I have 3 batches hanging in fermenters ...3/14 (pi day) centennial blonde...a robust porter brewed a month or so earlier and a fresh cider cider - in secondary started in February. I want to get these bottled and start 1 to 3 summer friendly brews but work and life has just kicked into full speed ( same as last year)....what do you do when life gets in the way? So far I haven't had to work out of town bit can't find the time to bottle what i have or brew more either...
What do you do when life gets in the way?
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chef_nerd
Member
I am getting to that point in my career and family life as well. I am looking into building/ investing in kegging my beer instead of bottling.
Bottling seems to take quite a while, though nice to take with it defiantly has its drawbacks.
Bottling seems to take quite a while, though nice to take with it defiantly has its drawbacks.
Hoppity
Just brew it!
Short sustained bursts of effort over several evenings can help kill off a backlog of bottling. I'll often leave bottles soaking in sanitizer the day before bottling while the beer is cold crashing.
Transamguy77
Well-Known Member
Bottling always seems like a daunting task during the busy times in life, for me I took a step back and looked at my process to see what I could do to speed things up. I build a bottle tree and bought a Vinator and just doing that knocked 20 mins off my process.
eatmorefrogs
Well-Known Member
Beer is pretty forgiving. Keep your airlock filled and your temperatures from fluctuating. If you're in secondary that's safer than being in primary. That said, I left a wine in primary once for 8 months and it was delicious. I have a beer in secondary right now that tastes fine but reached final gravity two months ago.
So to directly answer your question, when life gets in the way RDWHAHB.
So to directly answer your question, when life gets in the way RDWHAHB.
sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
I stop sleeping and do my brew stuff at all hours of the night. Last summer I built my work schedule around my fermenter availability. I worked 10 hour plus days everyday. I usually had a day off every other week so those were my brew days.
Transamguy77
Well-Known Member
Do you have friends that "want to brew" with you? Invite them over on a brew day and show them the "whole" process. While you are mashing and boiling they can help you bottle all your brews!
I have done that a few times and I was thanked because they learned the brewing process (and was bit by the brew bug and started themselves) AND how to bottle so they were confident bottling their own brews.
I have done that a few times and I was thanked because they learned the brewing process (and was bit by the brew bug and started themselves) AND how to bottle so they were confident bottling their own brews.
revco
Well-Known Member
I live a pretty busy lifestyle, but there's usually always time where I can carve out a brew day on a weekend or an evening where I can kick off a kegging or bottling project. I find I have to make the time, though, focus on it and make it happen...I pick a day and that's the day unless something absolutely unavoidable gets in the way. (And then it's rescheduled for the next weekend.) I've really developed a love for brewing, though, so it's nearly essential for my well being anymore. Sometimes I feel lazy and just don't want to...but I make myself do it anyway and feel better for it on the back end.
Just this month I've come off of 70+ hour work weeks for a few weeks straight. I told the office to pound sand for a day and brewed on a Friday, it was awesome and I felt well deserved. I have the philosophy though that it's important to work hard, but if that's all you do, it's usually not worth it overall.
I also invest into tools that make things go faster. Whether that's a carboy cleaner, a bottle cleaner, automating my HLT, or whatever...if it saves time or lets me do two things at once, ultimately it's worth it for me.
Just this month I've come off of 70+ hour work weeks for a few weeks straight. I told the office to pound sand for a day and brewed on a Friday, it was awesome and I felt well deserved. I have the philosophy though that it's important to work hard, but if that's all you do, it's usually not worth it overall.
I also invest into tools that make things go faster. Whether that's a carboy cleaner, a bottle cleaner, automating my HLT, or whatever...if it saves time or lets me do two things at once, ultimately it's worth it for me.
BadBeagleBrew
Well-Known Member
As expensive as it sounds kegging is the solution, you can get a beginner setup with a picnic tap and just stick it in any free fridge you can find on CL. My wife commented the other day that I drank a little more now that I keg, I agreed and told her I could sell it and go back to bottling, after a brief stare of thought she said that I was keeping the kegging setup lol. That is how much time it saves, when the wife would rather have me drunk and available than sober and bottling haha.
