Can I bottle without a bottling wand?

[MyQul]

I lost my bottling wand and ordered another one but it's been a week. The ebay listing said the location was London. I could have walked from one side of London to the other by now.

Anyway, I have a beer waiting to be packaged. I have always used a syphon, racking can and little bottler. Im not too bothered about oxydising the beer because I think that before any oxdisation happens I'll have drank it all (its only 10L).

I getting a bit annoyed now that I cant package this beer. I've even heard of people just using a jug.

Ideas?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I've used a jug and funnel just do it slowly. Or if you've got syphoning flexible tubes put a tap between 2 and put the tube to the bottom of the bottle. Once filled turn off the tap, put into next bottle and turn on.

 

[DavidHatton]

If you cycle to Hackney you can borrow mine!! I won't be needing it! just an idea!

 

[Cwrw666]

Nothing wrong with jug and funnel, but tilt the funnel so the beer runs down the side of the bottle or you'll end up with a pint of froth.

 

[MyQul]

Nothing wrong with jug and funnel, but tilt the funnel so the beer runs down the side of the bottle or you'll end up with a pint of froth.

How do you hold the jug, tilt the funnel and hold the bottle all at the same time?

 

[MyQul]

If you cycle to Hackney you can borrow mine!! I won't be needing it! just an idea!

Thanks muchly for the kind offer David, but under the coronavirus circumstances I dont think thats a good idea :hat:

 

[RichardM]

When I first started homebrewing I bottled without a wand and made a right mess. I wouldn't be without one now.
Have you got a Wilko near you? They are open and sell them

 

[Cwrw666]

How do you hold the jug, tilt the funnel and hold the bottle all at the same time?

Bottle stands on the table, left hand holds the funnel, right hand holds the jug. Did this for many years. Now I bottle from the FV tap. Did have a bottle wand once but it left such a big air gap that I had to top the bottles up with a jug anyway. Then it fell apart in a bottle... Beer everwhere.

 

[MyQul]

Bottle stands on the table, left hand holds the funnel, right hand holds the jug. Did this for many years. Now I bottle from the FV tap. Did have a bottle wand once but it left such a big air gap that I had to top the bottles up with a jug anyway. Then it fell apart in a bottle... Beer everwhere.

Had a little go with water. Seems to work. I'll try it out for real tommorow.

The way to eliminate the air gap in the bottler is to fill it with starsan (or even water) using a turkey baster. Turn the syphon tap on then use a cup to drain the starsan/water out of the bottler and pull the beer through

 

[An Ankoù]

Never used a bottling wand in my life: if the tap on the FV is narrow, I run it straight into the bottle. If its a nice solid black one, I shove 6 inches of plastic tube therein and run it straight into the bottle. Let's leave wands to Harry Potter and co.

 

[Clint]

During my last bottling I had the strange but amusing phenomenon of beer spraying away from the top of the bottling wand ..it turned out that the collar bit that you push onto the tap had developed a hairline crack...out with the spare!!
M...haven't you got a local Wilko? I believe they're still open...

 

[MyQul]

During my last bottling I had the strange but amusing phenomenon of beer spraying away from the top of the bottling wand ..it turned out that the collar bit that you push onto the tap had developed a hairline crack...out with the spare!!
M...haven't you got a local Wilko? I believe they're still open...

I dont have wilko local to me. i have one near work but I want to stay in tomorrow. I might just cut 6 inches off my syphon tub and jam it on the end of the in line tap. Then use the tap to control the flow

 

[dwhite60]

I dont have wilko local to me. i have one near work but I want to stay in tomorrow. I might just cut 6 inches off my syphon tub and jam it on the end of the in line tap. Then use the tap to control the flow

Some patience and this should work pretty well. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

How do you hold the jug, tilt the funnel and hold the bottle all at the same time?

I use a jug and funnel for all my bottling. I hold the bottle and funnel as shown in the pic. I hold the funnel slightly out from the bottle neck to allow air out or the air will try to push past the beer coming in.

I tend to rest the bottom of the bottle on my knee because eventually it will make your wrist ache holding the bottle at an angle while slowly filling it. I also remove the flip-top lid to make the bottle easier to hold.

I really should buy a little bottler but the jug and funnel approach is doable.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Didn't your syphon hose come with a tap? Try to find something that is strong enough to pinch the hose shut rather than cutting up your syphon hose.

 

[gb0wers]

I use a wand now, however for many years, before being enlightened by the internet, I just syphoned directly into bottles. I used my finger and thumb to stop flow by squeezing the syphon tube as I changed between bottles. A bit messy, however by putting the bottles on a tray, it was easy to clean up.

 

[cushyno]

Use a siphon tube and control flow with a kink in it like so:

I find this is less fiddly than using a tap. Squeeze to adjust between full flow and stop.

 

[JonBrew]

I remember seeing a promotional video on you tube for the braumeister which showed you them brewing, then fermenting in a speidel FV, then when it came to bottling the guy just opened the spigot on the FV and let the beer run down the neck of the bottle, no bottling wand or tubing in sight. I found it hilarious the idea that someone would spend over a grand on a brewing system then bottle in that fashion.

Sorry, bit of a tangent there. Some good suggestions above. In my early days I used the jug method into a tilted bottle to get every last drop out the FV and it worked fine in a pinch. I would alway drink those bottles first mind you.

 

[JonBrew]

Link to video mentioned above, it's right at the end.

 

[MyQul]

I use a jug and funnel for all my bottling. I hold the bottle and funnel as shown in the pic. I hold the funnel slightly out from the bottle neck to allow air out or the air will try to push past the beer coming in.

I tend to rest the bottom of the bottle on my knee because eventually it will make your wrist ache holding the bottle at an angle while slowly filling it. I also remove the flip-top lid to make the bottle easier to hold.

I really should buy a little bottler but the jug and funnel approach is doable.

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I really like the idea of holding the bottom of the bottle on the knees. I was struggling with how I would hold the bottle, jug and funnel all at the same time. I just had a go with water. I held the bottle between my knees whilst holding the jug and funnel with hands. It worked well. Thanks for the tip :hat: