# Tips For Making Bottling Day Less Painful



## lucas (3/3/06)

after spending almost *4 hours* today cleaning bottles then sanitising bottles then rinsing bottles, then sanatising and rinsing lids, then bulk priming, bottling and capping, I've decided its time to ask for everyone tips to make bottling day less of a pain in the ass.

ive seen bottle trees at my LHBS which ive decided would be a good investment. they also sell a little bowl thinger that goes on the top of the tree that squirts sanatiser/rinses bottles, anyone used one of these? do they do the job properly? i think it'd be $30 well spent in water savings alone if the result was the same as my current routine.

also, how important is scrubbing bottles with a bottle brush? is there a shortcut around having to do that?

oh, and one last thing; no posts saying "keg, its the only way". kegging is well out of reach of a poor uni student like myself


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## barls (3/3/06)

i suggest rinsing the bottles when you empty them and for the stubborn ones use and alkali salt based cleaner and soak them the coopers bottle wash is good for this.


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## Kai (3/3/06)

Rinse your bottles as you empty 'em and you'll almost never have to clean them on bottling day.


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## johnno (3/3/06)

Hi lucas,
The best tip is to get into a routine. Also the more you do it the more shortcuts you find. 

I have been bottling for nearly 3 years now and its a bit of a pain, but I really enjoy cracking a bottle open when its time to taste the beer. 


Here is what I do.

Whenever I get new bottles i give them the BIG overnight soak. At least 12 hours. Even if they look clean. 

I soak them in a bleach washing powder solution. If there are any very bad ones I give them the brush treatment while rinsing the next day and leave them to soak more. This is the longest stage in the process but only happens once.

I time this with a bottling episode so as soon as they are rinsed, I use them pretty much imediately.

Then, whenver I finish a bottle I try and give it a good rinse so no sediment is left. Doesn't matter if you misss one or two as you get them later.

So, that leaves my empties in the crate. When I next want to bottle this is what i do.


Take bottles in crate to laundry
Fill and 11 litre bucket with water and about 50-100 mls of bleach in the laundry tub
Take one bottle at a time and dip in buscket so you get about 50-200 mls in the bottle
Block with palm and shake so the mixture coats all of the inside of the bottle
Drain solution back into bucket
Do the same procedure 2-3 more times but with water and do not drain the water back into the bucket. You only need the same amount of water, no need to fill up the whole bottle.
Put in crate and when it is full take outside to bottle tree
Bottle the brew

Not much water is used like this at all.

I ususally clean about 40-50 bottles and then bottle the brew in about an hour and a half. Thats with cleaning/soaking fermenters as well.

Hope that helps a bit.

johnno







PS get a keg system


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## Screwtop (3/3/06)

10,000 home brewers, 10,000 opinions. Here is how I do it.

I use pet bottles, after emptying each one it and the top are tripple rinsed and stacked upside down to drain in the dish draier. Next morning bottles are returned to the empties crate, lid screwed on, not tight to allow for temp changes/pressure adjustment and so the air inside can dry, but bugs can't get into the bottle.

I use Phos Acid (non rinse) sanitiser.
Day before bottling day: Take a fermenter tap out of bleach steriliser solution (I keep an ice cream container of solution made up in the brewery) fit a tap seal and spray the tap thread and hole thread in a fermenter with sanitser from spray bottle and screw in the tap. Spray the fermenter lid thread and seal seat with saitiser, spray the lid seal with saniiser and fit the lid seal. Spray a grommet and airlock with sanitiser and fit to lid. Spray 3 squirts of sanitiser into airlock.

Make up 3 litres of phos acid sanitiser and pour one litre into the fermenter, put in the racking hose replace the lid and give a good shake. Pour a small amount of sanitiser (50ml each) into 32 pet bottles, screw tops on, give a shake and return to crate. Leave overnight.

Bottling day: Remove pet bottle cap place into 2L jug and tip sanitiser out of bottle into jug, repeat for all bottles, placing each one on the bottle tree to drain. Tip sanitiser out of fermenter and allow fermenter and racking hose to drain for 20 min. Add boiled priming sugar/water liquid to the fermenter and rack the beer from the secondary vessel to the fermenter. Bottle using an aussie bottler, cap using the tops, give each a shake when removed from the jug of sanitiser solution. Record the brew number from Beersmith on the label.

Done, hassle free day.


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## deebee (3/3/06)

Ditto... rinse three times with hot water after use, drain upside down and they are pretty right to refill. On bottling day I put about 6 litres of mild solution of no rinse sanitiser in a bucket and tip it into the bottles with a funnel and jug. Drain it back into the bucket and leave them upside down.

To drain them I drilled 42 holes about 60mm in a piece of MDF and put legs on it. Bottles sit upside down in the holes. It won't fall over like a bottle tree might.

