Sorry for the long post and if it seems very basic to most of the forum members I'm sorry but its intended for the many newbies to home brewing as waiting all those weeks and getting a dull flat pint can be off putting, and drive people away from this hobby.
I think carbonation of the bottles causes more problems for kit makers and beginners than anything else, or it seems to do judging by the posts in the forum.
So what does it take to bottle your first beer or cider brew.
Firstly start with a brew that's finished its ferment and it is virtually clear ( unless intentionally making cloudy cider or similar ). This may involve a secondary rack ( or even a third ). When your happy that its as good as its going to get and you are satisfied the yeast has worked all the sugar out its going to do, then we come to the dreaded bottling procedure.
Firstly collect all the bottles you are going to need for the complete brew ( or part of the brew you are bottling if putting some into kegs ). Examine them, if glass make sure there's no chips or cracks.Examine the insides are they clean or is there any muck stuck to the bottom ( if cleaned as they are drunk there should not be ) All bottles now need to be sterilised thoroughly there's no compromise or short cut here. Any wild yeast or bacteria left will only multiply when its sealed into the bottle. A large bath is the easiest thing to use, a good depth of warm water with your preferred cleaner/steriliser mixed well in.Throw the whole lot of bottles in ( place in if glass ! ), also put in the bath your bottling wand or any plastic tubes that you will use, and your bottle tops, make sure the inside of the bottles are filled with the solution by holding them under the surface. Then leave for a good period of time ( as stated on your cleaner steriliser instructions. I always go round each bottle and give them a little scrub with my hand around the outside screw thread of my plastic PET bottles.
When the soaking time is up, empty the water out of the bath. Empty each bottle with a good vigorous shake and let the water drain away. Then refill the bath/bucket what have you, with fresh clean water, again making sure the inside of the bottles are filled, Stir the bottles around, empty the water. Again empty the bottles with a good shake. Now you have a choice, if they were relatively clean you can move on, if in any doubt repeat with another water rinse. Its not a waste of time.
The clean and sterilised bottles are then removed from the bath and in my case on to a 40 bottle drainer which is then stood in the empty bath for 30 mins or so to drain ( they can be placed into any cardboard box or carrier of your choice ). If upright in a box cover the top with a clean tea towel or similar and take to your brewing station ready to be filled.
Part 2 of bottling..... ( because I always consider the above as part 1 of any bottling procedure )
Get yourself comfy ! bottling 40 + bottles from a 23 litre brew takes some time and if your not comfy you will not do it right.I sit on a chair infront of the FV ( my son plugs in his i-pod ! )
Line your bottles up in reach and add the priming sugar to each one I always make sure theres 40 x 500ml bottles as that normaly takes my brew.
Normal household sugar is fine to use as a priming medium, Carbanation drops are popular too, they make sure you get the same amount of sugar per bottle. How much is required in each bottle is your preference, and depends on the size of the bottle. You will need at least 1 carb drop or three quarters of tsp to each 500ml bottle. If 1 litre bottles give 2 carbs or 1 carb plus half a teaspoon of sugar. These I have found are the minimum req to get a good carb ( of course if you like things less fizzy or the brew demands less carbonation, adjust as necessary )
Take you first nice and clean bottle with its sugar and fill it from the FV. Leave a couple of fingers width space at the top of the bottle.Then put the top on, tight. move on to bottle 2, then bottle 3 etc etc. The procedure is the same if using crown caps but then I usually fill say 10 bottles and then cap 10.
When all are filled go round and tighted the caps if used, give each bottle a little shake.
All the above is what is normally done and I think is the bare minimum you have to do. Are we done yet ?......No. but have a cuppa or a bottle first.
Bottle conditioning starts here and this is where I have problems, theres never enough space available in the house.
My ideal space is in the airing cupboard where its warm to quite warm during the summer and warm in the winter, however I can only squeeze in say 40 bottles at a time.
When you have 2 or 3 brews on it gets a bit too much.
My garage is comfortably warm but just a little cool for bottle conditioning and the temp is variable. So I am making up a large water bath to stand on the floor with a fish tank heater in. Set to a nice warm temp it will keep the bottles in good condition.I leave it to you what you do But this warm bottle contitioning is most important to allow the yeast to activate once again and convert the sugar you added into Co2 to fill the space you left and force itself into the beer. Repeat... it is important and takes a good week or two to complete.
After that I move my bottles to stand on the garage concrete floor to cool down nicely, then they are moved to whatever storage you will use, boxes in shed on shelves etc cooler the better. After another few days of this your brew is ready to drink and hopefully will be as fizzy as you wish and hoped for. Of course the Great Brewing Goddess Annoia may put her spoke in and things don't turn out as we intended...thats life. If need be move your bottles back into the warmth for a few days.
