Conditioning Questions

[alwilson]

Good Afternoon All;

I've got some beer that's going into bottles this weekend, about 23l total.

I'm interested in conditioning half of this in either a barrel (the wooden variety) or a plastic conditioning vessel, if the barrel is too much hassle, and the rest in bottles.

My question though is what do i need to do to prepare/prime (a) bottles, (b) conditioning vessel, (c) barrel.

Cheers All
Alex

[RichardG]

Most use household sugar or DME. Pre-boil it in water to sanitize then add to bottling bucket (if you have one) and/or barrel. If you don't have or use a bottling bucket had to the FV, stir gently and leave to spread/circulate for a little while. Obviously, you'd only do this for the amount you intend to bottle as I guess you'd had priming directly to the barrel for the amount you intend for barrelling. The amount of priming depends on preference; I've used 2.5g per liter in my last few brews, and they seemed to have carbonated just fine; in fact, maybe a little too much. I've used DME in my last brews, but that only because we'd run out of sugar when I came to bottling, and I have loads of DME lying around. In the small quantities used for priming I don't think it really matters what you use.

[alwilson]

Oh, I see - so priming methods do not change, regardless of what vessel they end up in. Be it bottle, cask or otherwise? Its just 2.5g per liter. Regardless?

Also, what is a bottling bucket, I've not come across that before - I presume you rack off into it, seperate beer from the yeast/sediment and then bottle from there? But does it have any other features that would be useful - in absence of one, can I use a clean FV?

thanks
Alex

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

a bottling bucket usually has tap and a bottling stick /little bottler combined...

I have a tap that fits a bottling stick on my FV but also have another food grade bucket that has a tap that accepts a bottling stick...

So yes use your clean FV by all means... if it doesnt have a tap your stuck with syphoning....

Good luck!

Guy

[boingy]

A bottling bucket is nothing special. It's just an intermediate container that allows you to get the beer away from the sediment so you don't have to worry about the sediment when filling the bottles, and it also gives you the opportunity to mix in your priming sugars in one go rather than doing each bottle. The downside is that you have another vessel to clean and sanitise.

[alwilson]

Cheers!
So is there a specific product I can buy with a tap already fitted, or is it just a case of an empty buck, and siphon hose attached to a sanitized stick?

I prefer to purchase rather than build, purely because of the time available to me.

Alex

[trucker5774]

Most of the Youngs FVs have taps already on. If it doesnt fit the bottling stick, then buy a bottling stick kit with a tap...............30 second job to swap it ........You will now also have a spare FV

[alwilson]

OH.
So, a bottling bucket is just a FV?
I had imagined something conical shape - so there'd be no loss under the tap.