Bottling

[inside_outer]

Am bottling tomorrow, have PET bottles and Carbonation drops, Is there anything i need to watch out for? any tricks?

 

[BrewerBear]

I would say read Revvy's bottling sticking in the bottling and kegging subforum.

 

[Veronis]

- Prepare everything before you get started.
- Make sure your beer is done fermenting before you bottle. If you had a kit and you're bottling after "10 days" per instructions, it might be fine, but it's risky to do it that early unless daily hydrometer readings over 3 days shows 0 change in gravity. Kit instructions are not ideal because they over-simplify/generalize/assume too much.
- Make sure you use the correct amount of carbonation drops for the amount of beer. Over-carbing can cause overly foamy beer or at worst, exploding bottles. If your beer isn't done fermenting, that can also contribute to over-carbing or bottle bombs.
- Don't forget to sanitize everything that is going to touch the beer - hoses, racking cane, bucket, PET bottles/caps, etc.
- Bottle over an open dishwasher or a wide container if you can. Makes cleanup easier, as you'll probably spill some. Have paper towels handy.
- When filling a bottle with the bottle filler, you'll generally fill each bottle to the very top, then pull the filler back out - this will leave exactly the amount of headroom you want per bottle. Also, this is why spilling is all but unavoidable.
- If you're racking to a bottling bucket, keep the cane out of the trub at the bottom. You can't avoid 100% of it, but be dilligent about leaving as much of it in the carboy/fermenter as you can.
- Invest in a Vinator if santizing your bottles is tedious. If you do buy a vinator, take it apart completely for storage or the spring inside will rust up. (I use this one: http://labelpeelers.com/bottle-rinser-italian-vinator-p-3529.html)
- Leave your caps in a bowl of sanitizer and just pluck them out as you need them. This is based on the assumption that you're using a no-rinse sanitizer (e.g. Star San), though.
- If you are using Star San to sanitize, don't worry about leaving some foam/etc. in your bottles - they say "don't fear the foam" for a reason. Star San is completely ineffective once it dries, and small amounts of Star San (or some foam) in a bottle won't affect your beer flavor. I've had bottles full of Star San foam and just dumped the beer right into it, while others were foam-free. All the beers always taste identical.
- Read Revvy's bottling sticky: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

 

[unionrdr]

There's one hang up when using PET beer bottles on the vinator; the bottle opening is wider than on glass bottles,& it won't work. With Cooper's PET bottles anyway. A member on the Cooper's forums took a 2L pop bottle cap & cut a hole in the center. Just enough to fit down over the center stalk of the vinator. Down to the lil collar at the base of the center piece the glass bottle's lip pushes on. It can now be used for PET bottles with this cheap adapter.