Did my first extract boil today, an English Brown Ale. All went as planned (I think). I’m starting to think ahead to bottling. My brew is fermenting in a bucket with a spigot. My kit came with a glass Carboy as well, but I was wondering if you can just bottle directly from the bucket with spigot after fermentation is complete? Is it absolutely necessary to bottle from a separate bottling bucket? Sorry if this is a dumb (rookie) question, but that’s what I am, a rookie in every sense of the word.
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
How are you going to prime your beer for bottle conditioning?
If you chose to batch prime in that bucket you will want to make sure you let the trub settle back to the bottom and be very careful when bottling so you don’t allow the sediment in to your bottles. Will cause an off-taste you won’t like.
For your future brews… after the boil is cooled, rack to a 6 gallon carboy and ferment then rack to a bottling bucket for priming and bottling. The less moving around the better as you do not want to aerate the beer at that point.
Thanks… thought I might have messed up by not fermenting in the Carboy. So what are my options for bottling? Can I use the carboy to condition for bottling and siphon from the carboy into bottles?
I’m thinking my next batch will be much better as I know the process now.
One option for bottling day would be to rack to the carboy, leaving the trub behind, so that you can rinse out the bucket. Then rack back into the bottling bucket to mix with the priming solution.
That extra handling would slightly increase your risk of oxidation and/or infection, but it shouldn’t be too bad as long as you’re careful about sanitation and avoid agitating the beer any more than you have to.
If you have a HB store near you, buy another bottling bucket. Drain from the fermenter/bottling bucket into the 2nd bucket with a hose attached to the spigot.
It’s fine to let the beer sit in the 1st pail for 2-3 weeks to age and let the solids settle out.
When you get to the bottling day, fill 1 soda bottle (12oz to 1lt) with the beer. Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap back on. The bottle will expand as CO2 is formed. When the bottle is solid, give it another week (2-3 weeks). Then chill a glass bottle for 24hrs and enjoy.
I would say buy another bucket with no spigot, and ferment in that next time.
For this time, siphon to carboy, clean bucket, and prime in bottling bucket.
I would not want to bottle from the original fermenter because of the likelihood of picking up trub.
There can be a LOT of it.
Another vote for not bottling from the bucket without at least racking the beer out to get rid of the trub first. Otherwise you’re going to have trouble with getting the priming sugar mixed in. If you don’t stir it in, you’re going to get really inconsistent priming, and perhaps a healthy mix of everything from flat beer to bottle bombs. If you do stir it in, you’re going to kick up all that crud and it’s going to end up in your bottles.
Alternatively, you could skip adding priming sugar to the bottling bucket and just use something like Cooper’s carbonation drops this time around. That should get the job done as long as the layer of trub isn’t thick enough to reach the level of the spigot - which it probably isn’t.
Wow, thanks guys. I am going to siphon to the carboy, clean bottling bucket and siphon back to the bottling bucket for priming and bottling. I hope it won’t mess with the brew too much. Also, does the priming need to sit for awhile or am I good to bottle after mixing in the prime sugar?
Think I will head to the HB store to pick up a fermenting bucket without spigot for my next brew.
I am anxious to see if the fermentation has begun tonight.
[quote=“UM2UVA”]Wow, thanks guys. I am going to siphon to the carboy, clean bottling bucket and siphon back to the bottling bucket for priming and bottling. I hope it won’t mess with the brew too much. Also, does the priming need to sit for awhile or am I good to bottle after mixing in the prime sugar?
Think I will head to the HB store to pick up a fermenting bucket without spigot for my next brew.
I am anxious to see if the fermentation has begun tonight.
Cheers![/quote]
You have a carboy, just ferment in that from now on and only bottle from the bucket. By all means buy another fermenter though, without a spigot. You already have a bucket with a spigot.
When bottling, boil priming sugar in 2 cups of water and pour into clean and sanitized bottling bucket. Slowly transfer beer into bottling bucket, gently stirring the whole time. Fill 6-10 beers and gently stir some more to keep the sugar from settling. Leave the bottles in a warm spot, 80*F, for at least two weeks before sampling.
Just got home and was excited to see the bubbling of fermentation going on! Did anyone else get excited to see every step happen successfully with their first brew? So now I have to wait a minimum for 7 days before I can bottle. Think I’ll just watch the bubbles.
