Whats your biggest gripe when bottling?

[pms67]

Mostly keg. However, before moving to kegs I did some research. I learned two things. One is don't fill kegs with cold pish. The other is that it isn't mandatory to chill them to 3 degrees. :lol:

Anyways, before I went down the corny keg route I bottled because I had too many leaks with pressure barrels. I worked out all the things I hated about bottling and eliminated them. In the end, and even today, I quite enjoy bottling. It's like anything; get the right set-up and process and it's no longer a chore.

My tips are thus:

Get a bottling tree. Put it somewhere it can be used. It's like a dog, not just for bottle sanitising, but for life! Bottles would be poured, rinsed, sprayed with Star San and put on the tree. When it came to time to bottle they'd get another rinse with Star San. It worked a treat. Every third or fourth use they'd go in the dishwasher. Never had a problem.

Get comfortable. I don't mean put on your rubber pants and sprawl on the bed. Well, not yet. I found that getting a table the right height and a comfortable chair, and ensuring I could reach everything without stretching or standing was important to removing the stress of a bottling session. I also used an office chair so could easily turn around.

It's already been said, but get a little bottling bucket with tap and a little bottler. Also, out down some newspaper or a plastic carpet protector under the tap. It will drip, so let it.

Break up the work. I used to bottle 8 or 10, then cap, put more caps in a bowl of star san, look out the window and then have a snifter before going back to bottling.

Accept that it's going to take an hour. Either watch something that requires minimal concentration on TV, listen to music or listen to a podcast. I used to work my way though brewing podcasts.

A bench capper is better than a wing capper. Mind you, I started out with one of the metal sleeve jobs with a wooden handle that you had to belt with a hammer to get the crown cap to close. They were properly fun bottling sessions!

Everybody's idea of getting comfortable is different 😂😂😂😂👍

 

[Cwrw666]

After finishing drinking a bottle I rinse out the yeast sediment, then fill with a strong washing soda solution - it's cheap, just a strong alkali so failrly harmless. Next day give it a good rinse out and it's sparkly clean. i re-use the washing soda solution until it looks more like soup than a cleaning fluid.
When the bottles are drained and dry I stick a bit of clingfilm on the top to keep dust and bugs out.

When it's time to bottle a new batch I rinse all the bottles out with boiling water which takes a while but that's it for sanitising & I've never had an infected bottle.

 

[Clint]

.....any pictures of the rubber pants?

 

[Duxuk]

I do it the easy way. I dishwash the bottles. They don't always get clean first time but if not I put them in again 'til they admit defeat.
My bottles are screw top. I have a load of tops because some of my previous PET bottle tops fit. Unfortunately the only screw cap bottles I could find are clear, so I have to keep them in the dark. I don't sanitise before filling and after years of doing this my infection score is still zero!
That must mean that my biggest gripe is hearing people whining on about how hard it is:lol:

 

[Ciaran12s]

I use plastic bottles, give them a good rinse once they're poured then a bit of a wash in hot water the following day. Let them drain, few squirts of starsan, lid on, good shake and that's them ready for bottling day! Easy peasy

 

[jafski]

I rinse mine thoroughly with hot water after use, three or four fills and a rapid shaking upside down, then I drain them before putting them away. I just starsan them then, before next use.

Plus one for this. Also batch priming, a bottling stick and swing top bottles make bottling so much less hassle.

 

[MiddleRoom]

I always rinse my bottles after drinking, though not everybody who drinks my beer does. As a result I find myself cleaning the bottles out even when the majority don't need it, so stacking them on the bottle-tree-drainer-thing does my head in. I bought a drill bit bottle cleaner which I haven't used yet, but I'm looking forward to using it - hopefully it'll take a little time out of ramming the manual bottle cleaner in and out frantically!

Apart from that I quite like bottling.

 

[Gingerbrews]

One tip I picked up from here a while ago was, when bottling, do it over the opened door of the dishwasher, that way there are no drips on the kitchen floor.
One less thing for the Other Half to moan about

 

[chthon]

How much of the drudge in bottling would also come from bottling large batches? I stick to batches of 18 to 24 bottles. I use swing-top bottles. When they are empty they always go with the dishes (we have a dishwasher, but there are always things that one needs to do manually). Then a small rinse with clean tap water and the cork on it.
The day before bottling I soak all bottles in meta-bisulfite, rinse the caps with Star San, and let them drain overnight on an EasyRack. On bottling day I use a silicon tube which connects to my bottling bucket and on which I can stick a bottling wand. Then the bottles are filled one after one, on each the cork is put loosely on top of the bottle, so that escaping gas can push out oxygen, and after finishing all corks are fastened. I think that I need two times an hour.