Saves a bit of time if you bottle double batches. After bottling one batch, rack the second batch straight into the bottling vessel and bottle it, no need to re-sanitise.

Best time saver is to get a system that you do every time and can do quickly, but bottling is just a pain in the arse.


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## Tony (3/3/06)

i rinse em as i drink em and give em a quick hit with a bit of boiling water from a jug just before i bottle to clean out the daddy long legs and crickets.

I then bulk prime and fill them and cap as i go.

Forget the "sanitising the caps" bit, waste of time in my books.

I have bottled beers into bottles with insects in them and green mould growing in them on purpose to see the effect and it did nothing.

just my opinion

cheers


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## Screwtop (3/3/06)

I have bottled beers into bottles with insects in them and green mould growing in them

Mmmm Protien Shake


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## Batz (3/3/06)

"Making Bottling Day Less Painful"

Easy 

Kegs

Kegging 18 years!! Never bottle now , well for comps. only.

Hey and I bought 6 kegs delivered anywere in Australia $33.00 each !

Batz


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## Stuster (3/3/06)

The one thing that made the actual beer into bottles part easy for me was to line up all the bottles, attach some hose to the tap and the little bottler to the other end of the hose, and fill all the bottles in one go. Then cap them all.

I totally agree with the wash as you go crowd. Also iodophor saves all the rinsing that you have to do with some other sanitisers.


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## Doc (3/3/06)

Batz said:


> "Making Bottling Day Less Painful"
> 
> Easy
> 
> ...



I didn't want to be the first.

KEGS.

I wouldn't be still brewing if I was bottling.

Doc


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## stephen (3/3/06)

I rinse the bottle three times as I empty them. After I collect several (6-12 or so) I then rinse with a no rinse sanitiser (I use 2.5 ml of Betadine to one liter of cold water) drain for 10 mminutes and then seal with a strip of glad wrap. Come bottling day, just simply remove gladwrap and go for it. No need for any more rinsing or sanitising. I have been doing this now for over twenty years.

Cheers

Steve

My bottle drying "tree"


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## sm0902 (3/3/06)

Bottle washing - this is my way ... until I can improve it:

1) Hot water rinse within a few days of consumption
2) Cold water rinse immediately following above
3) Let them sit (wherever)
4) On bottling day I fill all bottles from a tub with solution (Brigalow)
5) With brush (attached to cordless drill) I spend about 5 seconds or so on each bottle
6) Wait 30 minutes or so, then empty solution from all bottles
7) Fill with cold water and let sit
8) Empty and ready to go (smell check to ensure they smell like water/nothing).


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## Darren (3/3/06)

No way to make it easier.
Kegging is the only way. Sanitising, filling, and capping bottles all take their time. Save some bickies and but two kegs. You will be able to spend your saved time studying.

cheers
Darren


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## deadly (3/3/06)

get someone to help you - its twice as fast!


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## Beerpig (3/3/06)

I find bottling theraputic

Good music, cold beer ................. not a care in the world

Cheers


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## Trev (3/3/06)

Lucas,

That 'Push Down Thingy' does work.

I used to bottle, before I got into K..ging and used one of them. It really speeded everything up a lot.

I rinse the bottles a few times as soon as they're empty and store them upside down.

On brew day I would grab the number of bottles needed, use an Idophor solution in the push-down thing (I don't really know what to call it either) and give each bottle a few squirts and let it drain. They only really need the surface wet from the sanitiser solution after all.

Leave them for 20 minutes while you finish the brew. The Idophor does its job. Give the bottles another shake to get rid of the solution and fill.

Stuster's idea with the hose also works a treat and saves another load of time. Also filling all the bottles first and then capping them means that some CO2 comes out of solution and displaces the air left in the headspace of the bottle so helps to avoid oxidisation - I don't know if you can tell the difference in practice, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Trev


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## WildaYeast (4/3/06)

Ditto on the push down thing and also the bottle rack. Have not regretted purchasing them at all.

I am good about rinsing after drinking, but have still been washing on bottling day. Might try just sanitizing... would save a lot of work and they are pretty much clean.

I have been washing in a 20L bucket. I load about 9 bottles in, run the brush through them and then drain them. I then load another 9 so they can soak while I rinse the first set. I have been working on improving the rinsing. I do this in the garage, so I'm using water from a hose. I've rigged up a "Y" fitting (1 to 2 hose splitter) that has an on/off valve. Mine is set up with a male quick disconnect fitting. This works pretty well as it gives me a stream of water that I can shoot up into the bottle while I am holding it upside down. Not bad -- saves time and water. Would like to have a push-type valve, so I don't have to turn it on/off and can just activate it by pressure from the bottle.

