Welp, My First Batch is Done!

[Brudru]

After a month or so of research, investing in the some of the cheaper gear and using my first beer kit I've finally gotten to the stage I was waiting for. Bottled beer!

I have to say the racking/bottling process could have went smoother and me and my bro who helped were a bit clumsier than I would have liked but hey ho.

Unfortunately he dropped the airlock inside the beer right as he took the lid off, for some reason he thought it would be a good idea to turn the lid upside down above the beer secondly, you can see some of the levels of those beers aren't the greatest. Third and maybe the most cringe worthy, I don't have an auto siphon so had to use the ol suction/gravity. I used mouthwash but I was cringing the whole time and I will definately be investing in an auto-siphon for my next batch.

Heres hopin' the beer isn't ruined at this stage, that would be a hard one to take for my first one!

Everything else was sanitised and I was apparantly being too anal about the whole process so we'll see but I'm feeling good about it regardless of the hiccups!

Wanted to drop by and say thanks to the community for the wealth of information and input when I had questions!

Cheers :)

 

[DavieC]

Hopefully it'll be fine, a bottling wand would be a good investment as well, how did the beer taste? What kit have you done?

 

[Brudru]

The beer tasted nice, quite fruity but not overly. The hop flavours were a bit subdued but I don't know if thats becuase its still to condition or if its as another user mentioned on one of my posts about the dark malts overriding the hoppiness. It was a Muntons American Style IPA that came with the fermenter and other gear.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

What you have done all sounds good to me - well done

People tend to overthink the whole thing in my view, remember the human race has been brewing beer for thousands of years - it's harder to mess up then you think

and yes, bottling is a real faff.

The beer will be worth it

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

The beer tasted nice, quite fruity but not overly. The hop flavours were a bit subdued but I don't know if thats becuase its still to condition or if its as another user mentioned on one of my posts about the dark malts overriding the hoppiness. It was a Muntons American Style IPA that came with the fermenter and other gear.

An "upfront" hoppy taste is really hard to achieve - you'll get there

 

[NPi]

In place of an auto syphon, you can always fill your line with water and put your thumb over one end. Then raise the other end up higher so all the bubbles rise, then fill the remaining part with water so no bubbles remain. Then put your other thumb over the other end so no water gets out.

I should mention your going to need to have washed and sanitised your hands to your elbows prior.

Then dunk one hand into the FV and release your thumb under the liquid line. Clip it in place with a peg if you can so it doesn't rise or move.

Then, when you release your other thumb your beer will flow through your tubing out to where ever you want it (bottles, keg, bottling bucket etc).

Videos on YouTube may make it easier to understand than my explanation.

Good luck!

 

[Brudru]

What you have done all sounds good to me - well done

People tend to overthink the whole thing in my view, remember the human race has been brewing beer for thousands of years - it's harder to mess up then you think

and yes, bottling is a real faff.

The beer will be worth it

Aye, thats what I was telling myself as I was going, guess I was a little excited and anxious getting into the whole racking thing for the first time! Deffo going to use the keg next time though!

In place of an auto syphon, you can always fill your line with water and put your thumb over one end. Then raise the other end up higher so all the bubbles rise, then fill the remaining part with water so no bubbles remain. Then put your other thumb over the other end so no water gets out.

I should mention your going to need to have washed and sanitised your hands to your elbows prior.

Then dunk one hand into the FV and release your thumb under the liquid line. Clip it in place with a peg if you can so it doesn't rise or move.

Then, when you release your other thumb your beer will flow through your tubing out to where ever you want it (bottles, keg, bottling bucket etc).

Videos on YouTube may make it easier to understand than my explanation.

Good luck!

That's an interesting way to go about it, I didn't think of that. I'll have a look see on YouTube!

Thanks!

 

[An Ankoù]

Apart from dropping the airlock into the beer, I don't see what all the fuss is about. What's all this mouthwash and cringing stuff? You trying to taint the beer? To siphon, you put the tube into the beer, hold the other end lower than the beer barrel, suck the beer up through the tube and then let the beer fill the bottles. You can use your thumb to stop the flow between bottles or, better, make a kink in the tube which you can close and loosen. You don't fill your mouth with beer and then spit it into the bottles, if that's what you were thinking.
Alternatively, you could invest in fitting a tap to the bottom of your FV.

 

[An Ankoù]

In place of an auto syphon, you can always fill your line with water and put your thumb over one end. Then raise the other end up higher so all the bubbles rise, then fill the remaining part with water so no bubbles remain. Then put your other thumb over the other end so no water gets out.

I should mention your going to need to have washed and sanitised your hands to your elbows prior.

Then dunk one hand into the FV and release your thumb under the liquid line. Clip it in place with a peg if you can so it doesn't rise or move.

Then, when you release your other thumb your beer will flow through your tubing out to where ever you want it (bottles, keg, bottling bucket etc).

Videos on YouTube may make it easier to understand than my explanation.

Good luck!

Absolute codswallop, NPi! The joy of bottling, comes from taking a big manly (or womanly) suck of the beer to make sure things are flowing nicely in the tube and then swallow. Repeat as necessary until you've steadied down enough to be able to share some of it with the bottles. You don't need to scrub up before bottling- that's for open-heart surgery, a good wipe of the hands on the sides of your jeans is more than sufficient. This is about brewing beer. It's supposed to be fun!

As for videos on Youtube- trial and error is the way forward.

I'm going to dig out my old siphon tube.

Edit: I' having a laugh, here @NPi , about the way we used to do do things as students in the Seventies. Just to be clear that I'm not trying to take the peeee.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

As for videos on Youtube- trial and error is the way forward.

Yes - just take your lead from Boris Johnson's "government"

 

[An Ankoù]

Yes - just take your lead from Boris Johnson's "government"

There's nothing trial and error there, Obadiah. Bojo and his merry men know exactly what they're doing.

 

[damienair]

I’ve just finished racking off my first Cider this morning for bottling tomorrow. Even with an auto siphon it can be a faff sometimes. I got 2 fermentation buckets with my starter kit, one with a tap and one without. I have done 3 beers, a white wine and a cider so far in them. I installed a tap in my other Fermentation bucket. I plan to drain from tap to bottling bucket for future brews via a tube going to the bottom of the bottling bucket. And dry hop using a hop sock. This morning I had to put a muslin hop sock over the tip of my auto siphon so as to prevent oak chips and dried apple pieces etc from transferring over. It worked ok.

 

[Brudru]

You don't fill your mouth with beer and then spit it into the bottles, if that's what you were thinking.

****, you mean to say I've been doing it wrong this whole time?

I've seen plenty on forums and including the big man John Palmer that many people seem to cite around homebrewing communities, that your best doing it with an auto-siphon and to keep the whole biome of bacteria in your mouth away from that tube - i can only go from what I've read/learnt

 

[An Ankoù]

****, you mean to say I've been doing it wrong this whole time?

I've seen plenty on forums and including the big man John Palmer that many people seem to cite around homebrewing communities, that your best doing it with an auto-siphon and to keep the whole biome of bacteria in your mouth away from that tube - i can only go from what I've read/learnt

... and I was having a laugh, Brudru.

 

[Brudru]

... and I was having a laugh, Brudru.

Fairplay, I got that your second message was in jest but the tone on the first was lost on me - its hard to tell in text sometimes

Apart from the spitting into bottles thing of course