Still busy on the garage… BUT, the outlet for my brewery is installed and working…now to make time to brew… a Say-son would be appropriate… “quench the thirst of the working”…
Sneezles61
Just bottled my first hard seltzer for an upcoming fam reunion (and a blonde ale last week). I’ve never had so much trouble bottling. I got two one gallon kits and made an orange and lime. I didn’t realize the lack of pressure from such a small volume would make it very difficult. Plus I realized my bottling wand was slightly clogged from some hop residue after bottling the blond. 
Only got 16 12oz bottles out of it, quite sure some have quite a bit of oxygen. Not messing around with one gallon anything anymore.
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I make a lot of fruit wine 1 gallon batches no problem. Are you using the spring tip wand ? Let me know your process. Maybe I can help.
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Thanks! I am using the spring tip wand. I transferred from the carboy to my bottling bucket using auto siphon, which was may more difficult than I anticipated as I think it was too long to get a good suction off a one gallon carboy.
I finally figured out it needed a little lean to get it going, then it went okay. I left more in the carboy than I would have liked. My bottling bucket is the 5 gal NB one with spigot, so I had a hell of a time getting a good flow as there wasn’t enough pressure to get it started or run continuously.
I think there ended up being a fair amount of air in the line here and there, but I wanted to complete the process. And it took a lot longer to fill my 12 oz bottles as I realized afterward when I was cleaning that the wand was somewhat clogged with hop debris from my last batch.
It was like the worst part of bottling a five gallon batch, where you have to tilt and balance and still maintain a steady flow. But I had to do it twice in a row because I had two batches lol.
And I forgot my wife bought me a one gallon recipe kit for a gose for Xmas, so I will be bottling a one gallon batch again. Just have to wait until it’s warm enough here for a good souring temp. Sorry you asked? Haha thanks for the help.
Ok I can fix it. First use the bottling bucket for a batch of starsan. Enough to sink your bottles. Next start your auto siphon with starsan. Pull it out but leave it loaded with starsan. The spring tip will hold it full. Next dump the bottles of the starsan and place a fiz tab or domino dot in each bottle and rest a cap on top. Next put the siphon in the 1 gallon jug of wine. Next start the siphon in a waste cup until the starsan clears. When the wine gets to the tip pull and start filling each bottle and rest the cap on when done. Press the caps on. As far as getting it all tilt the gallon bottle. Mark the last bottle because it will have extra sediment. Ive even poured the last bit directly into the bottle. Taste that one first for carbonation. I invested in a mini auto siphon. Alternatively you can buy one of the small plastic fermenters that come with a spigot and bottle directly from it. Either way don’t use a bottle bucket
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And don’t forget to clean… clean… clean. Take the wand apart before and after each session…
Sneezles61
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Wow thanks guys! I had never thought of approaching it that way. And I had no idea you could take the bottling wand apart.
I seem to be getting some buildup in my tubing and wand also. Typically I spray and soak in star San. Could I use a straw cleaning brush to gently scrub it out, or would that scratch the interior too much? I’m prepared to just buy some more, it’s been through at least 10 batches so far.
I had the plastic one and the spring loaded end was a push on type… warm water soak and a twisting action and it came apart.
I don’t think a soft brush will hurt the inside… kinda like a pipe cleaner brush. Any time you can take your brewing equipment apart for cleaning that comes in contact with the finished product is cheap insurance.
Sneezles61
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That’s what I was thinking of using, thanks! I might actually busy out the pbw and give everything a once over next brew day.
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Go to home Depot and buy some tubing and replace it. Cheap enough
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Thst seems like the safest bet. Thanks
As others have said, move your fermenter a few hours before you plan on racking and use something to tilt the fermenter. This way, even if you moved it quietly it will allow things to settle.
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Man that’s a good one! Thanks!
ok all I have tried to brew this twice and both times it comes out too sweet. I even tried ha 18 yeast after forbidden fruit yeast which has a catalyst to go to lower gravity and got a final gravity of 1.012. I followed the recipe as best I could but its just too sweet. with the forbidden fruit gravity went to 1.030. When I added the ha 18 yeast it went to 1.012FG. What should I try next should I alter the grains used in recipe or mash at at 123 149 162 174 rather than the 123 153 162 174 that I used or something else? I really like the dubbel kit from NB should I just try higher Gravity to match gulden draak. I really love gulden draak 9000!
I’m sorry as I’m not sure what recipe you’re speaking of. But- I think your overlooking a much simpler solution. Adding more hops to balance it out…
If you mash at the low end you could get it maybe drier. You wont see much difference mashing 149 or 153. Drop the 162 completely. .012 is not that high. You could try adding more bittering hops. All depends what your envisioning. If you’re just looking for dry everything else the same add dextrose
the recipe is gulden draak 9000 here is the link Recipes - Candi Syrup, Inc.. I had not considered increasing bittering hops. I followed the recipe below and the IBU is 25 with the high alcohol value of this beer, 25 might be low??? What should the IBU/% alc ratio be? I assume dry hopping won’t work to fix what I got 
That’s a big beer. You sure you want it drier. With that abv .012 is lower than the recipe calls out. If you go drier your going to taste the alcohol
25 IBUs for a 1.096 is pretty low. For example, my Russian Imperial Stout that is 1.130 is 50IBUs.
hhhmmm. Seems a little off. What is forbidden fruit in comparison to golden draak?
Belgium dubbels use simple sugars too dry them out. Duvel style uses pale as possible malts, about 11 pounds fer 5 gallon batch with about 1 lb table sugar… use yeast that tolerates a higher temp, 70*F until the fermentation is over.
Sneezles61
