I HATE bottling!!

[stevedasleeve]

I think I'm done with bottling! I am going to get some larger volume vessels to condition and serve my beer in, this bottling thing is too damn time consuming. So...

Party pigs & tap-a-draft vessels - can they be use to store beer for, say, a year of more? I am not ready to get into kegging quite yet.

Steve

 

[impatient]

I think I'm done with bottling! I am going to get some larger volume vessels to condition and serve my beer in, this bottling thing is too damn time consuming. So...

Party pigs & tap-a-draft vessels - can they be use to store beer for, say, a year of more? I am not ready to get into kegging quite yet.

Steve

They sell quart size flip top bottles. they are about 3 bucks apeice though.

 

[bigjoe]

If you're just going to store it, corny kegs would work long term. You'd still have the problem after a year with filling bottles if your not wanting to buy a whole keg setup. I stored a tripel in a corny for about 3 months before bottling.

I see corny's on craigslist for $20 all the time in KC, MO.

 

[Revvy]

Well, you could wimp out and decide to keg. Or you could MASTER bottling, rather than letting it defeat you. You could beat the process into submission until you can bottle like many of us do, comfortably and in under an hour for a five gallon batch.

You just need to pimp your process.....we tweak all other aspects of the brewing process to what works best for us, but most brewers bottle EXACTLY the way that pappa charlie and John Palmer show in their books...never ever thinking of trying other ways...and then cursing and complaining about how hard it is to bottle.

Some of us have figured out how to make it no more onorous a chore than cleaning. It takes me less than an hour to comfortably bottle 54 beers. Yes I get two cases + 1 sixer on average/ 5 gallon batch of beer.

We explain all in here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

I think folks that don't master something and then b1tch about it are wussies...so I dare you to be a Jedi of Bottling.

 

[impatient]

Well, you could wimp out and decide to keg. Or you could MASTER bottling, rather than letting it defeat you. You could beat the process into submission until you can bottle like many of us do, comfortably and in under an hour for a five gallon batch.

You just need to pimp your process.....we tweak all other aspects of the brewing process to what works best for us, but most brewers bottle EXACTLY the way that pappa charlie and John Palmer show in their books...never ever thinking of trying other ways...and then cursing and complaining about how hard it is to bottle.

Some of us have figured out how to make it no more onorous a chore than cleaning. It takes me less than an hour to comfortably bottle 54 beers. Yes I get two cases + 1 sixer on average/ 5 gallon batch of beer.

We explain all in here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

I think folks that don't master something and then b1tch about it are wussies...so I dare you to be a Jedi of Bottling.

Yah, what he said. I myself like to bottle. It is all part of the process.

I put my bottles in the dishwasher the night before and spray inside each one with starsan before bottling. Then I kick back next to the dishwasher with the door down and bottle six, cap six. Done in no time at all. Less than an hour for sure, Revvy.

 

[Pappers_]

I love bottling! It takes me about an hour and is so satisfying - to see all those full bottles - mission accomplished, as someone once said.

 

[size]

I love bottling! It takes me about an hour and is so satisfying - to see all those full bottles - mission accomplished, as someone once said.

completely agreed.

the more time i get to spend chilling with my beer (while drinking my beer) and listening to good music the better, i say

 

[ChrisS68]

From what I've seen, party pigs and tap-a-drafts are overly expensive for what they offer. At that point you might as well keg. Sure, one can master bottling; doesn't make it any less of a pain in the butt. So far, kegging is the best investment I've made in furthering my enjoyment of homebrewing.

Edited to add:
Ok, yes, it is pretty neat to see all those freshly filled bottles all lined up.

 

[Dr_Gordon_Freeman]

Get bigger bottles!

Carta Blanca and Tecate sell 1qt bottles of beer for under $3. Only four per gallon.

 

[ezboarderz]

I think I'm done with bottling! I am going to get some larger volume vessels to condition and serve my beer in, this bottling thing is too damn time consuming. So...

Party pigs & tap-a-draft vessels - can they be use to store beer for, say, a year of more? I am not ready to get into kegging quite yet.

Steve

I hated bottling and thats why I started kegging. Plus you get to drink your beer sooner. But honestly kegging is worth it, although I have yet to brew enough with my set up where I don't drink it faster than I brew.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

Well, you could wimp out and decide to keg. Or you could MASTER bottling, rather than letting it defeat you. You could beat the process into submission until you can bottle like many of us do, comfortably and in under an hour for a five gallon batch.

You just need to pimp your process.....we tweak all other aspects of the brewing process to what works best for us, but most brewers bottle EXACTLY the way that pappa charlie and John Palmer show in their books...never ever thinking of trying other ways...and then cursing and complaining about how hard it is to bottle.

