It's bottling time (for a newbie)

[Baldilocks]

I looked in the shed today and found that 25L of my first ever attempt at homebrew had stopped bubbling, and also become wonderfully clear. 10L of (hopefully) ginger infused cider, and 15L of unflavoured. So now I need to bottle it up. First time I have ever done it so I thought I would run it by the forum to check I'm not doing anything I shouldn't.

I have some 2L plastic coke bottles. I'm gonna sterilise them with youngs sterilising powder and water, then use a cane and tube and siphon my cider out my demijohns trying not to disturb the sediment. I'm gonna prime each bottle with a teaspoon of sugar to create a bit of fizz, leave a bit of a gap at the top of each bottle when full, then seal them.
Does this all sound ok ?

I also have some wine bottles I have saved for future bottlings. These are mostly screwtops. Would I be ok to reuse the screwcaps or should I buy bungs/corks for them ?

cheers guys

 

[aggyluke]

I've just finished drinking 25l of cider i bottled in 2ltr PET's and had no trouble. I use a syphon when racking out of DJ's, same one as you by the sounds of it but I have just bought a little bottler to attach to my FV for next time (although I intend to use glass next time and live dangerously!) , as this sounds like a handy bit of kit to have and stops me spilling my brew all over the kitchen! :lol:

 

[Marrsy86]

Your method seems fine for botteling but I would suggest maybe using some Ground up Campden Tablets aswell to make sure nothing gets into your bottles and messes your brew up.

You can reuse screw top bottles but the glass threads seem to wear down fast so I just cork them now.

Cheers

Marrsy

 

[Baldilocks]

Thanks guys. Good to know I am on the right track. Would 1 campden tablet for a 2 litre bottle be ok ?

 

[Eric_S]

I've never used a campden at bottling time - won't that affect the conditioning process?

I'd have thought the Youngs steriliser would be sufficient?

 

[Marrsy86]

I've never used a campden at bottling time - won't that affect the conditioning process?

I'd have thought the Youngs steriliser would be sufficient?

I would never add the Steriliser to my brew thats used to Nuke anything left behind and clean you kit, maybe you thinking about Stabiliser that kills yeasts ? I only use the tablet to try minimise the risk of any bacteria or anything activating that may have got into the brew while racking and my brews have always been fine by my standards.

Thanks guys. Good to know I am on the right track. Would 1 campden tablet for a 2 litre bottle be ok ?

I use half a tablet crushed up for my 500ml bottles but thats probably a bit over kill so 1 should be fine for a 2L bottle.

 

[Eric_S]

Actually I meant the steriliser would be enough for the cleaning of the bottles and therefore there would be no need to add the campden tabs to the brew as it goes in - I don't use campdens for anything other than treating the water for a brew and when racking my wines.

 

[oldbloke]

Don't forget to sterilise the caps as well, otherwise fine.
I generally prime with a small teaspoon per half litre in crown corked glass bottles, so you might be a bit on the light side there. Try 1anarf teaspoons. Or vary across the bottles, see what works out best.
I've never added Campden to beer or cider, but if I did I'd use the same rate I use for wine - 1 tablet per gallon, about half per 2litre bottle. It'll slow the conditioning down but shouldn't stop it.

 

[Marrsy86]

Actually I meant the steriliser would be enough for the cleaning of the bottles and therefore there would be no need to add the campden tabs to the brew as it goes in - I don't use campdens for anything other than treating the water for a brew and when racking my wines.

Ah totally misunderstood your post lol

 

[Moley]

Priming the PET bottles as you said is just fine :thumb:
Don't use any CT in those.

You may re-use wine bottle screw caps but they do wear out quite quickly and can only be used a few times. However, those wines or still cider must be sulphited and stabilised and must not be primed because those bottles will not withstand ANY pressure.

 

[Fergmeister]

For the PETs I generally make up a litre of sterilizing stuff and split that between my bottles, pop the lid on and give it a good old shake, and then pour out the sterilizing stuff down my siphoning tube and into the sink. Then I quarter fill the bottles with clean water, lid on, shake, job done.

I usually go for 4 teaspoons of sugar per 2 litre bottle, and have learnt that the best method is to put the sugar in the bottle, and shake it as you fill the bottle. The first time I put sugar into the beer filled bottles and they just erupted, and if you do all the bottles and then shake at the end its quite difficult to get the sugar to mix.

 

[evanvine]

Using CT's at the rate of 1 per 4.5 litres prevents oxidising (Sherry flavour) and does not effect conditioning.
If you use 500ml bottles you can pour directly into a pint glass without the need to decant!