I do bottle all at once, and just place the cap loosely on top as I go. Then I come back and properly cap the lot.

My last thought would be about finding the "right" bottles. I searched for a bit and am quite happy with what I ended up with -- 500 ml green glass San Pelegrino bottles. The size is a good compromise between stubbies (too many) and tallies (too much beer to fit in glass -- fine if you have a friend, but...). I work near "Tedder Avenue" in Main Beach on the Gold Coast, which is littered with fancy restaurants. A few of them put these bottles of water out on all the tables. I simply hit the alleys in the mornings and found it very easy to build up a collection. Nice to clean -- not smelly -- but the labels took a bit of work.

I really like the shiny new stainless steel kegs that look like BBQ gas bottles, but not in the budget yet. Besides, there is something satisfying about a bottle...

Cheers, Brian


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## peas_and_corn (4/3/06)

OK, I will join the crowd of people who gave their 2c on this question...

first, I get someone to help me. A couple of times I had two people help me, and that was fantastic (one cleaning, the other filling, the third capping). Also, it makes the bottling more of a social thing, rather than someons in a basement with the missus shouting "you still sulking down there??" Where was I?? Anyway, I let them drink however much homebrew as they want, and they provide me with their time. It's win/win.

As to my method... well, I go with the others on a lot of things. When I drink, I rinse out the bottles. Nothing extravagant, just putting a little bit of water in and shaking with my hand over the end.

When it comes to the big day, here's my method. I have one of those two-section sinks. I have the left one with hot water with brewer's detergent in it. The second has iodophor in it. I bottle brush the bottle with the detergent in it. Then I check to see if there is still yeast stuck to the bottom. If there is, I try again. If it doesn't work, I leave it on the window sill with a little bit of coke in it- that gets it off real easy if you give it about 10 minutes.

Then I give the bottles a bit of a soak and a shake around, before putting them onto the bottle tree. I will sanitise the bottle tops in my next bottled brew, just throw a bit of iodophor into the container you keep your caps in- it shouldn't be too much.

Cheers,

Dave


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## muga (4/3/06)

I keg the beer, and bottle six stubbies that have been soaked in boiling water.

I always wash my bottles out with water directly after I have finished with them.


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## johnno (4/3/06)

I should add that I use Grolsch bottles.
This makes it easier.
If I had to bottle with a capper I would probably commision the keg setup faster than you could say "Bulk Buy".  

johnno


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## Aaron (4/3/06)

I am another push down thingy user. I am the same as Johnno when I get new bottles. Good over night soak. I always rinse my bottles after using them then let them it til being used again.

First I use a pink stain solution with the push down thingy on the bottles.
I then rinse with hot water, my hot water system delivers at 65-70C
I then use the push down thingy again and give the bottles another rinse but with a no rinse sanitiser this time.
Then it's time to bottle.

All this is done on bottling day. I realise this may be over kill but it works for me so I stick to it. I do sanitise my bottle caps. I realise this may not be necessary but it takes no effort on my part to dump the caps in a no rinse solution just prior to starting bottling then just grabbing them from there as I need them.


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## fifteenbeerslater (4/3/06)

Hey Steve, how come you're allowed to do this INSIDE the house?????
Cheers 15BL :beer:


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## Duff (4/3/06)

fifteenbeerslater said:


> Hey Steve, how come you're allowed to do this INSIDE the house?????
> Cheers 15BL :beer:
> [post="112445"][/post]​



I noticed that too :lol: 

My wife would string me up if I brought any more brew gear/books/starters, etc., inside the house :blink: 

Cheers.


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## Franko (4/3/06)

I run my Grolsch bottles thru the dishwasher (the price my wife must pay for consumption of beer) then sanitise when ready for use.


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## Jazzafish (4/3/06)

The bottle tree isn't a bad idea, it will help. For $30 it is worth it.

Fair to say that a rinse after drinking helps, pretty much the same methods from there. Storing them upside down helps.

Bottling takes time. To speed things up you need mates help or routine. 

Easiest way to speed it up is to use bigger bottles. 30ish long necks beats using 60ish stubbies. 22 wine bottles beats using 30 long necks. 1 keg beats any bottles!

Sorry I mentioned keg, I couldn't resist

Cheers,
Jarrad


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## Tony (4/3/06)

i agree

Get KEGS.

I have one and its so easy i just cant bring my self to bottle. I have had 40 liters sitting in a firmenter outside for a week now waiting to be bottled and i just dont want to.

I have another 2 kegs on the way (that will give me 3 x 50 liter kegs ) and when set up in a freezer the bottles are going to the recycling center. Might keep a few but i have almost 800 longnecks and about 200 stubbies. Im sick of them

cheers


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## andreic (4/3/06)

Hi,

may as well add my method as well...