Just FYI - the spigot on the bottling bucket is a great place for nasties to hide out and exposing the beer to the spigot for an entire fermentation cycle is running an increased risk of infection if you don’t take the time to disassemble and thoroughly clean and then sanitize the spigot following each use. I would then reassemble and sanitize again before filling the bucket.
[quote=“UM2UVA”]Just got home and was excited to see the bubbling of fermentation going on! Did anyone else get excited to see every step happen successfully with their first brew? So now I have to wait a minimum for 7 days before I can bottle. Think I’ll just watch the bubbles.
:cheers:
Cheers![/quote]
7 days? You should go two weeks primary, rack to carboy for a week then bottle.
[quote=“560sdl”][quote=“UM2UVA”]Just got home and was excited to see the bubbling of fermentation going on! Did anyone else get excited to see every step happen successfully with their first brew? So now I have to wait a minimum for 7 days before I can bottle. Think I’ll just watch the bubbles.
:cheers:
Cheers![/quote]
7 days? You should go two weeks primary, rack to carboy for a week then bottle.[/quote]
The instructions from the kit say bubbling will slowdown in 5-7 days. Then to secondary in the carboy for 2 weeks. How does that sound?
After active fermentation is done, the yeast are still doing their job of cleaning up their byproducts. Leave it on the majority of the yeast for 2 weeks, or more.
Some of us leave the beer in the fermenter for 3-4 weeks then straight to bottles/kegs.
If you do a little searching, you will see that time in the fermenter is a polarizing topic. You will need to find what you like/think.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]If one needs to dissemble the spigot after fermenting in it, one should do it after using to to bottle a beer? Something I’ve never done.[/quote]I have had one infection and traced it to the bottling spigot which I never disassembled, just soaked and sanitized before each use. So yeah, if I was going to use a bottling bucket, I would take the spigot apart every time, not worth losing a batch.
[quote=“mvsawyer”][quote=“UM2UVA”]Wow, thanks guys. I am going to siphon to the carboy, clean bottling bucket and siphon back to the bottling bucket for priming and bottling. I hope it won’t mess with the brew too much. Also, does the priming need to sit for awhile or am I good to bottle after mixing in the prime sugar?
Think I will head to the HB store to pick up a fermenting bucket without spigot for my next brew.
I am anxious to see if the fermentation has begun tonight.
Cheers![/quote]
You have a carboy, just ferment in that from now on and only bottle from the bucket. By all means buy another fermenter though, without a spigot. You already have a bucket with a spigot.
When bottling, boil priming sugar in 2 cups of water and pour into clean and sanitized bottling bucket. Slowly transfer beer into bottling bucket, gently stirring the whole time. Fill 6-10 beers and gently stir some more to keep the sugar from settling. Leave the bottles in a warm spot, 80*F, for at least two weeks before sampling.[/quote]
how or where can I maintain a 80 degree room? Is this absolutely necessary? Its been fermenting in a room that’s consistently 65-70 degrees. Will that be sufficient after bottling?
[quote=“UM2UVA”][quote=“mvsawyer”][quote=“UM2UVA”]Wow, thanks guys. I am going to siphon to the carboy, clean bottling bucket and siphon back to the bottling bucket for priming and bottling. I hope it won’t mess with the brew too much. Also, does the priming need to sit for awhile or am I good to bottle after mixing in the prime sugar?
Think I will head to the HB store to pick up a fermenting bucket without spigot for my next brew.
I am anxious to see if the fermentation has begun tonight.
Cheers![/quote]
You have a carboy, just ferment in that from now on and only bottle from the bucket. By all means buy another fermenter though, without a spigot. You already have a bucket with a spigot.
When bottling, boil priming sugar in 2 cups of water and pour into clean and sanitized bottling bucket. Slowly transfer beer into bottling bucket, gently stirring the whole time. Fill 6-10 beers and gently stir some more to keep the sugar from settling. Leave the bottles in a warm spot, 80*F, for at least two weeks before sampling.[/quote]
how or where can I maintain a 80 degree room? Is this absolutely necessary? Its been fermenting in a room that’s consistently 65-70 degrees. Will that be sufficient after bottling?[/quote]
If you don’t have 80F the warmest spot is the best. The warmer the spot, the faster the carbonation. At 65F, it may take 3-4 weeks to fully carbonate but it will still work.
I’ve been leaving bottles in our basement, which runs about 60F in the cooler months, to condition. They seem to be drinkable after 3 weeks, but really need about a month to reach their prime.
