Newbie to brewing, solo bottling woes

[Tommo 2]

It's very difficult to do from a demijohn, especially if you're using a bottling wand as well. Like you say, you need more than 2 hands, preferably 4. I've ditched the autosiphon and wand and now just use a silicone tube fed in to just above the trub

Why would any one brew beer in a dimijohn, can’t imagine trying to put 100 grams dry hop in said vessels, if your doing 1 gallon full mash recipes just get a 10 litre fv with lid and with a bung hole for an air lock, cheap as chips and saves a lot of ball ache for dry hopping and siphoning off when bottling , save ya demijohns for wine and liquors

 

[davie887]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm actually enjoying my first ginger beer after 2 months, bit it's quite hard!

I did a supermarket apple juice spiced cider which was very nice, almost drank and another ginger beer with a tweaked recipe

Any recommendations as to the syphon/bottling wand? Lately Amazon top rated stuff has really let me down

 

[davie887]

Why would any one brew beer in a dimijohn, can’t imagine trying to put 100 grams dry hop in said vessels, if your doing 1 gallon full mash recipes just get a 10 litre fv with lid and with a bung hole for an air lock, cheap as chips and saves a lot of ball ache for dry hopping and siphoning off when bottling , save ya demijohns for wine and liquors

Because I have 2 demijohns on hand, live in a pokey London flat! I'm not interested in brewing "beer", more the outliers, like ginger beer. Also have an abundance of berries at the end of summer, which I'd like to do something with

 

[Burtsbeets]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm actually enjoying my first ginger beer after 2 months, bit it's quite hard!

I did a supermarket apple juice spiced cider which was very nice, almost drank and another ginger beer with a tweaked recipe

Any recommendations as to the syphon/bottling wand? Lately Amazon top rated stuff has really let me down

Thats the trouble, the quality of stuff on amazon is equivalent to a tat shop, where as shopping at a good homebrew store will not only give you amazing options but also far superior equipment that the shop (most likely brewers) are happy to sell.

I am sure recommendations of good online shops are endless, but for me it has to be The Malt Miller and The Home Brew Shop. Both have super fast delivery with free delivery after £100 and £65 respectively.

 

[Jim Brewster]

Why would any one brew beer in a dimijohn, can’t imagine trying to put 100 grams dry hop in said vessels, if your doing 1 gallon full mash recipes just get a 10 litre fv with lid and with a bung hole for an air lock, cheap as chips and saves a lot of ball ache for dry hopping and siphoning off when bottling , save ya demijohns for wine and liquors

I keep all my brew stuff in a small cupboard in the kitchen, very convenient space wise in a small house. I use the 5L bottle the water comes in rather than a glass DJ, and put the lid back on as the airlock which does the job fine. (Screwed down tight towards the end it also allows some CO2 pressure to build before cold crashing to avoid drawing air in). The 2" wide lid is ok for hopping in a sock, alternatively a hop tea poured straight in works too, I have used both methods. I wouldn't be using as much as 100g dry hop, more like 10-20g, thats one good thing about doing a small batch and small amounts of grain are manageable for BIAB plus each brew only costs a few quid. Siphoning with a silicone hose is a piece of cake and using 2L bottles it's all bottled in minutes. Not a problem at all.

 

[dwhite60]

I have a racking came I made from a piece of 3/8 inch copper tubing probably 20+ years ago. Works without fail. It with a piece of tubing, bottle filler, and clamp are perfect. I use the clamp in case the valve in the bottle filler gets stuck open. Fits my 7 gallon fermenter and works well in a four liter jug.

Nothing grows on copper so as long as there isn't any gunk on it its easy to sanitize.

 

[Surfingobo]

Tap and bottling wand. Brew 2 bottle sell them together so you know they fit!

 

[robster62]

I get on ok with my auto syphon. I syphon into a bottling bucket which has my priming solution added then bottle via the tap on the bucket which has a bottling wand fitted.
Strictly no help!

Exactly what I do.