I'm still bottling and will be for some time yet. My main tips are:
1. rinse bottles after you use them
2. get a bottle tree and push down thingy - definitely worth it
3. seperate bottle cleaning from bottling day

I generally soak bottles in bleach solution in a big bucket when I have a dozen or so needing cleaning. They stay in the bucket overnight, or for days depending on when I get round to the next step - rinse them out and remove labels. Then put them on the bottle tree to drain. Next day I wrap the tops in foil for storing so I don't get any more cockroach poo or spiders in them.

On bottling day take the foil off and just give the bottles a rinse with sanitising solution using the push down thing and put them back on the tree - its actually pretty quick. I chuck the lids in the push down thingy with solution in it and just pick them out when needed - bottle-tops sanitised with no extra effort.

With cleaning fermenters for bulk-priming and afterwards bottling still takes me 1 and a half to 2 hours. I just accept it as part of the deal. Make sure you have a good number of home brews in the fridge, get some good music and go and enjoy the time to yourself (this time is important to most men with families!)

I saw a thread some time ago where one guy had this great contraption to rinse / sanitise 10 bottles at once - could be fun to build one of those to speed things up even more!

cheers


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## spog (4/3/06)

i am another bottler,but recently bought a keg system (CCing now) i rinse the bottles after drinking and store upside down.i also have the push down thingy which from memory is called the turbo bottle washer. cheers..spog..


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## Stickler (4/3/06)

Couldn't resist adding this, it's a quote from the Grumpy's site that stuck in my mind from last year. User was deebee.

"I never rinse my bottles after using them. Just chuck em in a pile outside the chook run or next to the compost heap. Leave em in the sun to get crusty for a few weeks.

Come bottling day I just spit in each one a few times, swirl it round and tip most of it out. I prime with the sugar at the bottom of the sugar bowl - you know with granules of instant coffee and little dried lumps of something or other. I reuse bottle caps stored in a drawer with the pesticides in the shed.

And mate, I have never had an infection in 80 years of brewing. I reckon it's the pesticides." :lol:


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## Murray (4/3/06)

Back in my bottling days after having enough clean bottles I would cover the tops with foil and cook them in the oven at 180C for an hour, pretty much a validated process we used in the lab I worked for at the time. That way I'd have a pre-sanitised batch of bottles ready to go on bottling day.


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## recharge (4/3/06)

Nearly all has been said, but for my sanitiser i used to fill a goon bag(inflatable wine cask thingy) and use this to squirt sanitiser into each bottle. Don't do it now as not worth it for only 6 bottles at a time (KEGS  ).


Cheers

:beer: 

Richard


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## Mr Bond (4/3/06)

Drink beer whilst bottling :chug: work for me


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## Tony (4/3/06)

I got a few hundred bottles off a friend at work a while back.

He lived on a farm and kept the bottles in milk crates next to his tractor and hey stack.

He gave up home brewing couse "its imposinbe to make good home brew"

He told be the bottles were clean and ready to use.

Here is a pic of a couple of the clean ones.

Yes, they are wasp nests

I threw the dirty ones out, bleach couldnt clean them..... :blink: 

cheers


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## poppa joe (4/3/06)

My PUSH DOWN THINGY....Is a microswitch attached to a sponge cake
bowl with a tall "thing" in it a ...garden riser going through that..
Powered by a windscreen washer motor...and 12 volt battery pack...water recylcles...Works OK..
Cheers
PJ


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## Doogiechap (16/3/06)

A fun way of getting your mates to help 'wash' emptied stubbies is the Bottle Washer 2000 !!
Now everyone can join in the fun of the rinse :blink: I love it when a new user flicks the switch and open the solenoid whilst standing over the spray head  
The Rubber Glove keeps the switch dry.


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## Guest Lurker (16/3/06)

Nice washer. I sped up bottling by kegging. But I used to use a bottle washer that relied on turning the tap on and off, which means putting down your glass of beer.


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## Guest Lurker (16/3/06)

A tilted bottling stool and a double bottle filler also sped things up. Once again you had to put your beer down to operate both bottlers at once.


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## DrewCarey82 (16/3/06)

deebee said:


> Ditto... rinse three times with hot water after use, drain upside down and they are pretty right to refill. On bottling day I put about 6 litres of mild solution of no rinse sanitiser in a bucket and tip it into the bottles with a funnel and jug. Drain it back into the bucket and leave them upside down.[post="112359"][/post]​



Thats all the advice you ever need. + only difference I have a spray bottle of diluted iodophor that I spray with instead which makes it even simpler.

Do it this way unless you are board/lonely and want to waste hours of your life cleaning and sanatising.


