I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but trying to bottle those last 6-8 bottles of beer can be a hastle with bottling buckets. You try to shove something underneath the bottom to tip it, and then the bucket becomes highly precarious. Even carboy wedges don’t secure the tipped bucket that well. So back in March, when I end up wearing some beer because the tipped bucket ended up tipping over on me, I decided to brainstorm a better system. What I ended up building worked very well for me yesterday while bottling my latest batch. I took some 1/2" plywood and cut 2 squares big enough so that the bottling bucket bottom can completely sit on the plywood. I then connected the 2 pieces of plywood with 2 small cabinet door hinges. On the opposite (non-hinged) side, about 1/2" from the edge and in the middle, I drilled a 7/8" or so recess about 1/4" deep on the inner surface of each piece of plywood across from each other and fit an 8lb spring in those recesses. I lay this contraption on my counter with the hinges facing me. I then place my bottling bucket full of beer on top of that. The full bucket compresses the spring fully causing the plywood pieces to lay flat. By the time I got to about 2 to 2.5 gallons, the spring started to push up and gradually tipped the bucket. I was down to less than 2 bottles (12oz) before I ever got a bubble of air. I ended up shoving a towel in the hinge of the contraption to get the last bit of beer out (which I always throw in the fridge anyway and drink right away due to exposure to so much air). I wish the spring was a bit longer (2.5" long), but overall, this was very easy to make and very effective. Since the bucket is resting on a flat surface instead of balancing precariously on the front of its rounded bottom, it was quite secure. I’ll try to post some pictures when I have more time.
Very clever. 
You could also make a dip tube using a drilled #2 stopper and a short piece of polycarbonate tube, which can be easily bent using a heat gun.
I made one and it gets all but the last 4 ounces out of the bucket with no tipping.
That’s really handy and also very simple. Thanks for sharing the link.
[quote=“Ken in MN”]You could also make a dip tube using a drilled #2 stopper and a short piece of polycarbonate tube, which can be easily bent using a heat gun.
I made one and it gets all but the last 4 ounces out of the bucket with no tipping.[/quote]
+1 I made mine out of some copper tubing I had…Will get to test it for real in 2 weeks when I bottle…Tank :cheers:
