First Bottling day - Excited

[Impatient]

As a newbie, I will be bottling my first batch today.

My Youngs American IPA kit (with modifications) has been fermenting for nearly 3 weeks now. Gravity has dropped from 1056 to 1010 so ABV should be around 6%, which is how I like things, but will do a FG during bottling. Dishwasher not going fast enough for me as want to get on with it.

I know folk quickly move on from bottling but I love the idea of having a selection to choose from and don't drink enough to have kegs (at the moment).

Will bore you with pics of my first bottle later! Sorry!

[BenB]

Good luck! Something good to listen to and it's bearable. As you say worth it just to have different beers on the go at the same time.

[Rogermort]

Best of luck. A big moment.


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[Fastline]

I still bottle all of mine, I have got a few bits to get to complete my corny keg setup, its much easier if you can rope in a helper.
Its all fun to start with but quickly becomes boring, there is lots of kit that helps things along, the plunger sanitizer, bottle tree, lever action capper.
The addition of a bottling bucket with a bottling wand will speed things up and helps separate the clear beer from the trub that can be left in the bottom of your fermenter.

I will definitely make a powered bottle washer at some point.

[Fastline]

Top tip get another brew on the go soon, if you like variety I would recommend reading the ditches stout thread, its a slight tweak on the standard coopers stout kit, in fact you don't need to read the whole thread, the first post gives clear instructions.
Its a very fast and ferocious fermentation, the IPA will improve greatly over time but the stout is very drinkable almost straight away. Its comforting having every part of the house full up with beer.

[Impatient]

39 bottles, quite enjoyed doing it!

Time to clean up then maybe nip to home brew shop to get another one on quick!

[BenB]

Looks good! One thing I like when bottling is to have a head torch on- makes it a lot easier to see the fluid level in dark bottles... A bottle pump thingy full of starsan and a one arm bottler complete the fun. And I still reckon standardising on one type of bottle (so they are all the same height) makes sense....

[Fastline]

I second the bottle height thing, same size for a batch, saves lots of time adjusting the bottle capper

[alexlark]

Bookmark the Tesco and Wilko home brew pages. They often have offers on. You can stock up on the cheap then.

[Impatient]

Only have a hand bottler so not fixed, height difference was ok but did check out a bench capper today so advise received! I have loads of bottles I got in a Gumtree mixed bag. Had to use grolsch bottles as Mrs C got them for me!

I love Wilco!

[Fastline]

Grolsch bottles are good

[Impatient]

Just thought I would follow this up with a review of he first official tasting, my first beer, ever!

Tried one from a Grolsch bottle. Significant pop, more than the original Grolsch would, but no overflow.

Poured into my favourite tankard (funny when you realise you have something for 21 years!).

Not as cloudy as I feared (no attempt at finings) and a nice colour I think.

I like my beer out of the fridge (sorry!) and this was fruity and really hoppy as expected for an AIPA. Hoppy bitterness lingered after and felt quite 'dry' as made mouth water.

Really satisfied by this, even though it is probably not my favourite type of beer - I am thinking Ringwood's Okd Thumper hits that bill at the moment and I might try to find a recipe for that for my AG set up once I have a few more kits bottled.

Bottling a Honey Porter today.

[alix101]

Having multiple beers in the fridge is a pleasure not a situation I've been in recently as the excitement of bottling soon wares off
Kegs have there pitfalls to by the way ...

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

100 x 500ml bottles laid out for tonight's bottling day epic.

Upping my brewlength has its issues.

I think kegging or polypining is going to play a big part in my future brewing. Bottles for keepers only, or beers that benefit from aging. I have a club that can lap up a house mild, and the temp control means I can finish on a schedule

[orlando]

Well done and welcome to the slippery slope.