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## Doogiechap (16/3/06)

The double bottle filler is a doozy GL. :beerbang: I saw it on your site yesterday as was truely inspired ! :super: 
Does anyone have good tips for removing the very stubborn Crown Lager Labels ? I have used solvents, a two week soak in bleach, vegetable peelers, paint strippers. All too painful. I have stripped about 300 of my 500 odd crownies but am inherently lazy. Please no replies pertaining to the use of Kegs


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## DrewCarey82 (16/3/06)

The labels come off eventually just make sure for ur first rinse your using sodium precarbonate or neopink or something nasty like that and I guarantee the buggers will fall off.


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## andrewl (16/3/06)

As everyone else does, i generally rinse my bottles out after each use with warm water and the hand over the top. On bottling day i sanitize all the bottles with brigalow sanitizer etc. rinse with warm water and put on the bottling tree to dry.
Today i bought the liquid sanitizer from TCB, all need be done is mix it up in a spray bottle, squirt in the bottle and let it dry... Couldn't be easier!


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## andrewl (16/3/06)

With the labels, I just soak them in warm water and get a scouring pad... takes a bit of elbow grease though


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## berto (16/3/06)

Yeah i generally soak in water for 24 hours. Start with it fairly hot. Then hit them with the steel wool. Seems to work pretty well for Saporo bottles which are a right pain in the ass to get cleaned up.


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## lucas (16/3/06)

i notice some of you say you store your bottles upside down after rinsing them (just after drinking them). how do you go about doing this? conveniently placed bottle tree or some other way? short of a bottle tree i cant think of a way to get the buggers to stay upside down


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## Doogiechap (16/3/06)

Bottle trees Rock :super: 
Cheap alternative- Next verge collection, spy a dishwasher, grab the washing drawers, lots of plastic coated spikes to hold plates/ err bottles upside down  
Cheers
Doug


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## spog (17/3/06)

one annoying habit i have with bottling,and am guilty of on many occasions is, capping the beer i am drinking while bottling. you would think i would learn but, nope,not me! <_<


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## stephen (18/3/06)

Doogiechap said:


> The double bottle filler is a doozy GL. :beerbang: I saw it on your site yesterday as was truely inspired ! :super:
> Does anyone have good tips for removing the very stubborn Crown Lager Labels ? I have used solvents, a two week soak in bleach, vegetable peelers, paint strippers. All too painful. I have stripped about 300 of my 500 odd crownies but am inherently lazy. Please no replies pertaining to the use of Kegs
> [post="114670"][/post]​


I soaked mine in a solution of 1 teaspoon of pink stain remover to 5 litres of water overnight and the labels just slid off the bottle.

Worked great for me

cheers

Steve


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## cliffo (18/3/06)

spog said:


> one annoying habit i have with bottling,and am guilty of on many occasions is, capping the beer i am drinking while bottling. you would think i would learn but, nope,not me! <_<
> [post="114942"][/post]​



Thank God (or someone) I'm not the only one that does this 

cliffo


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## Weizguy (18/3/06)

cliffo said:


> spog said:
> 
> 
> > one annoying habit i have with bottling,and am guilty of on many occasions is, capping the beer i am drinking while bottling. you would think i would learn but, nope,not me! <_<
> ...



Have fallen for this only once.

Avoid this prob permanently by drinking from a glass. Works 4 me.

Seth (part-time AGer/ part-time bottler)


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## Piste (19/3/06)

Went a similar way yesterday, got in after working outside, 6 pack in the fridge and a loose one, grabbed it and tore the cap off, aahhhhh, it was 6 day old Cervesa, god it was green.
I intended to see how it was progressing but not like that, having said that, I think it will be OK in a couple of weeks.


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## thunderleg (19/3/06)

I use Grolsch bottles too. I hot rinse them and them after emptying and leave them upside down to dry. I didn't use any sanitiser at all for ages. I got all paranoid about infections and started using a squirt of sod-met in each one. It didn't make any difference so I stopped using it again. If I push I can get a 23 litre batch primed and bottled in under 20 minutes.

Kegs sound wonderful, but it really is a lot of crap to collect and carry around. I have five kegs sitting in my garage and some more on the way from C&C. I got a cheap second hand regulator, now I need some sort of gas supply. And then all the connectors and lines and valves. After that I need another ******* fridge, and somewhere to put it.


