tips for bottling

[bazooka]

OK, I've racked my beer into a secondary, and now I must wait about ten days or so to bottle...I went out and bought a capper, and have collected a bunch of dark glass bottles to use. My question is, when I'm siphoning my beer from the carboy to the bottles, should I line up all the bottles, then cover the tube with my thumb as I fill each bottle???? I've never done this before, so any tips would help...thanks

[Tweek]

buy a racking cane with a spring. those work great. all you do is press them against the bottom of the bottle, out comes the beer. once it reaches the top pull up and the beer stops flowing. plus the cane displaces the perfect amount of beer leaving it just right in your bottle.

[mountain beer]

I agree, buy a racking cane. It will hlp you fill the botles. I usually keep the bottles in the case while I fill them up.

[Moboy]

it will be listed as a bottling tube. A racking cane is the long, "L" shaped tube that you put in the bottling bucket and is attached to the siphon hose which in turn is attached to the bottling tube. Anyway, get one or you will kick yourself.

[paul84043]

You definitely don't want to use your thumb over the tube, the risk of infection would go up considerably.

The bottle filler that I use doesn't even have a spring tip on it, it just uses the backpressure from the liquid to stem the flow. My homebrew shop doesn't sell the spring ones, they say that the spring agitates the beer while it's passing through it.
Wether it's true or not, I have no idea.

There are a few items that you will identify as show stoppers if it breaks...this was one of them, I have a spare on the shelf..

The filler is also perfect for topping up bottles that foamed a bit, you don't have to put it all the way back into the beer, just press the tip against the inside of the bottle mouth and you can tailor your level to perfection.

[BucksBrew]

I put my bottling bucket on a step stool on the kitchen counter. Then I attach a siphon hose to the spigot which connects to a stainless steel spring loaded bottle filler. I lay down a cookie sheet with a paper towel to catch spills.

I fill to 1.5'' from the top. You need to experiment with when to pull bottle filler out. My thumb right under where the neck meets the 1st lip is when I pull it out. This keeps the beer 1.5'' from the top of the bottle.

Also, after beer is in bottle just lay the cap on top of the bottle before you cap it. Leave it on for 15 minutes. The CO2 will push the oxygen out of the bottle. So I've read! Which improves flavor.

FYI

[shughes600]

Like Tweek said: The bottle filler will disoplace the perfect amount of liquid. Run the beer to the top of the bottle. When you remove the filler your beer will be at the perfect elvel for capping. I too recommend that 15 minute wait with caps laying on top of bottle.

[danno]

not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but one of the easy ways to sanitize your bottles is to run them through a no-soap dishwasher cycle with heat, the steam makes for very effective sanitation. then after they've cooled, bottle on the open door of the dishwasher, and voilá, cleanup is simply shutting the door...

note that the dishwasher makes for effective sanitation, but it does not make for effective cleaning. Bottle necks are too narrow for enough action inside the bottles...

[paul84043]

I always scrub mine out, then sanitize, then a run through the dishwasher...

The only time I have trouble with the bottle filler not getting the right level is when the beer foams a bit. But it's so easy to top it up without having to completely re-insert the filler. It's just a really cool little gadget!

I usually fill all of my bottles, then begin to cap them in the same order that I filled them. That gives them a few minutes to create some C02 for the headspaace.