Sick of Bottling

Bottling is the only part of this whole process that I can’t help but find insanely tedious. After getting a freezer to keep both carboys at a balmy 63 degrees my apartment doesn’t have any more room and my significant other doesn’t have any more patience for the addition of a freezer for kegging. Does anyone have any suggestions for ways I could make this process better? I was thinking maybe getting some growlers and a growler tap? That way I could at least refrigerate one of them at a time and only have nine or so growlers to clean/sanitize/fill versus ~50 bottles.

Do you guys have any thoughts?

Thanks!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/tap- ... ystem.html

To make bottling faster, use 1L and 2L PET bottles for at least half the batch.

Apparently you’re not supposed to carb in growlers. Some people do with good results, but others have had bottle bombs. I’ve never tried it myself. I think the next best thing would be the Tap-A-Draft as noted above, or the 5L mini kegs. Both of those systems are considered temporary, so you’d eventually be putting a lot of money into replacing the vessels. It might be worth it in the long run to invest in a 2-3 gallon keg which can fit into your fridge, assuming SHMBO is willing to give up a corner of it. Or you can modify 2L caps to use the TAD dispenser with normal 2L bottles.

How are you sanitizing? I use a funnel to pour some into a bottle, shake it up, then pour that same sanitizer into the next bottle. Saves time vs dunking.

Dang, that Tap a Draft system looks like the bee’s knees. I don’t really mind bottling, but I would love to be able to pour to the top of my fancy glass. Anybody have a major “yay” or “boo” to say about it?

Both the tap-a-draft and the mini kegs are disposable. IIRC they’re good for about 6-10 uses before it’s recommended to replace them. However, I have a buddy that has mini kegs from several years ago which have gone through dozens of brews. I think if you’re careful with cleaning, etc, they’ll basically last forever.

The other drawback is the CO2 cartridge cost, which adds up. There’s a way to mod them to use 5lb or paintball canisters though, Google around and you should be able to find it. The reason I went to corny keg over tap-a-draft is that the cost is similar, but the corny’s are a more permanent solution.

what about a small apartment frig that holds one korny and run the tap theough the door. I know you have a space issue but some of the small dorm frig’s don’t take up much room and they are cheap. In my opinion this would be the cheapest and most practical way in the long run.

Control fermentation temps in plastic tubs with frozen water bottles. They’re cheap and the footprint isn’t much more than the fermenter. Then use the fridge for kegs!

Unless you live someplace hot, I agree with dannyboy. Use your fridge for serving kegs, and ferment in a water bath with ice added to control ferment temps.

Cornys are the more or less “ultimate” homebrew packaging solution, you won’t regret moving directly to them when you can make it happen.

I never bottled, I can’t help with any solution for making the process any easier. My kegerator is sitting beside my sons old dorm refrigerator, and to compare, the kegerator is not much bigger, just taller. If you can’t afford space for a beer machine,I have to agree with the others; use the freezer for the tap system. If you don’t want to drill a hole for a faucet or tower,then just use a picnic type faucet. I use one because my tower is a single faucet and the picnic type hose works great for having two kegs on tap.

keg keg keg. or get 22 oz bombers. you’ll only need to fill about 24 bombers. doesn’t sound like much relief, but trust the groundhog

Now Dannyboy was “thinking outside the bottle”…great solution!

:cheers:

TLDR: Get a party pig or some of the other gear above…

I keg and bottle, and I honestly find advantages and disadvantages to both.

Kegging advantages:
-draft beer is awesome (usually)
-can turn beers around really quickly
-can control carb levels
-racking to a keg, sealing, hooking up gas is easy and not that time-consuming (notice I didn’t say the whole PROCESS is easy and not that time-consuming)
-can purge to minimize oxidation

Kegging disadvantages:
-cost (lines, tanks, connects, CO2, regulators, fridges, tricked out Clark Griswold draft system basements)
-space (you and I both know something about this)
-I dont’ think the “time spent doing brewing stuff:beer made” ratio changes much with moving from bottling to kegging. Cleaning/sanitizing a bottling wand and filling bottles gets replaced with disassembling/assembling kegs and parts, cleaning all of the above, checking connections, swearing about leaks, checking for leaks, etc.
-You have to have your grab-assin’ mooching friends over to enjoy your beers with unless you want to sit around and drink by yourself, so not only are you losing beer, but you have to clean up after these barley monkeys

