bottling for beginners

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Clint

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Hello all
a quick guide for beginners. ..like me..for getting on top of bottling!
Take your last fg reading to decide whether your brew has finished fermenting.
Get organised...calculate and weighed out priming sugar. Here I'm bulk priming which I find so easy!
Pre cleaned bottles...star san the bottle tree and sanitise your bottles..44 took less than 10 minutes!
Note crown caps in bottle washer..
Sanitise your equipment.
Put boiled cooled priming sugar into bottling bucket and syphon beer on top..here I use an auto syphon.
Capper ready...10 at a time!
40 bottles of American pale ale dry hopped..smells and tastes great!
Update your notes!
...clean up...

Cheers

Clint

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+ 1 for bulk priming.

I used to add carbonation in each bottle thinking this was easier than syphoning off a whole batch into a bottling bucket. How wrong I was, and it also gives you a chance to add a hop tea if you brewed too sweet or bland.

Your APA looks/sounds mighty good too! I'm doing one of those myself soon... :-p
 
brilliant, all ways nice to see a how too thread,
i think some people dont post them as some things are obvious to them,but it doesnt mean its obvious to others,:thumb:
 
Oh man, didn't think to sanitise the actual bottle tree when I used mine :) Will give it a squirt next time.

Good guide and pretty much the way I do it too :thumb:
 
Hello all
a quick guide for beginners. ..like me..for getting on top of bottling!
Take your last fg reading to decide whether your brew has finished fermenting.
Get organised...calculate and weighed out priming sugar. Here I'm bulk priming which I find so easy!
Pre cleaned bottles...star san the bottle tree and sanitise your bottles..44 took less than 10 minutes!
Note crown caps in bottle washer..
Sanitise your equipment.
Put boiled cooled priming sugar into bottling bucket and syphon beer on top..here I use an auto syphon.
Capper ready...10 at a time!
40 bottles of American pale ale dry hopped..smells and tastes great!
Update your notes!
...clean up...

Cheers

Clint

very similar setup (use open dishwasher etc ) I have apart from bottle tree and bench capper :-(
 
Silly question time,

Bulk priming.. is this simply adding sugar to a separate bucket and adding beer then siphoning into bottle from that??

And why is this considered the best option in most cases?

( p.s my John bull traditional ale seems to be entering it's 3rd week of fermentation. Is this normal? Was hoping to bottle this week )

Kind regards guys and a great post too I really appreciate everything
 
Hiya Mark
Bulk priming ensures the sugar or whatever is evenly mixed so you could use different size bottles if you wanted. Although I've never tried it imagine putting a teaspoon of sugar into a bottle is tedious...plus look at the beer calculator on the forum and it gives you the correct amount for each beer style.

Cheers

Clint
 
Silly question time,

Bulk priming.. is this simply adding sugar to a separate bucket and adding beer then siphoning into bottle from that??

And why is this considered the best option in most cases?

( p.s my John bull traditional ale seems to be entering it's 3rd week of fermentation. Is this normal? Was hoping to bottle this week )

Kind regards guys and a great post too I really appreciate everything

that's about it.

you are leaving a lot of the sediment behind as well.

re: ur john bull, it depends on the temps the brew is fermenting at AND the abv but it could be an infection which would most likely ferment really low. say 1.002 or less :-o
 
Hello all
a quick guide for beginners. ..like me..for getting on top of bottling!
Take your last fg reading to decide whether your brew has finished fermenting.
Get organised...calculate and weighed out priming sugar. Here I'm bulk priming which I find so easy!
Pre cleaned bottles...star san the bottle tree and sanitise your bottles..44 took less than 10 minutes!
Note crown caps in bottle washer..
Sanitise your equipment.
Put boiled cooled priming sugar into bottling bucket and syphon beer on top..here I use an auto syphon.
Capper ready...10 at a time!
40 bottles of American pale ale dry hopped..smells and tastes great!
Update your notes!
...clean up...

Cheers

Clint

Great post Clint, clean, organised, prepared, it really is the way bottling should be done. The bottle rinser and bottle tree are a God send. One thing I've found with that bottling wand is that the tiny rod at the bottom with the rubber seal that touches the bottom of the bottle has a hole in it and the trub can sit in that hole and it's tiny so it's difficult to clean. So the very second I finish bottling I take the wand apart and rinse that out as all the beer runs over it during bottling. They really should have made it a solid piece of plastic, these unnecessary nooks and crannies where crud can hide and possibly breed nasties are a real pain.
 
Thanks for the guide Clint. Came in handy.
I'll definitely be batch priming next time round but on this occasion I added sugar to each individual bottle.
Currently the bottles are being kept nice and warm on my kitchen side but I can see the sugar sat at the bottom of the bottles.
Should I shake them up to try and get it to mix/dissolve or should I just leave it?
Thanks
Gaz
 
Yeah bulk priming is dead easy...in fact I've just this minute bottled my stout in the way described..
Yeah give em a shake. I keep mine in a cupboard for carbonation. .perhaps covering them may be a good idea..
I'm glad I could help someone even with my limited experience!

Cheers

Clint
 
Thanks for the info Clint - that's a great help. Just one query on batch priming. I assume you're using a second bucket/vessel to put the cooled sugar into, then syphoning the beer onto that from the FV before bottling? Would that need stirring or should the sugar mix into the beer when syphoned?

If bottling, is it the case that you can only sensibly batch prime with a secondary vessel - you can't do anything with the original FV? It's either another vessel or prime each bottle?

Thanks for any help.
 
The sugar should mix when the beer is siphoned on top. I have never stirred it to date, including the batch where I almost forgot the priming sugar and had to add that to the freshly siphoned beer.

A 2nd vessel is helpful as it leaves a lot/most of the trub behind before you start to bottle.

More tips here.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=62200
 
Silly question time,

Bulk priming.. is this simply adding sugar to a separate bucket and adding beer then siphoning into bottle from that??

And why is this considered the best option in most cases?

( p.s my John bull traditional ale seems to be entering it's 3rd week of fermentation. Is this normal? Was hoping to bottle this week )

Kind regards guys and a great post too I really appreciate everything

this is fine - fluxuating temps and the average temp play a major part of what you can control

the viability of the yeast you recieve not so - which is why many members make yeast starters ( i tend to just rehydrate them to be fair) to see if the yeast is healthy (active) and to increase the yeast count/mass before exposing it to your brew:)
 
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