Some of us have figured out how to make it no more onorous a chore than cleaning. It takes me less than an hour to comfortably bottle 54 beers. Yes I get two cases + 1 sixer on average/ 5 gallon batch of beer.

We explain all in here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

I think folks that don't master something and then b1tch about it are wussies...so I dare you to be a Jedi of Bottling.

READ THE LINK...READ IT AGAIN.....DO EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS...BOTTLING IS NOW EASY!!! I bottled 5 gallons of apfelwein today...primed it and bottled it like beer. easy as pie...I got lucky as this is the only way I have bottled. I read the link prior to my first attempt....I did use 4 Grolsch bottles today though!!!

 

[rmullins]

The thing I love most about kegging isn't that it replaces the bottling process, but I don't have to worry about cleaning/saving bottles after use, and when the keg is kicked, they are an absolute breeze to clean up for the next use

 

[TowsonTiger22]

I'm really looking into a kegging setup, not because bottling is a problem, but because it's one more thing to tinker with.

My roomate, girlfriend, and I bottled our first batch in probably 30 minutes.

 

[weirdboy]

If I could get my SWMBO to help me bottle, I'm pretty sure we could rip through a batch in 20 minutes or so. As it stands I usually just take my time and watch TV while bottling. It's not a difficult process if you're organized about it.

 

[Hopheader]

Hate the cleaning and sanitizing...don't mind the process of bottling. I tend to use more 650mL bottles now, and flip-cap / EZ cap / Grolsch-style 500mL's these days.

 

[Bdogg]

Last time I bottled I had 4 shots of tequila, watched an episode of "It's always sunny in philadelphia" to let it soak in, and then got to bottling. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. Took twice as long as normal but who cares?

 

[punk_rockin2001]

Bottling sucks because its not nearly as romantic and exciting as the actual brewing process and fermentation process. But once its done its never as bad as you think it will be.

 

[Pappers_]

... its not nearly as romantic ..... as the actual brewing process....

Apparently, I'm doing brewing wrong .

 

[AnOldUR]

Bottling sucks because its not nearly as romantic and exciting as the DRINKING process.

Fixed that for ya!

 

[djt17]

Revvy's proces works for me; by the way thanks for the great tutorial. Sometimes we hate something so much we don't even try to make it better. Now bottling is much more relaxing; additionally, I usually bottle up a couple 2 liter soda bottles for each batch. (to bring to parties & such)

 

[Revvy]

Revvy's proces works for me; by the way thanks for the great tutorial. Sometimes we hate something so much we don't even try to make it better. Now bottling is much more relaxing; additionally, I usually bottle up a couple 2 liter soda bottles for each batch. (to bring to parties & such)

One of my brew buddies saves a bunch of 12 ounce plastic soda bottles with labels, and has some for just about every hue of beer; Vernors for lighter ales, Pepsi for darker, and some different ice tea ones for odder color beers. He bottles a few of each of his batches in these for those times/places where you can't bring in your own beer. There's boat races in the summer a couple blocks down from his street, and they close off the whole downtown. And they want you to of course buy crappy BMC at THEIR tents, but of course they are selling those same sodas at all the vendors, so noone looks twice at the soda bottles we're bring in or carrying around.

 

[dracus]

Plus you can get new tamper proof caps and they look brand new and unopened.

 

[Weezknight]

I know he loves to hear it, so I'll also sing Revvy's praises for his excellent thread on bottling.

I, too, read it before I bottled my first batch, so bottling, to me, has never seemed like much of a chore at all. As a PP said, it's great to pop on some tunes and spend about 45 minutes with my beer, filling up some cases.

With the help of Revvy's thread, the process just seems so easy, and I've never had any backaches afterwards.

I am planning on kegging soon, but I'm also going to be upgrading for 10 gallon batches. At that point the plan is to keg 5 gallons, and bottle the rest for gifts/portability.

 

[shroomzofdoom]

Second, or third...the notion of stepping up to 22 ouncers. How many times do you just have a single 12 ouncer? Doing this has saved me so much time and energy. I'll be kegging too someday, but this is a great interim step.

Also, Revvy's thread helped quite a bit in terms of which directions to take things.

I added the additional step of simply not using my bottle brush, instead running my bottles through the dishwasher with a scoop of B Brite, this shaved about an hour off of my bottling duties. We have two dishwashers and keep the soap and jetdry out of #2, when it comes time to bottle we just turn it on, add bottles, a scoop of B and blammo, we're bottling in an hour or so once the thing cools.

 

[remilard]

I see corny's on craigslist for $20 all the time in KC, MO.

