Today was bottling day for me, about two weeks after starting my brew.
I did the caribou slobber from the beginner’s kit. The problem I encountered was the wand got gunked with bits of trub floating in the beer and I had to resort to just using the pvc tubing without the wand, which got a bit messier since it was harder to stop the pour accurately.
Does anyone have any tips for avoiding this in the future? Should I have racked to another carboy before bottling to reduce sediment or something?
Not sure what bottling wand you have but it should disassemble for cleaning.
As far as your beer. This is one of many reasons I’m a proponent of ‘secondary’ fermentation. I use quotes as it’s really a brite tank unless you add fermentables. Another thing you can try is cold crashing your fermenter to get the yeast and trub to settle out. While you’re at it hit it with some unflavored gelatin to bind to those proteins to assist in clearing (unless you’re vegan). Gently Move the fermenter a few hours before racking to the bottling bucket to allow time for anything to settle out that might have kicked up during the move.
Lastly, and most importantly for new brewers. TIME. Give it time. With time all things will settle. Beer doesn’t read a calendar. Time frames are mere suggestions. The beer will be ready and clear when it is, not when day ‘x’ arrives.
Give it time. Before. You bottle. Or keg. Transfering to secondary. I do when add fruit. Or something else. Let it settle out so. Your sediment all drops to the bottom. Take several gravity readings as well to make sure your brew is ready for the next step. Cleaning. Important part. But most important. Be patient
Did you transfer to a bottling bucket or bottle straight from the fermenter? Typically you carefully transfer your fully fermenting beer to a bottling bucket that already has your boiled/cooled priming sugar. When you do it right, no trub gets into your bottling bucket. I have 2 different bottling wands. One of them the tip comes off and your can clean all the parts. The other bottling wand I back flush to clean and soak in Starsan.
