soap!). Either way make sure the bottles are clean first - like with a good soak in PBW or oxiclean. How were you sanitizing the bottles before?
Priming sugar is based on volume of beer so that doesn't change. I always sanitize the caps.

 

[AdamPag]

sterilize everything, bottles and caps, remember to disassemble your spigot and sanitize that as well before racking, priming sugar is depeding on style but most kits come with either 4 or 5 oz dextrose which is fine. My bottling wand displaces exactly 1.5" when the liquid hits the lip of the bottle I pull back and it leaves the correct head space, just experiment, its not much different from the 22oz

 

[cg2112]

For the Mr Beer kits, the instructions tell you how much priming sugar to use for 12oz bottles (I can't remember, might be 2 tsp). You can also use a single Cooper's carb drop per 12oz bottle, that's what I did on my last Mr Beer batch, and it worked well (but I found it seems to take longer than table sugar, if you're impatient like me)

Putting your bottles through a heated wash in your dishwasher will sanitize them. Don't use detergent, and make sure to soak your caps in sanitizer, as well. I usually put my caps in a bowl full of sanitizer as I'm laying everything out, so that by the time I'm ready to start bottling, they've been in there long enough (10 minutes or so)

 

[buffalobrewer]

this thread might we worth the time to read. bottling tips

 

[enkamania]

Things that helped me the most when bottling.

1. Vinator - Use this with star san to sanitize your bottles.
2. Bench capper - If you use the same size bottles, you'll never have to adjust it and in my opinion so much easier than a wing capper
3. Helper - One person sanitize and cap and the other is the filler.

+1 on the bottling tips, I used that for my assembly line

 

[dbreienrk1]

Grab a beer. 12 oz bottles are a PITA. I prefer 22 oz.