Bottlers of the World, Unite!

[moto748]

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.

 

[dad_of_jon]

bottling sucks but the investment required is less and often comes with free beer involved.
I can chill my beers in a regular fridge.
kegs would mean a divorce. This could be a positive or negative for you.

 

[NotSure]

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.

Your considerations are well thought-out. I both bottle and keg depending upon what I'm making and if I'm ageing it of not. Regarding point #3.... Draft beer in my kitchen was a savior during lock-down. At one point I even bought a wine-kit and carbonated a Rose. I have two taps and will turn one over to water for fizzy water occasionally or have both off when I'm lagering (or taking a dry month.) Draft is always a great option to have, but if I could have one or the other, I'd take bottling since you have more flexibility with ageing and portability.

 

[Galena]

Count me in
I exclusively bottle
Your point 1, absolutely, I always rinse well immediately after pouring.

 

[NotSure]

bottling sucks but the investment required is less and often comes with free beer involved.
I can chill my beers in a regular fridge.
kegs would mean a divorce. This could be a positive or negative for you.

I built my first kegerator a month before Christmas with the promise of extra refrigeration room for holiday meals with the added benefit of draft beer. She was sold on it and I'm still married!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I do both because I've currently got about 18 different beers which are drinkable but only 3 cornies and 10L keg so I need to use bottles.

 

[VW911]

I bottle most of mine, but use PB's from time to time.
A mate at work bottles all of his in swing tops. He rinses the empties, pops in half a campden tablet and a little water, seals them up, then leaves them 'til his next bottling session. A quick rinse, and he re-fills them.
Not sure that I would trust it, but I've never had a bad beer from him!

 

[damienair]

I only started in December, I’ve built up a collection of bottles for 4 x brews and currently working on collecting bottles for a 5th. I plan to keep bottling as I enjoy the full process. I also rinse out and clean my bottles straight after use and on bottling day it is a quick rinse and sanitiser. I like grabbing a few bottles from the garage and popping them into the fridge. I’m also looking forward to putting a few bottles into the cooler full of ICE for a few summer BBQ’s.
Proud to be a member of the People’s Bottling Collective.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

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.

 

[An Ankoù]

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

 

[moto748]

I only started in December, I’ve built up a collection of bottles for 4 x brews and currently working on collecting bottles for a 5th. I plan to keep bottling as I enjoy the full process. I also rinse out and clean my bottles straight after use and on bottling day it is a quick rinse and sanitiser. I like grabbing a few bottles from the garage and popping them into the fridge. I’m also looking forward to putting a few bottles into the cooler full of ICE for a few summer BBQ’s.
Proud to be a member of the People’s Bottling Collective.

That's the spirit, comrade!

 

[chris-s]

I have about a dozen or so beers to choose from. Some from this time last year. Couldn't do that with anything other than bottles.

I'm in the PBC but surely we can all exist together. Bottleism and Keggism have no place in a civilised society.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I'm in the Palestine Bottlers Liberation Front. I was in the Keggers for the liberation of Palestine.

 

[Moe]

I love using kegs. And the difference between a 4 hour bottling session or 20 minutes filling a keg means I have twice the time to brew.

I usually brew between 20-24L so fill between 2 and 8 bottles when I keg so that I can share some and have a selection in the garage.

 

[Jim Brewster]

2L PETs.. a happy compromise

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I love using kegs. And the difference between a 4 hour bottling session or 20 minutes filling a keg means I have twice the time to brew.

I usually brew between 20-24L so fill between 2 and 8 bottles when I keg so that I can share some and have a selection in the garage.

Go onto YouTube and put in bottling beer and there's an Aussie guy who tells you best practices. Cut you 4 hours in half at least.

 

[jof]

Bottle all the way.
How can it take 4 hours to bottle your beer. Are you sterilising 6 bottles at a time?
I sterilise 12 bottles at a time in a plastic crate for 20-30 mins a batch & it takes about 2.5 hours.

 

[chris-s]

I love using kegs. And the difference between a 4 hour bottling session or 20 minutes filling a keg means I have twice the time to brew.

A little over an hour these days for bottling. Start to finish.

 

[cushyno]

It always seems to take longer bottling than I intended, yet sometimes I actual enjoy it.

Around 200 bottles (and 2 PBs) and it takes some effort to keep them filled. Just when I think "Ahh, 40 bottles left to do, next batch will be the one", I find there are 80 to fill when I next look. I'm sure they multiply when I'm not looking.

I got close to "Critical Mass" last summer then took my foot off the gas, so having to do it all again now. Never mind, eh.

I really do like the "pssst" when opening a bottle and seeing that little whisp of c02. Good times, every time.

 

[Moe]

Bottle all the way.
How can it take 4 hours to bottle your beer. Are you sterilising 6 bottles at a time?
I sterilise 12 bottles at a time in a plastic crate for 20-30 mins a batch & it takes about 2.5 hours.

Just seems to.
Get FV from garage and put in kitchen
Grab 40 bottles
Rinse 40 bottles in the sink
Sanitise bottles
Rinse sanitiser out
Sanitise and Set up bottling stick
Bottle 8 (stick is painfully slow)
Prime
Cap
Repeat with next 8 until all bottles are filled
Wash and put everything away. ( usually ended up in mopping kitchen floor)

I could have sped this up with a bottle tree, better bottling stick, bench capper etc. But I put the money towards kegs. However I have since moved to using starsan and this is a game changer


When I keg:

-grab keg ( I keep them sanitised under a little CO2 pressure)

-open fermenting fridge

- squirt of starsan up the tap and down the siphon tube.

- open keg and tap and allow keg to fill.
- while it’s filling quickly rinse out a few bottles, squirt of starsan and fill with whatever won’t go in the keg.
-seal keg and add CO2
-prime and cap bottles.
-wash out FV and out away.

That can all be done in 30minutes.