I think carbonation of the bottles causes more problems for kit makers and beginners than anything else, or it seems to do judging by the posts in the forum.
So what does it take to bottle your first beer or cider brew.
Firstly start with a brew that's finished its ferment and it is virtually clear ( unless intentionally making cloudy cider or similar ). This may involve a secondary rack ( or even a third ). When your happy that its as good as its going to get and you are satisfied the yeast has worked all the sugar out its going to do, then we come to the dreaded bottling procedure.
Firstly collect all the bottles you are going to need for the complete brew ( or part of the brew you are bottling if putting some into kegs ). Examine them, if glass make sure there's no chips or cracks.Examine the insides are they clean or is there any muck stuck to the bottom ( if cleaned as they are drunk there should not be ) All bottles now need to be sterilised thoroughly there's no compromise or short cut here. Any wild yeast or bacteria left will only multiply when its sealed into the bottle. A large bath is the easiest thing to use, a good depth of warm water with your preferred cleaner/steriliser mixed well in.Throw the whole lot of bottles in ( place in if glass ! ), also put in the bath your bottling wand or any plastic tubes that you will use, and your bottle tops, make sure the inside of the bottles are filled with the solution by holding them under the surface. Then leave for a good period of time ( as stated on your cleaner steriliser instructions. I always go round each bottle and give them a little scrub with my hand around the outside screw thread of my plastic PET bottles.
When the soaking time is up, empty the water out of the bath. Empty each bottle with a good vigorous shake and let the water drain away. Then refill the bath/bucket what have you, with fresh clean water, again making sure the inside of the bottles are filled, Stir the bottles around, empty the water. Again empty the bottles with a good shake. Now you have a choice, if they were relatively clean you can move on, if in any doubt repeat with another water rinse. Its not a waste of time.
The clean and sterilised bottles are then removed from the bath and in my case on to a 40 bottle drainer which is then stood in the empty bath for 30 mins or so to drain ( they can be placed into any cardboard box or carrier of your choice ). If upright in a box cover the top with a clean tea towel or similar and take to your brewing station ready to be filled.
Part 2 of bottling..... ( because I always consider the above as part 1 of any bottling procedure )
Get yourself comfy ! bottling 40 + bottles from a 23 litre brew takes some time and if your not comfy you will not do it right.I sit on a chair infront of the FV ( my son plugs in his i-pod ! )
Line your bottles up in reach and add the priming sugar to each one I always make sure theres 40 x 500ml bottles as that normaly takes my brew.
Normal household sugar is fine to use as a priming medium, Carbanation drops are popular too, they make sure you get the same amount of sugar per bottle. How much is required in each bottle is your preference, and depends on the size of the bottle. You will need at least 1 carb drop or three quarters of tsp to each 500ml bottle. If 1 litre bottles give 2 carbs or 1 carb plus half a teaspoon of sugar. These I have found are the minimum req to get a good carb ( of course if you like things less fizzy or the brew demands less carbonation, adjust as necessary )
Take you first nice and clean bottle with its sugar and fill it from the FV. Leave a couple of fingers width space at the top of the bottle.Then put the top on, tight. move on to bottle 2, then bottle 3 etc etc. The procedure is the same if using crown caps but then I usually fill say 10 bottles and then cap 10.
When all are filled go round and tighted the caps if used, give each bottle a little shake.
All the above is what is normally done and I think is the bare minimum you have to do. Are we done yet ?......No. but have a cuppa or a bottle first.
Bottle conditioning starts here and this is where I have problems, theres never enough space available in the house.
My ideal space is in the airing cupboard where its warm to quite warm during the summer and warm in the winter, however I can only squeeze in say 40 bottles at a time.
When you have 2 or 3 brews on it gets a bit too much.
My garage is comfortably warm but just a little cool for bottle conditioning and the temp is variable. So I am making up a large water bath to stand on the floor with a fish tank heater in. Set to a nice warm temp it will keep the bottles in good condition.I leave it to you what you do But this warm bottle contitioning is most important to allow the yeast to activate once again and convert the sugar you added into Co2 to fill the space you left and force itself into the beer. Repeat... it is important and takes a good week or two to complete.
After that I move my bottles to stand on the garage concrete floor to cool down nicely, then they are moved to whatever storage you will use, boxes in shed on shelves etc cooler the better. After another few days of this your brew is ready to drink and hopefully will be as fizzy as you wish and hoped for. Of course the Great Brewing Goddess Annoia may put her spoke in and things don't turn out as we intended...thats life. If need be move your bottles back into the warmth for a few days.
