confused beginner

[geezer]

hi all need some advice about what equiptment to buy i want to brew my own lager and bottle it any advice the " little bottler" sounds good would it be best to bottle straight from FV or syphon to a keg and bottle from there

[KevP]

I dont bottle, or brew lager, but I believe its the best practice to syphon off first to a secondary or a keg and add your priming sugar to this, then bottle from this.

This has two benefits in that you leave the sediment behind, and you dont have to fart about trying to measure out sugar into each bottle.

I'm sure I'll be corrected if wrong, but the 'bottlers' will be along shortly.

Oh, and welcome

[Benson_JV]

I...am a bottler!

What i do is just siphon straight from the FV. My tubing has a slurry guard on it, and it works perfect. I have to pour the last litre, litre + 1/2 out by hand carefully, but it works perfect, all my brews so far have been excellent.
Supping my Edme Bitter right now, and thats perfect, even though i got a little bit of slurry in the bottle due to hazardous pouring from the FV into the bottle (i blame the beer at that point)

[chopperswookie]

if your doing lager best to bottle straight from ferming bin. make sure it is below 1006 if using glass bottles if not plastic pet bottles are great. what lager are you thinking of using? don't bother with barrells you just can't get enough pressure.

[KevP]

I presumed he meant syphon to keg before bottling? thats what I read anyway... as a temp measure

[RatboyOllie]

i cant recommend the little bottler enough, its simply a must if youre going to be bottling, its just an extra pair of hands, get one!!

I hated my first bottling experience, hated it, it took ages and it was a pain in the asse and i really didnt want to do it again and was nervous about messing it up. I then bought one of those bottle tree drainer type things and the rinser bowl to go on top, plus a bottle of starsan and ive never looked back. Again, i cant recommend these enough ! I wouldnt rush out and buy one if youre still experimenting and not sure whether you will continue to brew, but if you do, and you decide to bottle, i would invest - cost me about 30quid i think all in all but it saves hours and just makes it soooooo much easier and almost hassle free ! Plus the woman cant moan at me for havin bottles all over the place coz they are all on my drainer - result ! get one !

good luck !

[WishboneBrewery]

What KevP said...
that worked for me, though I am only 1 week into the Bottle conditioning... probably 3 weeks in the cool next as I've kept my first brew in the warm now for a week. *fingers crossed*

Oh, and i did this with my bottling stick http://www.18000feet.com/how/bottle.htm
I bought 1 meter of each of the required tube sizes from http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... ES20124064
the 16mm or 5/8ths fits perfectly over the Drum tap on my FV so transfering from Primary FV to Bottling Bucket was as smooth as it gets.

[randomdave]

I bottle my lagers. I add my sugar to the FV to prime. I do this by dipping a sanitised jug into the beer to get about half a pint, disolve my priming sugar in it, a blast in the microwave to kill any bugs that the sugar might have added. Then pour into the FV. Leave for about an hour for it to settle then syphon into bottles. EZ mode. takes me about 40 mins to bottle roughly.

[geezer]

thanks for the advice everyone just waiting for all my gear to arrive now cant wait toget going