OT, but really? What are you searching for? I could always use more. I usually see like $35 at which point I can get a reconditioned one delivered from an online vendor anyway.

 

[Richabt]

I adopted a hybrid approach. I never really had an issue with bottling.

Not really having the room for a full kegging set up, I started using the Tap A Draft set up using both the plastic 6L bottles and the 5L mini kegs. I always bottle at least half of each batch the "Revvy" way. Overall I never have to spend more than 30 minutes on it.

 

[CiscoKid]

Well, you could wimp out and decide to keg. Or you could MASTER bottling, rather than letting it defeat you.

I wimped out. All my parts are in for my new keezer and the kegs are lined up waiting to be filled.

That said, Revvy's tutorial really DOES help. I was also getting a 5 gallon batch of beer bottled in an hour - but my biggest problem was I'd end up putting off the chore of bottling until I had 3 or 4 batches that needed to be bottled. 4 hours of bottling wasn't nearly as fun as 1 hour. I may still bottle a sixer out of each batch, but the majority of the beer is going in to those corneys lined up in the basement.

 

[rwinzing]

I keg and bottle. Some beers are just nice to have on hand in a bottle. I keg things I think is going to go quicker.

 

[glockentalk]

I do both kegs and bottles. Each has its charms.

I scored a 1500ml Grolsch bottle at a second-hand store. I'd love to get my hands on a few more of those babies.

 

[Sol]

+1,000,000 to Revvy's thread. I bottled once using the John Palmer-esque methods, read Revvy's thread and cut my time in half. Lots of great suggestions in there beyond Revvy's fantastic first post as well.

The only reason I'm moving to kegging is that SWMBO is tired of hundreds of bottles being stashed around the house after only 2 months of brewing (played my cards well, gents )

I'll still plan on bottling a good portion of my longer-term storage beers even after getting a 4-keg setup running. :rockin:

 

[Ragutis]

I also bottle and keg. A 10-11 gallon batch usually yields one corny keg and 2 cases + 6-10 extras.
Right now my kegerator is shut down for the Winter so my kegs are conditioning in anticipation of the Spring reopening. About the time my Winter bottles get scarce I'll have four taps open, hopefully around April. (I'm tired of Winter already)

 

[zman]

I still think that bottling is my least favorite part of the whole process but it is not something that I hate like I used to now that I have a process dialed in, some homebrew or something else to make it more relaxing, and some good tunes. Also a Vinnator is so worth the $16 bucks. No more filling a big Rubbermaid tub full of Star San/H20. I bottled just about 5 cases on Sat night in under 2 hrs. It was pretty cool seeing all that beer that I made:rockin:

 

[SFBEER]

I love bottling. Yah it takes some time and it can get a little messy at times with all the sanitizer and caps and things but I usually try to save the last bottle of a previous batch and open the first bottle of a new batch when bottling. Almost like drinking to the health of the new brew.

 

[apologeticus]

I use the dishwasher to sanitize. Can't imagine why anyone would do otherwise (unless they don't have a dishwasher). Then I just set the bottling bucket on the counter above the dishwasher, flip a bottle, fill it, move on to the next...

 

[Trevor57]

I do the dishwasher too. I just bottled a batch in about 30 minutes. It seems many people on this board feel they are being "more sanitary," or "better" if they use a longer, or more complicated process.

 

[Sol]

I use the dishwasher to sanitize. Can't imagine why anyone would do otherwise (unless they don't have a dishwasher). Then I just set the bottling bucket on the counter above the dishwasher, flip a bottle, fill it, move on to the next...

Can't figure out how to get the Jet Dry out of mine....

 

[apologeticus]

Can't figure out how to get the Jet Dry out of mine....

huh? with dishwasher sanitizing, you don't use any type of detergent. just hot water and the heated dry setting. super simple.

 

[pnj]

I used to hate bottling too. Then I got a bottle tree (my most favorite brewing item) and I don't mind it at all now. I don't have the option to keg now. I do own two party pigs but I like bottles better. I can throw one or two in the fridge when I want to...

I also bottle 22 ounce bottles. I usually do a sixer or two of 12 ouncers so I can sample early and give some out to friends. but using 22 ouncer cuts the bottles in half pretty much.

the part I don't like it sanitizing all my stuff because I have to use the bathroom and it's a pain in my back leaning over the tub.

 

[motobrewer]

sol.....nice rotary...lol....

 

[Sol]

huh? with dishwasher sanitizing, you don't use any type of detergent. just hot water and the heated dry setting. super simple.

I know. It's got a reservoir for Jet Dry that's been filled for years. I can't believe how long that stuff lasts but there's still some in there and no good way to get it out.

sol.....nice rotary...lol....

Thanks!