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## lucas (30/3/06)

Ok, so I rinsed all the bottles I'm going to be using tomorrow (they'd been sitting in the shed a while and i thought it'd be worth at least getting the dust out), then sprayed 3 squirts of iodophor in each stubby and 6 squirts in each longneck (out of a spray bottle thinger). I've shaken them all about to make sure that the sanitiser makes contact with all surfaces then drained half of them and left the sanitiser in the other half as a bit of an experiment to see if they really need draining. they're all standing upright (i have no bottle tree as of yet, perhaps on Saturday) for the night; i plan on getting up early-ish (for a student ) and bottling, will the sanitiser still be doing its job in the morning or should they be sprayed and shook again? if the ones i didn't drain haven't evaporated should i drain them or will the iodophor have turned into yeast nutrient by then?

thanks again guys, your tips so far have already saved me a bunch of time!


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## mika (9/4/06)

This little thingy wasn't my idea, but makes filling the bottles a lot easier/ quicker, and it's cheap !
The capping bench is a $12 special from the Salvos


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## Zwickel (9/4/06)

Hi brewmates,
that is indeed a great idea to fill bottles, simple but effective, 10Points


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## Chad (4/10/06)

stephen said:


> ...and then seal with a strip of glad wrap.


This is my method of storage too.
I got sick of cleaning the bottles everytime before filling, so I now also rinse the bottle immediately. A quick sterilise is all I do on bottling day.


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## kitkat (4/10/06)

LOL, I rinse with water after I empty them, then put them away (uncapped, except for the PET bottles), and rinse them again with plain tap water just before bottling. Never had an infected bottle so far. Even if I do, so what, it'll be just one bottle, plenty more available 

Maybe if I kept the bottles for years I'd bother with some kind of disinfectant, but usually the most I keep them is 6-9 months, and haven't had any bad bottle so far.


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## AngelTearsOnMyTongue (5/10/06)

I agree that a hot rinse after use and another before bottling is probably fine. I also made a couple of boxes for storing all my cleaned empties upside down. I have two and I know that when they are full i nearly have enough for a brew.




I also use the flexible tube filling valve method as demonstratedby mika lika. This allows me to prime and fill a cartons worth at a time.

Also, I make all my own equipment. I have shown my handmade capper on numerous threads (So wont here), but also, here is my home made Bottle tree.




I will remake it one day of aluminium pipeing so I can rinse and sterilise the whole batch in one go.

That would be great because the only thing I hate about home brewing is the bottle preparation. :angry: 

The only time I really scrub them is when I have been to a party with an esky of my beers, and bring the empties back and forget to rinse them all the next day.

cheers Brewsters

ATOMT


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## barneyhanway (5/10/06)

I rinse well after use with hot water from the tap,
on bottling day I chuck all my bottles (PET and grolsch) in the dishwasher on the smallest cycle with no detergent, lids go in the cutlery thing.
This cleans them (they're pretty much clean already) and sanitises them (the heat of the drying cycle is pretty hot, haven't had a bottle related infection so far).
This is the most hands off method I've found, I can go and do whatever and let the dishwasher do the hard yards.
Then when its done I line em all up, put some sugar down the spout, then fill one by one from the fermenter with a bottling valve.
About half an hour I reckon for 23l (+ dishwasher time)


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## AngelTearsOnMyTongue (5/10/06)

barneyhanway said:


> I rinse well after use with hot water from the tap,
> on bottling day I chuck all my bottles (PET and grolsch) in the dishwasher on the smallest cycle with no detergent, lids go in the cutlery thing.
> This cleans them (they're pretty much clean already) and sanitises them (the heat of the drying cycle is pretty hot, haven't had a bottle related infection so far).
> This is the most hands off method I've found, I can go and do whatever and let the dishwasher do the hard yards.
> ...



Sounds great BH, but do you reckon it sprays up into the bottles? I agree the heat will probably sanitise prettywell, but I reckon not much would actually go inside them to rinse them.

Still, I like the sound of it. I'm thinking maybe I could make up a rack that holds the bottle on pipes, plugs into the outlet port (i.e. Remove the spray bar contraption). and actually does a good solid internal rinse.

Mmmmm. I reckon that ideas got legs on it.


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## Charlie (5/10/06)

When bottling, I transfer my beer into a spare fermenter which has my priming sugar dissolved into a small amount of boiled water and bottle from that. I stick it on the kitchen bench, ontop of an 'acquired' milk crate. I have all my bottles clusered in front so I can transfer to bottling wand from bottle to bottle really quickly. Takes about 25 minutes to fill a standard 23L batch once its set up.

Also because I need to sterilise the second fermenter (I use dilute bleach, fill it up and leave it for 20 - 30 mins - no probs so far), I basically do a bottling run with the steriliser into the bottles, which sanitise while I rinse out the fermenter, boil up my bulk priming sugar, and decant the beer into the fermenter.

Bottling is still a pain in the arse ... just bought a tap-a-draft system - can't wait to fill 3 6L bottles and a dozen stubbies over the usual 55 stubbies


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## razz (5/10/06)

The best thing about bottling is moving to kegs !


