Well Rory during mash is a long way off from bottling. Sanitising bottles after use and storing them. Sanitising them a day or two before bottling. Bulk priming, this is the most simple and convenient way to bottle, I was unsure about losing CO2 by stirring, but it doesn't. Prime at the bottling temperature of the beer and you are good to go.
Sorry, meant to say bottle the previous batch during brew day
I think that was obvious. You can't bottle a beer before you've finished making it
I got it, but it was funny
More consistent.
The objective is to accurately & repeatedly dose many bottles.
The scope for error is elevated in batch priming. Errors weighing sugar, measuring water, maths, actual volume after racking.
It does however have the unique ability to consistently get the whole batch wrong
I for one would prefer to get one bottle wrong than the entire brew. Brew days have their moments, mine sure have. And the ability to look in the bottle (perhaps after the phone has interrupted you) and be able to do a visible check is positive confirmation.
Further.. dosing each bottle, requires us to visit each bottle in turn. If it has a chip, flaw, or even some residual cleaning agent
These can all be detected and corrected.
So we need accurate & repeatable measurement of an ingredient then. Now the modern food industry, brewing and medicine is built on this very thing. They call it dosing.
And to cut a rambling thread short.
What better than a sugar doser for under £10. Easier yes. More consistent - absolutely (in process and practise)
As brewers we like to use industry ideas why not this one?
This... entirely agree from my perspective. I was going to add some maths around errors, with an error range of the sugar added for each individual bottle, compared with an error divided by 40 or so when working with a batch priming, To be fair the impact of any variation will be small but there is inevitably a greater risk of over priming by accident when dosing individual bottles. However, lets be absolutely clear on this, if you are happy dosing individual bottles, and that's your thing, then that is of course absolutely fine. This isn't about something being 'wrong' or 'right', it is about different approaches with different merits.
No.
The same method I used when bottling. Using swing tops made the process a little easier but not by much. I then switched to kegs which bring their own hassles but far less than bottling. I won't go back to bottles unless I brew something that needs a long time conditioning because I don't want to put one of my two kegs out of action until it's ready.
I just rinse the outside of the bottle if needed because I dishwash them then put 10 at a time in the oven when they've cooled I starsan a previously used cap on the nuked bottle. store down the shed in crates/boxes. on bottling day no sanitizing the inside of the bottle its already been done. uncap the bottles and the once recycled cap is binned. that will save you 20 mins or so? been doing this for about 10 brews no gushers or issues related to unclean bottles with this method. plus you split the job up into easy to do smaller bits.
Well I didn't realise you can re-use crown caps, I have a fishbowl full of caps I have been collecting for years, for no real reason other than I like the look of them in a fish bowl lol!
I've re-used caps a few times. They seal fine on the bottle (even if they have been bent a fair amount) and provided you sanitise them there is more no risk of contamination than fresh ones. I probably wouldn't use any that are rusty/have crap growing on them.
Excellent, save me buying new ones as I already have hundreds!
(no really)
