Bottlers of the World, Unite!

[chris-s]

However I have since moved to using starsan and this is a game changer

Since 8.19pm?

Only kidding. All adds to the discussion.

 

[xozzx]

Fools! Bottling is the devils work!

We at the kegging kollective see you all as mad weirdos who enjoy repeating the same mundane task over and over and over and over and ......

I hated bottling, now have 10 corny kegs and would never look back. I still bottle some beers from the kegs using a counter pressure filler which also means no sediment, even cleaning and sterilsing 30 bottles is a mind numbing task. I bought a 5L keg so I can take this with me instead of bottling when I want to take some beers with me, gonna get another. Did I mention bottling sucks?

 

[An Ankoù]

Started homebrew in the 80's I just used pressure barrels. Never a problem. When I restarted about 11 years ago again I bought PB's but this time had major leak problems. So I got a load of empty bottles from our local club. Then did only bottles for a few years then bought corners so now do both.

I've been looking for bottles with corners for ages. Round ones waste so much room in the crate.

 

[Manners]

I do both, brew 23L, keg 19L and bottle whats left. Happy days

 

[Cptn_Needa]

As the only member of the Popular People's Mini-Keg Front of Judea I sometimes partake in a spot of Mini-Kegging.
Sometimes I use my PB but most of the time (up until now) I have bottled. Rinsing and sanitising after pouring saves a lot of the effort and can usually get it all done in an hour(ish).
But...
I've recently bought a couple of corny kegs ("Splitter") and I think that will be using them most of the time going forwards, with a bit of bottling on the side.

 

[mcc0904]

I hear you on submission 3. Wine boxes in our house go faster than 4 bottles. Dangerous.

But as Commissar of the Collective of Bottling People, I’m afraid that’s as far we go towards a pact.

 

[Simoncbr600steelie]

We at The People's Bottling Collective are becoming increasingly concerned about the anti-bottling prejudices aired by the Keggist Tendency on this site!

We submit the following for your consideration:

1. If you simply rinse out and sterilise your bottles immediately after use, the hassle of cleaning is massively reduced. I rinse out bottles at the end of an evening, and leave then with some water in them. Rinse them out and wash them up in the morning, and sterilise them. Then they go away into store. When needed, they are rinsed and sterilised again. I do not see this as any great hardship.

2. I am bottling from demi-johns. If I think it's a bit much to bottle four demi-john's worth at once (I don't, usually), it is no prob at all to do half today and half tomorrow.

3. In all seriousness, I'm not so convinced that draught beer on tap in my kitchen 24/7 is such a great idea!

4. Bottle beer, and the last bottle will taste better than the first. The best kegging can achieve is parity.

Hey I love the satisfaction of bottling, I’ve got around 120 swing tops so 3 different brews some ready, some conditioning, some for my mates and I enjoy popping one open, bottle conditioned for me

 

[BassoonBrew]

I've moved to smaller (~10l) batches, and bottle one batch while the next is brewing. Plenty of time during the mash and boil, and you can keep an eye on it while you're bottling. Saves water as well, I can use the cleaning & rinsing water to clean up the brew too.

Vive le bottle!

 

[Covrich]

I am a serial always bottler too

however I am temped to add some mini keg / co2 tap solution in to some brews

 

[chthon]

As a thrifty being, I loathe the amount of money I would need to shell out for kegging. I also do not have the room. And through my experiences as maintenance and software engineer, I know I hate babysitting and maintaining such things.

I consider bottling an exercise in patience and a way to completely distract my thoughts from my work. In addition to following the steps in the first post, starting from clean bottles, I always do it in two steps. The first evening cleaning and preparing my bottles. The second evening batch prime, then bottling from the bucket.

 

[Leon103]

@Chippy_Tea can we take names of all that are associated with the bottling collective and laugh and point fingers when they start asking about kegging in 12 months time.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Down with the keggies! Booo! Shame on them all! They've all lost their bottle!

Uncalled for.

 

[Bernie]

I bottle and I agree that a bit of good housekeeping takes away most of the pain in bottling: rinse well after drinking, dry on a bottle tree and store with a dust-cap. I only rinse with Oxyclean and allow to drip dry on the bottle tree on the bottle tree just before bottling. Never had a problem but for one bottle which may have escaped the original rinse.
Advantages of bottles: the beer can be transported to different venues; a wider choice of beers to drink.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Well I love my kegs.
Little 5litre keg sits lovely in my fridge next to the milk and veg. No hassle, great beer every pull.
I have nothing against bottling. Certainly wouldn’t age a beer in a keg for instance. I fully support the bottle for life movement. But I am a convert to the keg.

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

Advantages of bottles: the beer can be transported to different venues; a wider choice of beers to drink.

Definitely not going to start waging war with those that love to bottle. I respect that. However, I must say.
Four of the arguments against kegs I don’t understand. The first being that of transportation. With a 5litre mini keg you can transport 8 pints worth of good ale anywhere you like. I often take 5litres with me on the train to go and see my old Ma. She likes a drop of Porter.
I find this much more convenient than dragging bottles around with me. I could even pop a 10litre keg or multiple kegs into a car or taxi.
The second is choice of beers to drink. Get multiple kegs, brew multiple beers. Problem solved.
Thirdly, you don’t need a fancy fridge set up to put your kegs in. I store my kegs in the fridge next to everything else I keep in the fridge.
Finally, cleanliness. I finish a keg. I rinse it out, I wash and sanitise and re-fill. This sounds no different to bottling.
Again, don’t get me wrong. I bottled for a long time. I certainly see why you would want to. Just not sure the arguments against the keg add up.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use both bottles and kegs which allows a wide choice of beers ready to drink.
I have 3 cornies and 1 10 litres keg. They cost me including regulators etc about £400, I also have 4 plastic pressure barrels which are not ion use. I have about 300 bottles that cost me nothing. I currently have 18 different beers available and another 4 conditioning so 22 in total. The cost using kegs therefore would be excessive.

 

[Merkin]

I've been looking for bottles with corners for ages. Round ones waste so much room in the crate.

Try drinking a crate of Cointreau and use the empties.

 

[An Ankoù]

Try drinking a crate of Cointreau and use the empties.

Now you're talking. No need to use Voss either with a bit of cointreau in it!


Résistance française des embouteilleurs
Vive la bouteille.
Vive la France,

 

[Maxonian]

I’m a bottler but I’d quite like to be a kegger as well (and a casker too for that matter). I just don’t have the funds or space in my house for a keezer.

I don’t find bottling to be much of a hassle. I rinse them after pouring and leave them upside down to drip dry, then when there’s enough of them I’ll whack them through the dishwasher. Happy days. The only problem I had was when my wife bought some cheapo dishwasher tablets and they left a residue on the inside of the bottles that stripped the head off the beer.

I’m not gonna grief anyone for preferring bottling over kegging or vice versa. In an ideal world I’d have a steady supply of bottles, cask and keg at Casa Maxonian. I wouldn’t say I’m slumming it as a bottler but that might be because I don’t have much choice!

At the end of the day it’s your beer so brew whatever you like, however you like.

Package it however you want to package it.

Enjoy it however you want to enjoy it and let the good times roll.

Cheers!

 

[Crappyfish]

Down with the keggies! Booo! Shame on them all! They've all lost their bottle!

Yeah and we only have to clean 1 vessel not 40...lol