Tonight was - get home from work (only a little late) to an empty house ......so maybe o can get set up to bottle then - after the kids are down - get a batch bottled up.........instead it is troubleshoot and temporarily fix the refrigerator ( defrost thermostat bad) .....and tomorrow night is " fix the fridge" ..... Saturday is kids trout derby, but maybe Saturday evening???
Transamguy77
Well-Known Member
Kids! You didn't mention kids! How old are they? My kids always used to help me, I used it to have family time and talk about the day. The ones that would help me were 10, 8 and 6, I would bottle and they would cap we could do 5 gallons in about a half hour and 10 in about an hour.
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Rdwhcb
Make a simple cider (grocery store cider and a pinch of nutrient, ferment with Nottingham, backsweeten with good honey). It takes 10 minutes to get it started in the fermenter. Also Northern Brewer's 20-minute boil extract kits can easily fill a gap in the pipeline (and are surprisingly good).
And kegs. Kegging a batch is done in a snap.
And kegs. Kegging a batch is done in a snap.
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I added spigots to my fermenting buckets and bought more kegs.
Open the valve and let it flow. 10 minutes or so.
Open the valve and let it flow. 10 minutes or so.
fuzzy2133
Well-Known Member
If you have no bottle tree use the dish washer racks.
When it gets busy I bottle at night after the kids are asleep and work double time getting everything ready before dinner. +1 to soaking bottles over night.
When it gets busy I bottle at night after the kids are asleep and work double time getting everything ready before dinner. +1 to soaking bottles over night.
seanybubbles
Well-Known Member
I know it's a homebrew cliche, but kegging saves so much time. Bottling was not a part of the hobby I enjoyed so I see it as a worthwhile investment. I only recently gave away all my bottles to a new homebrewer as I thought I might want to bottle some brews. I just use growlers now.
Kegging just isn't going to happen too soon.....but, I got home last night and went to work in the basement - 160+ bottles rinsed and ready to go - beer cabinet reorganized a bit to fit them once bottled. Plan is to do a marathon bottling session this afternoon....need to go to the lhbs to get more caps as I am close but not certain I have enough...will pick up a recipe or two to have on hand when I get the chance to brew again
I try to set up a day to brew or bottle when we don't have to shop, go to the doctor, etc. Besides being retired with some kids still at home to afford it in the first place. Taking them to work when their car's being worked on, etc. I bought all manner of gadgets to make brew day or bottling day as quick as possible. Bottle tree & avinator where 45 bottles take up only about 2 square feet of space. Lid prying tools for the buckets. Bench capper so the height or style of bottle doesn't matter as much as with wing cappers. I also do pb/pm biab to make mashing cheaper & easier. So I basically go with the flow with regard to time &/or $$ to brew or bottle. I never thought retirement would still have busy times! 
It's the time spent together with family is what is important, not what you are doing. Get them involved. I don't think my wife ever enjoyed capping bottles but she did it because it was something we did together and she knew it made me happy having the help. My 5 year old daughter loved dunking bottles in the sanitizer bucket and putting them on the dishwasher rack. We had our own assembled line. Fill your bottles on the inside of your open dishwasher door, it eliminates a lot of clean-up.
Bottling is a pain at my house the kitchen has hardly any counter space then there's the time factor so when I do bottle the only one's I'll clean are 16 0z or bigger try getting bigger bottles--I've got almost enough 32's to do 5 Gal. can't wait to bottle a whole bucket with those--
Try getting your hands on some Pubkegs I was given mine & they work great that would save you a lot of cash starting out on the kegging---
Try getting your hands on some Pubkegs I was given mine & they work great that would save you a lot of cash starting out on the kegging---
Just finally bottled the 2nd batch -- π day centennial blonde....now I just have the cider to bottle and "need" to squeeze off a couple summer friendly ales. Any suggestions for quick, easy, good, lawnmower-ish recipes? (Extract/partial mash)...my hopes have dwindled to getting in just 1 or 2 more batches.....
Saisons are good for fermenting in hot weather. Cream ales or a blonde would do it as well.
