Bottling time this evening...

[-Bezza-]

I think there are two things that bother me. First is the shape of the bottles which makes them a pain to clean - they're slow to fill with water, slow to empty out, don't drain upside down without precariously balancing on a bottle tree, difficult to scrub inside. Second is that filling the bottles requires more than two hands as you hold the bottle, pump the siphon whilst holding it in the FV, clean up the drips, find somewhere to put the full bottles etc.

But don't let me put people off starting out in home brew! Honestly.

 

[Bobtheblob]

Four hours. Two pints. Two glasses of wine. Done. Knackered.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Four hours. Two pints. Two glasses of wine. Done. Knackered.

I'm sure it will be worth it

 

[starseeker]

Four hours. Two pints. Two glasses of wine. Done. Knackered.

Nice one ,fair to say though that it can be much quicker ,i can from preparing equipment, sanitising,bottling and cleaning up ,do it in about two hours :)

 

[An Ankoù]

Can they be cleaned then sanitised and sealed back up ready for bottling even if it’s a few days away, or do you need to it just before bottling.

Absolutely they can. Drink the beer and keep the caps. Wash the bottles out the following morning and squirt a few CCs of double strength metabisulphite in them and cramp the caps back on.
Six months later, uncap, throw the caps away, rinse, prime and fill. Job done.
"If God was a D.J...."

 

[An Ankoù]

As others have said ,i rinse my bottles after a days/ evenings drinking ,then give them a couple of sprays of chemsan and put on the lids (screw caps)then bottling day is sanitise them, prime them using a funnel and measuring spoon ,put on some pink floyd and enjoy :)

Talking of which,The Wise One stuck Atom Heart Mother on the deck this morning and cranked it up for all the neighbourhood to hear. Amazing. I'd quite forgotten how much they liked marmalade.

 

[Jim Brewster]

In theory bottling day should be relaxing and with a sense of achievement at what is getting ever closer to becoming the final product, but in reality I always find the part with the kinked plastic tubes whipping g around, the siphoning, the needing 2 pairs of hands and the drops of beer going on the floor a bit of a pain, although its cured slightly by having a sample of what I've made. I assume it'll get better with practice, maybe.

 

[Sinktipper]

A vinator full of starsan, a bottling wand and filling the bottles over the open dishwasher door has made my bottling life so much easier. I also use the dishwasher to clean the bottles prior to sanitising. I don't use any detergent. I'm sure the bottles aren't 100% free of crud inside but it's never caused any problems.

I sort of enjoy bottling. I like seeing all the capped bottles lined up like an army of beer soldiers.

 

[An Ankoù]

If bottling is such a pain, then use PETs. They have a wider neck than glass bottles and this means you can fill directly from the tap. One hand to hold the bottle, one hand to open and close the tap. Advantage over bottles is you can squeeze all the air out before screwing the lid down.
My son insists on using a syphon tube even though his FV has a tap. He rightly points out that you then get to taste the beer all the way down to make sure it's OK.
I've heard of these bottling wands but never used one. They sound a bit of a faff, to me. I don't see why, after all the bottles are cleaned and rinsed and primed, it should take more than about half an hour to fill and cap 40 bottles.

 

[Gerryjo]

In theory bottling day should be relaxing and with a sense of achievement at what is getting ever closer to becoming the final product, but in reality I always find the part with the kinked plastic tubes whipping g around, the siphoning, the needing 2 pairs of hands and the drops of beer going on the floor a bit of a pain, although its cured slightly by having a sample of what I've made. I assume it'll get better with practice, maybe.

Place your bottle's in an FV or a builders trug so as any spillage doesn't get on the floor and mishaps contained.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I don't see why, after all the bottles are cleaned and rinsed and primed, it should take more than about half an hour to fill and cap 40 bottles.

Its the cleaning, the rinsing, the priming that takes the time for me(less so the priming)! Filling and capping is, as you say, rather quick.
I am kean to try out some of the suggestions above (dishwasher etc).

 

[An Ankoù]

Its the cleaning, the rinsing, the priming that takes the time for me(less so the priming)! Filling and capping is, as you say, rather quick.
I am kean to try out some of the suggestions above (dishwasher etc).

There's an old fellow I used to supply with a few bottles of beer every week or so on condition that he rinsed and returned the bottles. After several reminders, I still got my bottles back with a dried crust at the bottom and he wonders why he doesn't get any beer any more.

 

[NPi]

Old beach towel on the floor, big Oxy bath for them all the night before, bottling wand on the PB, music on headphones, FV cold crashed to 2 degrees, only rinse right before filling, shake your wrist to whirlpool when emptying bottles, set your bottles up at an angle to drain.

Calculate the number of bottles filled as a number of ml, divide 200 by that number, then multiply by the size of the bottle (300, 500, 660 etc).

Have your bottles in height order (or even better all the same height), tallest first. Less adjusting the bench capper.

With the above no reason why you can't breeze through the lot in no time.

 

[Drunkula]

use PETs. They have a wider neck than glass bottles and this means you can fill directly from the tap.

You can do that with normal bottles. Filling from the tap without a length of pipe that reaches the bottom of the bottle means you're adding extra lovely oxygen.

I've heard of these bottling wands but never used one. They sound a bit of a faff, to me. I

They're the complete opposite of faff. You can go hands free as a bottle is filling and cap as you go. And if you see a bottle is about to overfill all you do is pull it out. They're fantastic and cost about £2.

Another bottling tip is put a torch balanced on a pint glass behind the bottles so you can see the fill level. Bottles like 1845 are so dark you can hardly see inside normally.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I hate bottling and this made it a lot more bearable, I put the wand part into my syphon tube as i don't have a tap on my FV and didn't want to drill it,.

 

[An Ankoù]

You can do that with normal bottles. Filling from the tap without a length of pipe that reaches the bottom of the bottle means you're adding extra lovely oxygen.

Never bought into that one about the oxygen, I think it's an urban myth. I stick a bit of tube about 6" long into the tap which extends a couple of inches into the bottle and run the beer down the inside of the bottle to minimise foaming. Never, ever had any issues with oxidation in any style of beer. If I were bottling a completely flat beer with priming sugar and bottling yeast, I might do things differently, but even Pilsners, lagered in bulk for 6 or eight weeks have plenty of fizz in them.
I'll look into bottling wands out of curiosity though.

 

[London]

I just give them a hot rinse immediately after pouring. Then a sanitise before bottling.

+1

 

[chillipickle]

I have only done 5 brews so far, bottling isnt to much of a chore tbh.
Just had a tall lader fridge donated to me free of charge, so can double the amount of brewing.Like a true magpie just spent a fortune on a 2 keg setup and snub nose fermzilla.

Im sure it would of been cheaper just to buy some more brewdog.....but where's the fun in that eh, lol

 

[dwhite60]

Thirty years at this. Still bottling. never seemed like that big of a job.

 

[Mavroz]

Thirty years at this. Still bottling. never seemed like that big of a job.

Haha, I totally agree.