Kit for bottling

[Nic_P]

Another question for you helpfull peeps
I think I am goinng to bottle my second brew - easy to grab a couple (or 6) to take round to friends.
I was looking to get a little bottler and a youngs crown capper. Does anybody have a any views or other recommendations of kit I should do I need anything else? (caps of course)
Thanks
Nic

 

[Wez]

A little Bottler, Caps and Capper thats about it :thumb:

How are you going to prime the bottles, 1/2tsp sugar works well for me, others batch prime by dissolving the total amount of priming sugar to be used for all bottles into the fermented beer.

 

[Nic_P]

I was going to prime each bottle Wez. Do the results vary depending on which method you choose? I guess a mass prime is a lot less effort.

I take it a capper is a capper and all much of a muchness?

 

[Moley]

Hi Nic, I don't have a Little Bottler yet as my LHBS don't stock them, but I will get one next time I do an online shop. I do prime bottles individually, which is fine as long as you're methodical (so you don't miss one or do one twice).

I take it a capper is a capper and all much of a muchness?

Pretty much of a muchness, but go for one of these (similar price in Wilko) and NOT the hand-held tool you whack with a mallet.

 

[Nic_P]

Thanks guys

 

[ano]

Just playing devil's advocate one reason for not priming individually is that if you're just using teaspoons to put the sugar in then consistency is still, arguably, difficult to acheive. The sugar can be a little more compacted in one spoonful than the next, a 'by eye' measurement can be quite a way out from the previous spoonful etc. (IME this wasn't too much of a problem but some claim it to be) But you can dissolve all your sugar into a jug and pipette the relevant amount of syrupy solution into each bottle to get round this.

Also I find batch priming less of a faff and by siphoning to a second FV I lift the beer off the sediment without disturbing it.

Once you've done it a few times you find what works for you.

 

[Aleman]

I take it a capper is a capper and all much of a muchness?

It depends . . . There is the whack it capper . . . Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole . . . too easy to chip a bottle or smash a neck . . . . not good.

The wing/leaver capper are great if you have standard bottles . . .but some breweries have different sized necks and the wing capper doesn't work so well

Then there is the bench capper, and this is the easiest of all to use and adjusts for any size bottle

If you are going to bottle a lot of beer then the bench capper is the way to go . . . if its only a few and you are not mixing your bottles then a wing capper will do you very nicely . . . Last year we bottled 18 Gallons of beer just using a wing capper at Wibblers Brewery . . . For the sake of 15 quid a bench capper would make it so much easier

 

[llannige]

I bottle all my brews and the bench capper is a must.I regularly bottle 58 at a time and find it a doddle.
Also prime through a bottling bucket with bottling stick. :thumb:

 

[Nic_P]

Thanks Aleman and Llannige.
I think I'll dig a bit deeper and go for the bench capper. Hope fully I will be bottling beers for many years to come so willl be worth the extra investment.
It's amazing how a home brewing kit is suddenly being added to with lots more bits and pieces and becoming much more. My shopping list seems to be getting longer and longer, what have I got myself into!

 

[Vossy1]

Defo go for the bench capper, I just threw my twin lever youngs jobby away...a long way away...in a temper :evil:
Tonight it didn't even break a bottle...which it has done before....false economy buying it :thumb:

 

[Nic_P]

:lol:
I thought that may be the case Vossy. Although I like to keep costs down some things aren't worth scrimping on. It's the same with tools for work. No point in buying a cordless drill from B&Q,I'll bugger it in 5 minutes and then end up buyin the Makita I should have got in the first place.

 

[falafael]

go for the bench capper, they are brilliant, paid £25 for mine, was using the black lever thing before, went through three in the end, kept smashing bottles, taking the necks of etc, really crap i think they are...like vossy says, miine went a long way away!

 

[Moley]

The Young's capper works fine for most bottles, although some such as Wychwood bottles require a certain knack. However, when mine expires I will get a bench model.

It's amazing how a home brewing kit is suddenly being added to with lots more bits and pieces and becoming much more. My shopping list seems to be getting longer and longer, what have I got myself into!

Ah yes, I suppose the various bits and pieces do all add up. You'll just have to brew more to make it cost-effective. :

 

[dandan]

The Young's capper works fine for most bottles, although some such as Wychwood bottles require a certain knack. However, when mine expires I will get a bench model.

It took me 10min to get a cap onto a Wychwood bottle using the youngs capper, :x