Bottling advise please

[teriyakimonkey]

Me again

So my Woodforde's Wherry will soon be ready for bottling in 500ml glass bottles.

So far the tips I have got from reading and asking questions are:

Leave the fv a little longer than necessary to allow the sediment to settle more.
Use a little bottler (I have on on order)
Don't splash the beer and try to bottle as smoothly as possible

1) Is there anything else I should be aware of or that I can do to make it all go smoothly with a good outcome?

2) Would it be beneficial to move the fv out onto my balcony to cool it for a few hours before bottling it?

3) From my first and only kit so far (years ago) I remember that as soon as I syphoned the beer into 2 litre bottles with sugar already in them it went crazy and I had to wait for it to calm down before I could properly fill them up. Does this always happen or was I careless in my syphoning?

4) Should I do the same as before but bottle an inch or two and give it a swirl to get the sugar dissolving?

5) Will it help to move the bottles about a bit or give them a shake every now and again once bottled and capped?

6) Last but not least is there an advantage to using different sugars like brown or caster over the usual granulated?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Hawks]

I would get a spare FV with a tap and use this as a bottling bucket, that way you can take all the beer off of the yeast and trub and batch prime it ( you carefully stir all your dissolved sugar in with the beer in bulk which ensures each bottle should be primed the same ). You can then bottle with the little bottler :thumb:

 

[Dave1970]

1) Is there anything else I should be aware of or that I can do to make it all go smoothly with a good outcome?
Sterilising bottles can be a chore. Lots of options...use standard bleach or sterliliser but be sure to rinse very well. Use a no-rinse steriliser like Starsan. I've done it using the oven at about 80c

2) Would it be beneficial to move the fv out onto my balcony to cool it for a few hours before bottling it?
Yes, but do it for 24hrs, a few hours won't change the temp of a full Fv much, it can help the yeast to drop

3) From my first and only kit so far (years ago) I remember that as soon as I syphoned the beer into 2 litre bottles with sugar already in them it went crazy and I had to wait for it to calm down before I could properly fill them up. Does this always happen or was I careless in my syphoning?
Doesn't happen to me when using glass bottles and Little Bottler, I'd guess that this previous brew must have had quite a lot of CO2 dissolved in it and the sugar provided a whole load of nucleii for bubbles to form...a bit like the pint glasses that have an engraved pattern on the base to encourage bubbles.

4) Should I do the same as before but bottle an inch or two and give it a swirl to get the sugar dissolving?
No, just put the sugar in (unless you batch prime as Hawks says), fill the bottle to appropriate level & cap. No need to swirl, the sugar will dissolve quickly enough

5) Will it help to move the bottles about a bit or give them a shake every now and again once bottled and capped?
No, best to leave them be, somewhere of the same temp as fermentation for a week, then cooler for conditioning if possible

6) Last but not least is there an advantage to using different sugars like brown or caster over the usual granulated?
Not much, it's only a small amount (half a teaspoon per bottle for an ale in 500ml bottles) so it won't make much difference

Enjoy...now the difficult bit....leaving it alone until it's ready :drink:

 

[teriyakimonkey]

Thanks very much Dave.

Just a question on your answer to number 2;

Will bottling cooler beer from the fv (likely to be around 5 degrees if I leave it out whilst I'm at work) not increase my chances of creating bottle bombs and if so would it make sense to cool it dramatically outside and then allow it to come back up to room temperature for bottling?

 

[Dave1970]

I can't see that being a problem, I guess there would be a small amount of thermal expansion as the brew warmed but it's going to be the CO2 from your secondary that pressures up the bottles. At half a teaspoon per bottle you won't get bombs (proper measuring spoon half tsp - not half a heaped spoonful)

 

[teriyakimonkey]

Thanks again Dave. Yep I've got the proper measure and I'll even use a knife to make sure. I'm a bit anal with things like that.