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## barneyhanway (5/10/06)

yeah I guess as I rinse thoroughly the bottles are next to clean.
Dishwasher is mainly for one step sanitising. The heat _definitely_ rises up into the bottles.


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## Wortgames (5/10/06)

Great idea for a thread, but gee some of you guys fart around a lot!

Here are my bottling tips from way back when:

1. Find space for a bin. Half fill it with bleach solution. When a bottle is emptied, rinse it & bung it in the bin.

2. On bottling day, empty the bin. Rinse the bottles quickly with a pushy thingy or a tap-mounted bottle washer. They have been soaking in bleach for several days, they are farking spotless.

3. Use a bottling bucket, bulk prime, mix well, and attach the bottler to a hose to the bucket.

4. Line up your bottles next to your capper. On a table, on a towel.

5. Drop the bottler in a bottle. Wait for it to fill.

6. When it is full, move the bottler to the next bottle.

7. Cap the full bottle and put it in a crate while the next one is filling.

8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 until gurgling sound is heard from bucket.

I don't think it can get much easier than that. Apart from kegging :super: 

(Oh, and if you need to empty the bin between brews, just store the bottles with a bit of the bleach solution in the bottom. Use plastic picnic cups over the necks to keep the rubbish out. They are reusable for about 100 years).


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## TasChris (5/10/06)

I'm pretty much the same as others but it goes like this

Drink contents of bottle
Rinse bottle
Leave a couple of inches of water in the bottle
Leave bottle on kitchen bench until it is half full of bottles
Get yelled at
Wash bottles and place in oven and dry at 200C
Store bottles upside down in crates till needed
Half fill bottles with no rinse sanitiser swirl it around then tip sanitser into next bottle and drain 
Fill bottles with beer

and repeat

main issue is when aquiring bottles with unknown heritage. I always soak them over night in bleach and bottle brush them within an inch of their life.
I only use long necks except for the last litre or two when I use stubbies as there always seems to be a bit less than a long neck of beer at the end!!

Chris


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## VeeTwinTorque (5/10/06)

May as well add my routine to this thread,


Rinse out bottles immediately after emptying, twice. (Fill, shake, tip out; Fill, shake, tip out)

Let bottles accumulate next to the kitchen sink untill the wife threatens to throw them out,

Tip out last dregs of water from each bottle and stash in styrofoam boxes, in the garage. I get about 25 stubbies in each box. I dont store them upside down either.

On bottling day, i line up 120 stubbies on the kitchen bench in five rows. Examine each bottle as i put it on the bench. Any bottle that looks sus gets thrown in the bin. I dont bother scrubbing as i have a good supply of new bottles from friends when i get low.

Make up 2 litres of sodium metabisulphite steriliser and pour a little into every bottle in one row.

Shake bottles and tip into adjacent bottle in next row, untill all bottles have seen the steriliser through them. Let them sit for 20 min then tip the steriliser dregs out of all the bottles. I never rinse after this.

Lash the wife to move the funnel as i dose all bottles with white sugar, (Stops double dosing/bottle bombs)

Lash the wife to fill the bottles as i cap, shake then place back in the styrofoam boxes. I put the fermenter on a milk crate on the bench so you dont have to bend over.

No bottle brushing/scrubbing.
No bottle tree.
No sterilising of caps.
No rinsing on bottling day.
No longnecks, just stubbies.


I have two fermenters on the go each time & fill 120 stubbies each time. Takes me about an hour and a half, (And about 10 beers) on bottling day with the wifes help.


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## ldleon (8/10/06)

Is using the oven to sterilise bottles an effective way of doing it? It would be so much easier than messing around with sanitiser and water and would definitely work (that's how it's done when making jam), but does it weaken the bottles?

Also, if the bottles are sanitised as they are emptied then sealed (with caps for PET, glad wrap for glass) are they really okay to use on bottling day without any further washing? Somehow sanitising a few at a time occasionally is much more appealing than doing them all on bottling day.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Daz


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## mika (8/10/06)

I used to wash each bottle in the laundry sink, got jack of that so moved to the little bottle washer you see at most beer shops, but got tired of pushing bottles up and down.
So, do some research on AHB, alot of people seem to use windscreen washer pumps so down to the wreckers, down to bunnings, pick up an old computer from a kerbside collection and $10 later....











Just speed up the bottling process that little bit more :beer:


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## apd (9/10/06)

Dazdogs said:


> Is using the oven to sterilise bottles an effective way of doing it?



Daz,

I use the oven method for sterilising. As far as I know, the bottles will be fine as long as you heat and cool them slowly, ie. put the bottles in the oven BEFORE turning it on and leave them in there until they've cooled.