 

[MyQul]

How much of the drudge in bottling would also come from bottling large batches? I stick to batches of 18 to 24 bottles. I use swing-top bottles. When they are empty they always go with the dishes (we have a dishwasher, but there are always things that one needs to do manually). Then a small rinse with clean tap water and the cork on it.
The day before bottling I soak all bottles in meta-bisulfite, rinse the caps with Star San, and let them drain overnight on an EasyRack. On bottling day I use a silicon tube which connects to my bottling bucket and on which I can stick a bottling wand. Then the bottles are filled one after one, on each the cork is put loosely on top of the bottle, so that escaping gas can push out oxygen, and after finishing all corks are fastened. I think that I need two times an hour.

This is true. I've switched to 5L batches so works out at about 6x500ml plus 1x330ml bottles. It takes me an hour or less to bottle

 

[Covrich]

I have put bottles in dishwasher when I started out but like a lot of things when you start you you get anal about things like head retention and the general advise was rinse aid is head killer and to be honest I can see why..

So for those who stick all their bottles in the DW do you use a non detergent wash??

I tend to wash immeditaly after use, but if they have been stored for ages in the garage say or I am not sure about one after it was tough to clean I will oven them for 40 mins the day before bottling and just star san before filling

 

[chub1]

This is true. I've switched to 5L batches so works out at about 6x500ml plus 1x330ml bottles. It takes me an hour or less to bottle

Like wat e said:thumb:
most of mine are 5/10 litre batches so not too much bother. Also i am a goody two shoes who always rinses his bottles thoroughly after drinking and always dries them before storage. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[pms67]

I do it the easy way. I dishwash the bottles. They don't always get clean first time but if not I put them in again 'til they admit defeat.
My bottles are screw top. I have a load of tops because some of my previous PET bottle tops fit. Unfortunately the only screw cap bottles I could find are clear, so I have to keep them in the dark. I don't sanitise before filling and after years of doing this my infection score is still zero!
That must mean that my biggest gripe is hearing people whining on about how hard it is:lol:

Me too, my bottles are Glass and and I don't sanitise them!!! and ,like you have no problem, I guess we are all different but some people are a bit OCD

 

[Brewed_Force]

I get the kitchen prepared for bottling, clean the sink and worktops, wash and put away all dishes, get my FV & bottling equipment all lined up.....
then one of the kids wanders in and wants to make a cheese butty

 

[Clint]

Interesting thread....on reflection from yesterday's bottling...I hold each one up to the light to double check before rinsing with sanitiser and putting on the bottle tree. I found one which wasn't too clever so that got put aside. Then I realised I needed a few more bottles so a rummage in the shed produced a few which were a bit mucky. So I filled the sink with hot water and oxi ..even the best plans can come unstuck! About rinse aid/head retention. ...I put one bottle in the dishwasher to see how they clean up..there's no rinse aid in mine at the moment,wondering if just the tablet thing will affect the beer? The bottle came out sparkling!

 

[Covrich]

Interesting thread....on reflection from yesterday's bottling...I hold each one up to the light to double check before rinsing with sanitiser and putting on the bottle tree. I found one which wasn't too clever so that got put aside. Then I realised I needed a few more bottles so a rummage in the shed produced a few which were a bit mucky. So I filled the sink with hot water and oxi ..even the best plans can come unstuck! About rinse aid/head retention. ...I put one bottle in the dishwasher to see how they clean up..there's no rinse aid in mine at the moment,wondering if just the tablet thing will affect the beer? The bottle came out sparkling!

Sure it would be fine.. you could give it a flush with hot water though

 

[Poochops]

I get the kitchen prepared for bottling, clean the sink and worktops, wash and put away all dishes, get my FV & bottling equipment all lined up.....
then one of the kids wanders in and wants to make a cheese butty

Haha I do this too, bleach spray on the sinks and worktops, nothing out that doesn't belong out. My kids are in their early twenties though, they know better than too disturb me when I'm in the bottling zone!

 

[Poochops]

Plus one for this. Also batch priming, a bottling stick and swing top bottles make bottling so much less hassle.

Yep all those make it less of a mither. Swing tops are great I've got about 11 dozen, bought or grolsh empties, but a bench capper is no hassle at all either and it gives quite a satisfying conclusion to the job as well in a weird kind of way :lol:

 

[Ciaran12s]

Aye Haha! I feel your pain. I work away so after three weeks away it was a bathtub job

 

[Ciaran12s]

I had a disaster recently. I done a dry hopped ipa and went to transfer to secondary/bottling bucket with brand new auto syphon. Tied the little filter bag on the end of the siphon and after a couple of litres the flow just stopped and I couldn't get it going without continually pumping(introducing lots of lovely oxygen) Eventually ripped the tube off in temper and sucked it down through. Left it a few days then bottling day came round......
Anyway I decided I would filly a couple of empty ghost ship mini kegs via the tube via the bottling tap. Beer everywhere needless to say.
I had to use the bottling wand tube to get the tube on to the tap, therefore it was open ended, so I think I'll get a second bottling wand for the end of the tube next time. Also, I think both bungs are leaking on the kegs. I will find out at the weekend, I have a feeling it may be a disaster but lessons were learned which is the main thing I suppose.