First attempt at bottling

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Pauldonnelly

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Hi everyone, I'm going to attempt bottling up today has anyone got any advice on what to do and not what to do cheers
 
Well firstly how do you intend to actually get the beer or whatever is is you have brewed into the bottles? do you have a bottling stick ect. Do you have a spare FV.. How do you plan to prime.. sugar in each bottle or batch priming?
 
How I do mine....

Dissolve sugar required in a pan with a little water, cool and pour into bottling bucket.

Siphon beer from FV into bottling bucket. Make sure tap is OFF.

Get iPad setup near sink and put a film on.

Rinse bottles (I wash them after use and store in garage) and place on bottle tree.

By this point the sugar solution should have mixed sufficiently but a very gentle stir with a sanitised spoon won't do any harm.

Bottling bucket sits on draining board with little bottler hanging over the side with the dishwasher below to catch any spills.

I fill the spraying gadget (no idea what it's called) with starsan and spray the inside of the bottles and sit them next to the bucket, 10 at a time.

Sitting comfortably with view of the iPad in place, I bottle them and after I've done 10 or so I cap them with a bench capper, caps had been sitting in a bowl of starsan.
 
One thing I've recently learnt not to do is to use Chemipro Oxi Cleaner as a no-rinse steriliser, despite its claims to be a no-rinse steriliser. I've not tried Starsan.

When I did use it without rinsing I ended up with cloudy and not very fizzy beer. Presumably it had a deleterious effect on the yeast causing the conditioning to be less than effective.

What convinced me it was the steriliser and not some other problem was when a batch of Cooper's Aussie lager turned out cloudy and not particularly fizzy (despite the 180g of priming sugar). I'd made the Aussie lager on a number of previous occasions and never had any trouble before. And I have made another batch since where I rinsed the bottles with clean water after they had been sterilised and it has turned out crystal clear and with plenty of fizz.
 
Hi thanks for advice bought a coopers diy kit, so have the equipment to fill bottles, I was going to put one carbonation drop in each 500ml bottle and fill leaving inch gap at top as it says in instructions,is this not the way to do it then ??
 
Just another quick question lager been at 1015 for 3 days now , been In fv for 2 weeks ,would you bottle it ???
 
Just another quick question lager been at 1015 for 3 days now , been In fv for 2 weeks ,would you bottle it ???

Hi Paul

I bottled mine a couple of days ago. Had it in the FV for 13 days and for the last four of them it wouldn't go below 1014. I used a heaped half teaspoon baking measure of white Tate & Lyle sugar in each bottle and used glass bottles with crown caps. had a look today as they have been in the warm for 4 days now and the bottles are now crystal clear. Should be drinkable in another week or so.Hope yours turns out as good as I hope mine is gonna be...!!:cheers:
 
Hi coupe have you used carbonation drops before, just read on another thread someone put one drop per bottle and it's turned out flat, getting more confused now ,don't have any sugar ,what about 2 drops per bottle
 
Hi Paul

I bottled mine a couple of days ago. Had it in the FV for 13 days and for the last four of them it wouldn't go below 1014. I used a heaped half teaspoon baking measure of white Tate & Lyle sugar in each bottle and used glass bottles with crown caps. had a look today as they have been in the warm for 4 days now and the bottles are now crystal clear. Should be drinkable in another week or so.Hope yours turns out as good as I hope mine is gonna be...!!:cheers:

I normally try one after a couple of weeks in the bottle to make sure its carbed and see how its developed but I wouldn't start knocking all your brew back when its only 3 weeks old in total..
 
I normally try one after a couple of weeks in the bottle to make sure its carbed and see how its developed but I wouldn't start knocking all your brew back when its only 3 weeks old in total..

Hi Covrich

No not at all. Will try one every week up to about 4-6 week mark, for experimentation purposes, by then it should be good to go.:D
 
Hi coupe have you used carbonation drops before, just read on another thread someone put one drop per bottle and it's turned out flat, getting more confused now ,don't have any sugar ,what about 2 drops per bottle

Awrighty Paul

I only use sugar for carbonating, you should be fine with 2 drops per bottle. Try and keep them in the fridge for a couple of hours before opening though...just in case you get a foam fountain........only joking....!!!!
 
Hi Covrich

No not at all. Will try one every week up to about 4-6 week mark, for experimentation purposes, by then it should be good to go.:D



Yeah I do that.. It is a good way to get a feel for how your beer transforms and evolves.

I always find with bottling my last one or two are always a bit more sedimenty So I mark the caps with a T with a sharpie
 

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