Once I've got a batch (20 or so bottles is all my oven will fit), I do the following:

Cap each bottle with a bit of aluminium foil and stick in oven.
Turn oven onto 110*C.
Once heated, leave for 15 minutes.
Turn off oven, let cool.

I've heard that a small amount of water in the bottles may help as moist heat is better than dry heat for sterilising. 

Since the foil is sterilised during the process, you can leave it on until bottling day, then rip it off and stick your beer straight in - no rinsing or further sanitising/sterlising needed.


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## ldleon (9/10/06)

Good stuff apd, that's what I wanted to hear.  

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Daz


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## homebrewworld.com (9/10/06)

Tips For Making Bottling Day Less Painful


*KEG IT !*

:beerbang:


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## evanmit (9/10/06)

kegging it doesn't really count as making bottling day less painful.....bottling day involves bottles, you must be thinking of kegging day


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## petesbrew (22/11/06)

Using 2 litre coke bottles means less bottles to fill. 
Good for parties and there's no real need to take the empties home.
 

But of course I still have stubbies and longnecks for something a bit normal.


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## Murcluf (23/4/07)

Hi all,
I've been using 740ml Pet bottles since I've started and am starting to move over to glass (375ml-330ml). With the 740 ml pets I'd leave about 3/4 to an inch from the top using the bottling wand for headspace and have never lost a bottle. My question is how much headspace do you leave in a glass bottle I don't want to over fill or under fill. I gather it all depends on what bottles you use, my main concern would be the long necked stubbies.


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## therook (23/4/07)

I leave about the same as what you would get in a commercial size bottle wether that be a bush stubby or normal stubby.

Rook


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## Wortgames (23/4/07)

Do you use a bottler? If so, it should leave the perfect headspace if you remove it when the beer is right up to the rim.


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## Murcluf (23/4/07)

WortGames said:


> Do you use a bottler? If so, it should leave the perfect headspace if you remove it when the beer is right up to the rim.


yeah I do, it just looked like a big gap compared with the 740ml pets. and its been about 2 years since I bought a commerical so I wasn't sure of what to do :huh:


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## Wortgames (23/4/07)

Murcluf said:


> yeah I do, it just looked like a big gap compared with the 740ml pets. and its been about 2 years since I bought a commerical so I wasn't sure of what to do :huh:



I know what you mean, and I agree it isn't very scientific - the geometry of the bottle affects the amount of headspace left behind by the bottler.

It's just what I've always done and I'm not aware of it causing any problems - not to mention that trying to tweak the headspace is going to mean a lot more stuffing around while bottling, which I don't think I could be bothered with!


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## JCG (23/4/07)

Ive found the best way is to clean bottles as you drink them. That way come bottling day i dont have 30 tallies to clean and sanitze, Ive found if the glass is clean and cant see dirt in it just a shot of morgans one shot sanitizer swirled in each bottle does the trick. I sanitze the caps in a solution of the one shot as well.

JCG


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## lucas (23/4/07)

hehe... I started this thread over a year ago now, so i guess i should throw in the method i found to be very efficient (although moving to kegs is something I will never regret)

1. rinse bottles as soon as their contents are emptied. half fill them, then put your hand over the top and give them a good shake to get the yeast sediment off the bottom, empty and rinse again. so long as you get all the crud off now the bottles wont need cleaning again
2. on bottling day rinse each bottle with a no rinse sanitiser. I ended up getting a bottling tree and pushdown pumpy thing which made this a breeze. i found that 2-3 pumps was plenty to get a good amount of contact and rinse out any dust or dead bugs. put the bottles on the tree to drain until the tree is full. 
3. you've now got a dish full of sanitiser (from the pushdown squirter), so chuck all your bottle caps in there. this is probably not strictly needed, but it's no extra effort as you already have the solution and you can just grab each cap straight from the sanitiser as you fill bottles
4. bulk prime. yes, it means you have to rinse (and have spare) another fermenter, but it sure beats measuring sugar out into each bottle, or even stuffing about with carb drops. you also get better control over the amount of carbonation and better consistency between bottles.
5. fill each bottle and rest a cap on the top, then fill the next. put the whole batch into bottles before you start capping. its easier to do the same thing over and over, more quickly.
6. stop smoking, or chewing gum or just stop wasting money on crap you dont really need. put all the saved cash into a money bank and buy kegs. they really dont cost that much when you factor in the value of your time, and how much of it you waste on bottling.


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## chris.taylor.98 (23/4/07)

... so now maybe this thread should move on to "How to get the financial controller to spring for a kegging system"  


Currently "our" priorities are:

New Kitchen
New Bathroom
New Furniture
New Holiday
New Kitchen again ...

oh and maybe some beer stuff with whats left over  

( God hope she's not monitoring my posts again  )


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