Bottling day help

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I have brewing software and hop scales so calculating and weighing, say, 147g of dextrose is hardly a chore. I find boiling that up and adding to a bottling bucket far easier than faffing around adding measured sugar to each bottle. I also rinse and inspect each bottle while filling anyway. Even 'easy to use' carb drops usually need cutting depending on type of beer/bottle size...

To each their own though... 🙂
 
One could also prepare bottling during the mash and do the bottling during the boil. Brew day will be busier but have less dead time.
Only do this if you can bottle in auto pilot!
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.
 
Easier doesn't always mean better! I've never argued that it's more consistent either.

Mind you, I find individual dosing with my 200ml syringe easier. The maths is the same with one extra step that's very straight forward.

Also, like you said, one less vessel to sanitise and wash afterwards.

One less risk of infection. Plastic buckets cannot be as clean as stainless can. Not unless you use a new bucket every time.

I think having to do some basic maths and people using individual dose syringes is putting people off.
 
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
 
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?

My only additional equipment is a stainless bottling bucket with a stainless tap (its actually a basic Anvil FV)....takes less five minutes to clean out (oh...and a silicone pipe to transfer the beer from the FV). An O2 free transfer from FV to the bottling bucket (or at worst a semi open transfer into a CO2 rich environment where the bottling bucket has been purged) is not difficult.

I bet I can more accurately weigh one dose of 134g of sugar for a 20L/40 bottle batch than most others can weigh out 40 doses of 3.35g.

I also bottle most batches in a mix of bottle sizes...500mL and 330mL mostly....batch priming means I don't have to worry about getting 3.35g in a 500mL bottle or 2.211g in a 330mL bottle.

You dont need to measure out water when batch priming...the 350mL that you might dissolve your priming sugar in will make no discernible difference to a 20L batch.

I visit each bottle when I come to fill it...can easily spot any flaws or residue (but in 99% of cases and issues would have been spotted prior when cleaning them after drinking the original contents).

Regarding your sugar doser....what happens if you regularly require different carbonation levels for different style beers....how can your doser adjust for needing 6.7g/L one day and 4g/L the next and then 5g/L the day after?
 
My only additional equipment is a stainless bottling bucket with a stainless tap (its actually a basic Anvil FV)....takes less five minutes to clean out (oh...and a silicone pipe to transfer the beer from the FV). An O2 free transfer from FV to the bottling bucket (or at worst a semi open transfer into a CO2 rich environment where the bottling bucket has been purged) is not difficult.

I bet I can more accurately weigh one dose of 134g of sugar for a 20L/40 bottle batch than most others can weigh out 40 doses of 3.35g.

I also bottle most batches in a mix of bottle sizes...500mL and 330mL mostly....batch priming means I don't have to worry about getting 3.35g in a 500mL bottle or 2.211g in a 330mL bottle.

You dont need to measure out water when batch priming...the 350mL that you might dissolve your priming sugar in will make no discernible difference to a 20L batch.

I visit each bottle when I come to fill it...can easily spot any flaws or residue (but in 99% of cases and issues would have been spotted prior when cleaning them after drinking the original contents).

Regarding your sugar doser....what happens if you regularly require different carbonation levels for different style beers....how can your doser adjust for needing 6.7g/L one day and 4g/L the next and then 5g/L the day after?
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.

As for me, I'm hardly qualified to discuss this these days as I keg or can my beers unless sending in beer to a competition, and even then I'm counter pressure filling. I haven't bottle conditioned a beer for about 2 years!
 
I prime individually to avoid the o2 and infection risk of another transfer. Also I bottle under gravity from the FV so I would have to lift the bottling bucket up if doing that.
Having said that, individual dosing is a pain.
But I wanted to ask - do people really measure sugar to the 1/10 of a gram per bottle? To the half gram seems to be sufficient to me.
 
I prime individually to avoid the o2 and infection risk of another transfer. Also I bottle under gravity from the FV so I would have to lift the bottling bucket up if doing that.
Having said that, individual dosing is a pain.
But I wanted to ask - do people really measure sugar to the 1/10 of a gram per bottle? To the half gram seems to be sufficient to me.
No.

At the start, I measured out how much a teaspoon of granulated sugar was. Then I used a calculator to decide how many grams of sugar I needed per bottle, then eyeballed it with "a bit over" or "a bit under" or "a level" quarter teaspoon/half teaspoon.

These days I just go with a half teaspoon for fizzy, a quarter teaspoon for ales. Sometimes a little over, sometimes a little under.
I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a beer at 2.0 volumes, and one at 2.5 volumes of CO2. I would put money than no-one else would be able to either.
 
To add, batch priming also helps if you have bottle of differing sizes. There's no need to remember to put less sugar in the 330ml bottles for example. I know I would forget and put the same amount in a 330ml bottle --> inconsistent carbonation.

Measuring all the priming sugar at once, rather than 40 odd times introduces less uncertainty (thus improved accuracy).

It's all preference, but I for sure find batch priming far easier, and that's having done both. Each to their own though.
 
Hi all

Nothing good ever comes without a bit of pain, but just wondering if there is a way to minimise bottling day blues?

Having just finished at >2 hours for 40 bottles, Would any of you be able to cast your eye over my process below to see if I can be a bit more efficient?

- Wash all bottles with warm water
- Sanitise (using wilko home brew sanitiser) all bottles and equipment (using spray stand)
- Rinse all equipment/bottles with cold water
- half a tsp of priming sugar into each bottle
- fill bottles direct from fv using little bottler/bottling wand attached to fv tap
- transport 40l of beer up two flights of stairs (don’t think anyone can help with this!)

It may be this is all necessary and the effort makes the beer taste that much sweeter but any thoughts would be much appreciated!
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.
 
Hi all

Nothing good ever comes without a bit of pain, but just wondering if there is a way to minimise bottling day blues?

Having just finished at >2 hours for 40 bottles, Would any of you be able to cast your eye over my process below to see if I can be a bit more efficient?

- Wash all bottles with warm water
- Sanitise (using wilko home brew sanitiser) all bottles and equipment (using spray stand)
- Rinse all equipment/bottles with cold water
- half a tsp of priming sugar into each bottle
- fill bottles direct from fv using little bottler/bottling wand attached to fv tap
- transport 40l of beer up two flights of stairs (don’t think anyone can help with this!)

It may be this is all necessary and the effort makes the beer taste that much sweeter but any thoughts would be much appreciated!
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.
 
Yup. I steal (sorry recycle) beer bottles and caps. Rinse bottles boil caps.
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!

If they could serve a purpose, then that could be cool. Does re-using come with any issues with sealing properly or contamination?
 
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!

If they could serve a purpose, then that could be cool. Does re-using come with any issues with sealing properly or contamination?
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.
I was quite surprised to find they held a good seal when I first tried it.
 
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.
I was quite surprised to find they held a good seal when I first tried it.
Excellent, save me buying new ones as I already have hundreds!
 
I recycle mine until they drop. Best to find a bottle opener the dress not bend them. I flash boil all mine, immediately before use. I have run some still going string after 14 cycles.
 

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