Ok newbie questions!

[ryanshelton]

Hi all,
Currently got my first brew fermenting(coopers english bitter) sat in the fermenting bucket. It should be ready to bottle in the next few days.

I have some questions and after doing a search cant really seem to find anything that answers them but im a male so please accept my apologies if they has been asked before!
I have a fermenting bucket with a lid and airlock, 48 500ml coopers bottles with screw lids, 1 syphon with a tap on the end? and obviously the paddle, thermometer and hydrometer.

How do i go about bottling this brew in a few days? Ive been told elsewhere to use a bottling bucket which i dont have and a bottling wand. Now i will get these at a later stage but for this batch how can i do it without?

Also im unsure if to use a teaspoon of sugar in every bottle or just to use a carb drop?

any help appreciated

Thanks

 

[PD]

Its gonna get messy !....
You really need a spare fermenter with a tap fitted to which you attach what is called a bottling wand, Then its a breeze
Without a tap fitted you will have to use a piece of tubing to syphon the brew into each individual bottle.

 

[Moley]

Welcome to the forum :

So you've got a syphon tube with a tap, does it have a racking cane - that's a rigid length of plastic tube with an upturned cup on the end, have you got a bucket clip, or have you got anyone else to help you?

If you've already got the carbonation drops, use them. Otherwise for a bitter it's just half a teaspoonful of sugar to the bottle up to 1 tsp for a lager.

 

[ryanshelton]

Its gonna get messy !....
You really need a spare fermenter with a tap fitted to which you attach what is called a bottling wand, Then its a breeze
Without a tap fitted you will have to use a piece of tubing to syphon the brew into each individual bottle.

Yeah thats what i was dreading ive got the syphon and the tubing with this starter kit ive got, might use it this time round and then invest in another fermenter and bottling wand. The tubing does have a tap on the end if that makes it any easier!

 

[ryanshelton]

Welcome to the forum :

So you've got a syphon tube with a tap, does it have a racking cane - that's a rigid length of plastic tube with an upturned cup on the end, have you got a bucket clip, or have you got anyone else to help you?

If you've already got the carbonation drops, use them. Otherwise for a bitter it's just half a teaspoonful of sugar to the bottle up to 1 tsp for a lager.

Yeah ive got the racking cane, just checked :) nope no bucket clip, i do have the mrs who can help me though or could possible pick a bucket clip up over the next few days. Is it advisable to shake the bottle to mix the sugar with the brew?

 

[Dave1970]

No need to shake to dissolve the sugar, it'll dissolve in its own time without shaking. A good strong bulldog clip will work as a bucket clip if you happen to have one.

 

[ryanshelton]

Thanks for the advice :)

another question, whats the best way of santizing the bottles before bottling? Ive got the sanitizer that came with the starter kit, its in a granule form and dissolves with water(was fairly easy to use on the fermenter) but wasnt sure about the bottles seeing as there are 48 of them? Could i make up a big batch of santizer and then pour it into each bottle individually then rinse?
I dont have the use of a dishwasher unfortunatly

 

[mattrickl06]

May not be right here but i just washed and rinsed my PET bottles when they were new and they all turned out fine. You will of course need to sterilise them all after they have been used once.

 

[FunnyTrickster]

May not be right here but i just washed and rinsed my PET bottles when they were new and they all turned out fine. You will of course need to sterilise them all after they have been used once.

I think I will try that this time. Like you said, they are new.

I'm also a newbie waiting for my first batch lol.

I have tubing and ordered a bottle filler thing. How do you attach the 2 together for syphoning?

 

[Capone]

Hello ryanshelton,

Welcome to the forums. :thumb:

I myself have only done extract beers thus far and I have discovered that when you first start out bottling is very messy
the first few attempts, you will also have some wastage

I Personally buy and recycle brown glass bottles as I was warned off of plastic by an experienced brewer and a book.
It was explained to me by a the brewer that the PET (plastic) bottles im guessing you are refering to as screw lids are only
good for one or two brews as the bottles can get creases in them and within them creases bacteria can form easier and can
take longer to remove properly during the cleaning stage.

I also read somewhere they are not good for long term storage (Maturation) as they leak gas. oxygen defises through the plastic
and the beer can lose something like 10-15% of its carbonation within a month.

I also would avoid shaking the beer when filling, you will not be mixing the sugar you will be intoducing oxygen and other things
into your beer and its something you dont want to achive at this point.

I hope your batch turns out well, im drinking one of mine now :

 

[guyb]

Hello ryanshelton,

Welcome to the forums. :thumb:

I myself have only done extract beers thus far and I have discovered that when you first start out bottling is very messy
the first few attempts, you will also have some wastage

I Personally buy and recycle brown glass bottles as I was warned off of plastic by an experienced brewer and a book.
It was explained to me by a the brewer that the PET (plastic) bottles im guessing you are refering to as screw lids are only
good for one or two brews as the bottles can get creases in them and within them creases bacteria can form easier and can
take longer to remove properly during the cleaning stage.

