so I bottled my beer Saturday night, put it in a dark place and I am guessing the temp is around 70-73 degrees. I plan on keeping them in the bottle at least 3 weeks and maybe check one at 2 weeks to see how it is. is there anything I should be doing in the meantime? Do I need to turn the bottles over or give them a slight shake to mix them around or anything or are they good to just sit for the three weeks?
Another question I have is, I tried to fill the bottles with the same amount of beer in each one but some may be a bit more or a bit less. What can happen if you dont fill the bottle enough or fill it with too much beer?
Also, the one thing I was surprised about when bottling was it was a messier experience than I thought it would be. I was having tons of issues with the bottle filler. I would take it out of the bottle and beer would still be pouring out of the filler. Anyone else have this issue? I definitely wasted some beer but hopefully I get the hang of it by next time.
Temp of room seems just about perfect. should be fine there.
I am not sure you HAVE to, but I usually give mine a gentle swirl after a week or so, and maybe a few days after that. nothing to vigerous, just enough to swirl it around
I don’t think you will EVER be able to get just the exact same amount in each bottle. I use that spring loaded wand thing that if you fill it to the rim or as close as possible, then leaves enough room when you pull it out. I am guessing you are fine
one hint for clean up - bottle OVER an open dish washer and let your spillage fall onto the door. when done shut the door and you are done. I always do this. I also have to usually wipe each bottle down with a damp towel after I cap them
I forgot to address your one question about beer still pouring out of the filler. I will say I don’t usually ever have that problem. mine seems to basically not leak/fill unless I am pressing it into the bottom of the bottle. it is spring loaded but seems to seal/shut or whatever pretty well
Thanks fullhousebrew! I appreciate the response on this
Yes that is exactly what I use to fill my bottles. Sometime I would take it out and it would be fine and other time I would take it out and it seems like it would be stuck or something and beer would continue to spill out
Bottle fillers seem to always drip some and for me it was always hard to not catch the tip on something between bottles to add to the leakage. My filling station was in a laundry tub sink. Easy to clean up the disaster. I even bought a fancy stainless steel filler. It does the same thing so don’t waste your money.
This kind of fun stuff is half the reason to start kegging :lol:
The bottle filler that comes in the starter kit has a plug that is gravity activated. The spring loaded filler has way less dribble problems… double check your bottling wand. If it’s not spring loaded, consider an upgrade.
[quote=“KevinTroj”]Hey uberculture, yea I use the one that came with the kit. You think it is worth getting a spring loaded one?
Thanks[/quote]
I know you asked uber, but if you are not using the spring one I would really go out and grab it. especially given the issues you noted.
I have a wand like that, attached to maybe a 2 foot section of tubing. I keep the wand and tubing ‘together’ and then just attach the tubing to my bottling bucket nozzle thing. I used to pull the tubing off the wand thing too but I found myself kind of having to force it on each time and was afraid I would bend or break it.
the wand, about a 2 foot section of tubing (maybe less) on the bittling bucket, on the counter over the dish washer door as I said before is the perfect height (for me) to sit and bottle. You can obviously adjust the height, etc as you see fit.
go get the spring thing, you will like it a lot more
Just to add my experience. My wand leaked a lot. I found there was a flaw in the inside where the little black thingy was supposed to seat. Being super cheap…I mean thrifty, I decided to fix it rather than spend $2.
Used a common nail and pumice to polish the inside. Works fine now.
I only bottle a few now that I have kegs but when I was bottling, I only had the wand on may by a 3inch piece on tubing. Bottle bucket sat on the counter above the dishwasher and I would raise the bottle up to the wand. I found I could see the level better that way and minimize overflow. :cheers:
