Bottling

Petei1507 · Sep 28, 2015

This might sound like a stuoid question (it does in my head anyway) but when it comes to bottling up a cider brew, is it best to fill with cider and add the cap straight away, or fill all bottles up and set aside before capping?

When my brew is finally done, I'll be separating them 50/50 into bottles that have a small amouny of sugar and bottles with none at all.

Just want to make sure that there is a specific way/best practice, or if it doesnt really matter.
I would have gone down the route of filling all bottles up and then capping them...

Roddy · Sep 28, 2015

Petei1507 said:
This might sound like a stuoid question (it does in my head anyway) but when it comes to bottling up a cider brew, is it best to fill with cider and add the cap straight away, or fill all bottles up and set aside before capping?

When my brew is finally done, I'll be separating them 50/50 into bottles that have a small amouny of sugar and bottles with none at all.

Just want to make sure that there is a specific way/best practice, or if it doesnt really matter.
I would have gone down the route of filling all bottles up and then capping them...

Probably going to be more efficient to do the capping at the end I would have thought... I use grolsch bottles and PET screwtop bottles, so I can fill one then put the lid on while I'm filling the next one :)

Chippy_Tea · Sep 28, 2015

I have glass bottles with novatwist caps and use the same fill one while screwing the cap on the previous one method.

Novatwist caps - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=56326

Petei1507 · Sep 30, 2015

Another question on this one -

What is the shelf life for home brews?

I'd assume Cider would have a few months after bottling? But wine, is it months/years?

simon12 · Sep 30, 2015

I cap every 5 or so incase I knock them all over. Wine or anything over 10%ABV should store almost indefinitely. Beers and ciders its more of a question of when they are at there best but should not go off or anything for over 6 months as long as they were OK when they went into the bottle.

chewie · Sep 30, 2015

Using preservatives like sulphites in WoW's or in the case of some of the wine kits I've done, research on them and instructions both seem to point to "best before" of 6 months from bottling and a "use by" of 1 year. Sulphites whilst acting as a preservative start to break down and add new flavours after around 6 months. I'm not making wine long enough to test the 6 month or 1 year out and i probably won't ever have any last that long anyways :-?

wheazy_joe · Sep 30, 2015

I tend to do about six bottles at a time, fill em up , cap em then onto the next six.

Racinsnake · Sep 30, 2015

I'm a clumsy mo fo :grin: so I cap after every half dozen but to answer your questions, I can't see why it would matter when you cap them, as long as you do. Iv got brews a year old that matured nicely, stored in a dark cool place, they are stouts and ales not sure how lager would go though.

GB2014 · Oct 1, 2015

I fill them all then cap them all, it is more efficient and I get a little frisson of excitement from the danger that I could knock them all over at once.