my first bottling day

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:39 am

hiya all,

its my first bottling dayi got 40 pint of lager to bottle and 40 pints of cider and a dj of TC!!!

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JayBee · Post by **JayBee** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:24 am

I bottle at weekends as it saves rushing. I play a few CD`s to relax and be thorough with the bottle sterilising which is the only PITA with brewing for me.I often get tempted to shortcut the cleaning when there`s only a few left to do. The bottle stick/fillers are really good and make the actual bottling very quick and clean once you get used to using it, maybe a bottle tree is the next investment?

Horden Hillbilly · Post by **Horden Hillbilly** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:50 pm

You could always push a length of plastic tubing onto your fv tap & fill your bottles by opening & closing the fv tap. This is my method, as seen here.

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:22 pm

well done it all cider and lager and none of them tasted very nice

so im not holding out much hope

sparky Paul · Post by **sparky Paul** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:57 pm

To be honest, I have a bottling stick lying about which is invaluable for filling wine bottles, but I usually resort to folding the pipe over and pinching when filling beer into PETs.

As for the taste, the cider takes a long time to reach its best... the longer you can leave it, the better. The lager will taste completely different with some carbonation and several weeks rest.

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:25 am

thanks for the word of hope!!!

i will leave them for about 2 weeks and have a taste

going to get another 2 brews on today

heres a pic of my first brew

sparky Paul · Post by **sparky Paul** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:48 am

They look great, anyway!

Make sure you keep them warm for a week or so, to ensure proper carbonation... then somewhere cooler for a few weeks before trying them.

Both the lager and the cider will not reach their best for a few months though, so try to keep a bottle or two. You need to get those brews on, forward planning is the key.... in fact you'll need to get brewing now for Christmas!

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:18 am

sparky Paul wrote:They look great, anyway!

Make sure you keep them warm for a week or so, to ensure proper carbonation... then somewhere cooler for a few weeks before trying them.

thats the prob i aint got no where warm to store them they are inside but its not as warm as i would like more cool

sparky Paul · Post by **sparky Paul** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:30 pm

youngbrewer wrote:thats the prob i aint got no where warm to store them they are inside but its not as warm as i would like more cool

Arounfd fermentation temperature will be fine. Don't move the bottles to anywhere cooler until secondary fermentation is complete... you should be able to see the bottles clearing from the top if you hold them up to the light.

Filling at least one PET bottle is a good idea, you can see whats going on better, and feel the CO2 level in the bottle with the thumb test.

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:43 pm

they have been moved its abit cooler than fermentation temp will it be drinkable???

lesson lernt for next time

sparky Paul · Post by **sparky Paul** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:02 pm

If you don't get successful secondary fermentation, the beer will be flat and a little sweet from the priming sugar you put in. It also helps stop the beer from oxidising by using up any available oxygen.

The good news is that it's not a disaster. If you put them somewhere warm now, they would still prime (secondary fermentation) okay. If the beer looks very clear, a swirl round will rouse the yeast in the sediment and get it going.

If you can get them somewhere maybe 20-25Â°C for a week or so, I would.

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:19 pm

sparky Paul wrote:If you don't get successful secondary fermentation, the beer will be flat and a little sweet from the priming sugar you put in. It also helps stop the beer from oxidising by using up any available oxygen.

The good news is that it's not a disaster. If you put them somewhere warm now, they would still prime (secondary fermentation) okay. If the beer looks very clear, a swirl round will rouse the yeast in the sediment and get it going.

If you can get them somewhere maybe 20-25Â°C for a week or so, I would.

cheers sparky

just had a mad rush to get my 2 crates of glass bottles and box of PET bottles in and my 5 bottles of THC give them a swirl and now they are in the house and its always around about 20c in here must of been cool out there as the bottles have a mist on them

on a good note my coopers aussie lager i brew today is bubbling like a mad one used 50% brewing sugar and 50% enhancer and put an airlock on it

sparky Paul · Post by **sparky Paul** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:23 pm

youngbrewer wrote:just jad a mad rush to get my 2 crates and box of PET bottles in and my 5 THC to now they are in the house and its always around about 20c in here

That'll do the trick.

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:28 pm

in the winter it will be nice and cool down there for them its had to explain where they are kept, but don't think i will need to keep them in the fridge in a months time !!

so fingers crossed now maybe the wont taste like pi$$

got these coming this week to

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=001

youngbrewer · Post by **youngbrewer** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:43 pm

right the bottles have spent little over a week in the house so moved then to the porch now

its cool there so fingers cross

The cider looks really clear and the lager is look good to couldn't resist getting one of the PET bottles of cider and putting it in the fridge will have that tomorrow

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my first bottling day

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