I also read somewhere they are not good for long term storage (Maturation) as they leak gas. oxygen defises through the plastic
and the beer can lose something like 10-15% of its carbonation within a month.

I also would avoid shaking the beer when filling, you will not be mixing the sugar you will be intoducing oxygen and other things
into your beer and its something you dont want to achive at this point.

I hope your batch turns out well, im drinking one of mine now :

I've used PET bottle a number of times without issue, and glass, although I now use Cornies.

I used steam to sterilise glass bottles, however, the PET bottles will deform, so a good sanitiser is necessary - is is also a bit of a pain sterilising and rinsing bottles, hence my use of steam.

there is some discussion on the loss of carbonation.

you should batch prime - adding the quantity of priming sugar to the whole brew and mixing well, before bottling, rather than adding to each bottle individually.

 

[winelight]

have you got a bucket clip, or have you got anyone else to help you?

Ah - that's what I was missing. No wonder I has having fun the other day

Looks like I need to get a bucket clip, always had an assistant in the past so I didn't even know they existed!

 

[mattrickl06]

The new Coopers dual layer PET bottles seem good to be fair, none have creased yet and carbonation hasnt changed at all over 3 months of bottling :-)

I still agree though - glass is better, it feels better, plus labels fall off the plastic bottles too easily

 

[rpt]

Coopers PET bottles are designed to not let gas escape. They have the advantage that you can tell how well the beer is carbonating by how hard they are. I bottle in both glass and PET - I will drink the beer in plastic first and keep the glass for longer term storage and maturation.

A good tip I got here is to not use paper labels on the bottles but to use a chalk pen to write on them. I got one for £3 in a local stationery shop. Writing "Wherry 17/12/12" 43 times was not as hard work as I was expecting.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to add sugar to the beer in the fermentation vessel as you will need to stir it in well (even if already dissolved into hot water) and this will mix up the sediment which you want to minimise in the bottles. This is why a separate bottling bucket is a good idea.

Another very useful gadget is an auto syphon as this avoids you having to suck on the tubing and risk infecting the beer.

If you are going to bottle with the syphon then you definitely need a clip or an assistant to hold the end of the syphon in the beer. Otherwise you risk spraying your kitchen with beer when it falls out.

 

[fbsf]

I bought a 2nd FV with a tap for the little bottler. SO much easier - just put your priming sugar (dissolved into a little boiling water) into the 2nd FV, syphon the beer from the primary onto that, then bottle away. It's almost a 1-handed operation using this kit - far far better.

 

[Markus]

I bought a 2nd FV with a tap for the little bottler. SO much easier - just put your priming sugar (dissolved into a little boiling water) into the 2nd FV, syphon the beer from the primary onto that, then bottle away. It's almost a 1-handed operation using this kit - far far better.

I'm very tempted to do just this. The only question I have is regarding the priming sugar. Does adding it all at once still ensure each bottle ends up with the correct amount? Have you noticed any inconsistencies in your finished bottles?

 

[joe1002]

May not be right here but i just washed and rinsed my PET bottles when they were new and they all turned out fine. You will of course need to sterilise them all after they have been used once.

You need to sterilise everything, everytime otherwise you run a high risk of infection which will spoil your brew. :nono:

The only exception is all grain brewing, anything pre boil stage doesn't need to be sterilised. But that is for another day, when the darkside calls you :lol:

 

[fbsf]

I'm very tempted to do just this. The only question I have is regarding the priming sugar. Does adding it all at once still ensure each bottle ends up with the correct amount? Have you noticed any inconsistencies in your finished bottles?

I would say so, yes. I add the sugar solution to the bottom of the FV, then angle the syphon tube so it forms a sort of whirlpool - I find this enough to distribute the sugar well.

Certainly, I haven't noticed any inconsistencies in carbonation...

 

[mattrickl06]

May not be right here but i just washed and rinsed my PET bottles when they were new and they all turned out fine. You will of course need to sterilise them all after they have been used once.

You need to sterilise everything, everytime otherwise you run a high risk of infection which will spoil your brew. :nono:

The only exception is all grain brewing, anything pre boil stage doesn't need to be sterilised. But that is for another day, when the darkside calls you :lol:

I agree that everything should be sterilised before use, however 48 plastic bottles from a factory, i would say a wash & rinse would suffice, even if one of them was a bit blerky and had a spiders poo in it, then it would only have been one bottle and not a whole batch.

The Darkside is calling and has an extremely loud voice. I have 3 kits remaining which will be done while i save up for all the full mashing gear.

 

[ryanshelton]

Thanks for all the replies guys, you are certainly a friendly bunch! Just checked the hydrometer and it certainly is ready for bottling!
48 bottles all sanitised ready to be primed. I thought its best to sanitise them regardless of if they are new or not.
I am definetly going to invest in a 2nd FV and a bottling wand, local homebrew shop is selling both for £20ish. Went and got a bucket clip earlier :)
Will let you all know later how i get on and if the house gets covered in beer!!