Bottling advantages:
-storing is easy
-bottle-conditioning certain beers is awesome
-can transport/gift very easily to another place to hang out with your circus animal friends so your house doesn’t get wrecked
-really inexpensive

Bottling disadvantages:
-it takes time to bottle (waaaaaah! I have to sit around and listen to music or brewing podcasts and bottle my beer, waaaah!!!) :wink:

:cheers:

[quote=“Pietro”]TLDR: Get a party pig or some of the other gear above…

I keg and bottle, and I honestly find advantages and disadvantages to both.

Kegging advantages:
-draft beer is awesome (usually)
-can turn beers around really quickly
-can control carb levels
-racking to a keg, sealing, hooking up gas is easy and not that time-consuming (notice I didn’t say the whole PROCESS is easy and not that time-consuming)
-can purge to minimize oxidation

Kegging disadvantages:
-cost (lines, tanks, connects, CO2, regulators, fridges, tricked out Clark Griswold draft system basements)
-space (you and I both know something about this)
-I dont’ think the “time spent doing brewing stuff:beer made” ratio changes much with moving from bottling to kegging. Cleaning/sanitizing a bottling wand and filling bottles gets replaced with disassembling/assembling kegs and parts, cleaning all of the above, checking connections, swearing about leaks, checking for leaks, etc.
-You have to have your grab-assin’ mooching friends over to enjoy your beers with unless you want to sit around and drink by yourself, so not only are you losing beer, but you have to clean up after these barley monkeys

Bottling advantages:
-storing is easy
-bottle-conditioning certain beers is awesome
-can transport/gift very easily to another place to hang out with your circus animal friends so your house doesn’t get wrecked
-really inexpensive

Bottling disadvantages:
-it takes time to bottle (waaaaaah! I have to sit around and listen to music or brewing podcasts and bottle my beer, waaaah!!!) :wink:

:cheers: [/quote]

Yeah, that’s pretty much the thought process that’s keeping me away from kegging. I don’t mind bottling, really, and I don’t want more “stuff.” I just need to get a hold of some 16 oz bottles, so I can fill a pint glass properly.

[quote=“uberculture”]I just need to get a hold of some 16 oz bottles, so I can fill a pint glass properly.[/quote]Bombers work great for pouring pint glasses - you get a perfect fill in the glass, then you get to take a 4-6 oz swig off the bottle as a preview.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I haven’t decided which way I am going to go yet but unfortunately I live in Florida so I need the freezer for fermenting. Some of the other suggestions will definitely help though. May look into a minifridge but I will probably end up doing the tap-a-draft as a way to hold me over until we move into a house next year. Then all bets are off.

Thanks again!

money…

I keg now and have been for a couple of years; to me, bottling is tedious and I would rather spend money to make that tedium go away. Growlers get used when sharing beer at parties or if the occasion warrants, I’ll think ahead and keg into my 3 gallon cornies.

Using a “half freezer” and temp controller, the freezer sits in my kitchen with a large cutting board on top and finds use as a food preparation surface that just happens to have taps coming out the side…gets two birds stoned at once.

Also in my favor is that the wife likes beer and is perfectly happy with my owning half of the kitchen, which looks like a small brewery.

You could also make a version of the “mother/son of fermenters”, for your primary needs; I have one half finished, but living in northern MN has made it a back burner project for the past year or so.

I would look into getting small kegs. I have a 2.5 gallon keg and its awesome. I fill it up and then bottle the rest. usually about 20-24 bottles. This way by the time I finish the keg im able to clean it and put the new batch of beer in it. Do the same process all the time. I don’t get tired of drinking the beer cause its only half. Then if I want to share I still have some in bottles. If I use bombers it goes by really quick. Best of luck :cheers:

Small footprint, looks good, wife approved. Fits two cornies and a co2 tank, 4.4 cu ft