Bottling Day Tips (Rules)

Many brewers complain about bottling day; "it takes forever," or "there is too much cleaning" are common cries, however, bottling day can be easy and fun if you prepare for it the right way! Today we will talk about the zen-like qualities of bottling day and how to reach that state where you are not only relaxed but productive and in the end, satisfied.

Number One Rule; Be Prepared! There is nothing more annoying than not having enough bottle caps, cleaning too few bottles or simply forgetting your priming sugar! Before you begin your first siphon, make sure you have all the ingredients for the day setup, if you need to get more caps - go now. Once you have it all setup, do some math! Make sure you have the right amount of bottles for the volume you will you be working with.

Number Two Rule; Clean Bottles not the day you need to bottle but right after you use them! Simply rinsing your bottles out the same day saves you lots of time scrubbing and lowers your chance of having soap or mold in your bottles when you got to sanitize them. I like to use a bottle waster (hand pump one) and rinse with water then sanitizer right after I use them. This way they sit with sanitizer and won't mold - the day of bottling I simply re-sanitize and bottle!

Number Three Rule; Get a Bottling Wand! There are few such useful and cheap investments for a brewer to make. Just get one. Of you can ball out and get a counter pressure filler!

Number Four Rule; Be Clean if you want good beer, cider or mead to come out of the bottles after you open them. Use sanitizer, try to avoid soap and always rinse, rinse, rinse!

Outside of those 4 rules the rest is common sense and practice. Once I have my setup going I actually really enjoy the quiet act of bottling. Compared to the violet process of grinding grain, vigorously boiling liquids and stirring wort - it's a simple and relaxing process that I enjoy.

In the end though, kegging is way the hell better!

Cheers

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