BeerBorg

Looks like we are lacking a supply of new threads in this group. So I thought I'd create one. I thought it might be kind of fun to talk about our brewing process. For example, I have always boiled my extract brews without a lid on the pot. But I got to thinking the other day that maybe I'd lose less wert if I left the lid on. Then I realized that I have no clue as to what the majority of people do.

Another thing I'm curious about is other peoples bottling process. I bottled my first 5 gallon batch last sunday and it took 3 hours. I wasn't trying to rush it or anything, but by the end of it it made me only want to brew 2 gallon batches in the near future. Maybe my process wasn't efficient. I'm sure it could use improvement.

Scoper50 wrote: Another thing I'm curious about is other peoples bottling process. I bottled my first 5 gallon batch last sunday and it took 3 hours. I wasn't trying to rush it or anything, but by the end of it made me only want to brew 2 gallon batches in the near future. Maybe my process wasn't efficient. I'm sure it could use improvement.

Did you batch prime or bottle prime? Are you also doing bottle clean up in that time period along with sanitation? One more question, what are you using for bottles, screw caps PET's or glass with caps and if yes on glass what you have for a capper? Opps, sorry that was 3 more questions
I always have my bottles clean before, I batch prime so I will boil some sugar water for a few min. and while that is cooling I mix up some sanitizer in the bottling bucket if I don't have any left from a previous brew or has been too long in between and then draw off that for the bottles, by then the priming mix is cooled enough and bottle, I use a Armstrong bench capper and also use a homemade air capper. About a hour and a half for a 5 gal. batch and usually take a quick beer break after the first case. (you have to, to make bottling more fun) One more thing I forgot, are you using a bottling wand?

Hi Scoper.
Wort is generally boiled without a lid because it is believed that there are compounds boiled off that would otherwise create off-flavors. Others dismiss this, and Brulosophy has done an experiment that indicated it may not be important. I (carefully) heat my water with the lid on, but keep the cover off over 200 and while boiling.
Bottling will become quicker with practice. When I bottled, I got the bottles out, filled a pot in the sink with sanitizer, put my fermenter on the counter over the dishwasher. I dunked and rolled the bottles to sanitize, setting them on a dish towel. I bottled six at a time, using sixpack holders. A bottling wand and some tubing on your spigot will help. Remember to sanitize them first. Each bottle gets a Domino Dot sugar cube. Six bottles get filled, six capped, put in the case.

Scoper50 wrote:I have always boiled my extract brews without a lid on the pot.

What's an "extract brew"? I assume you mean LME/DME, steeped grains, and hop additions, not a Mr. Beer or Brew Demon can (which should never be boiled).

You want the lid off to allow precursors to DMS to boil off. Dimethyl sulfide will have the off-flavor of creamed corn, very undesirable. Never boil with the lid on.

I've always boiled with no lid, mostly because of habit. I was warned about DMS precursors, but even if, as John Sand says, it's not an issue, I don't really see any reason to change this particular part of my process. While I'm waiting for the boil to begin, I clean up my mash tun and all the utensils and things I've used up till then that I won't need to use anymore that day, so I don't feel as though I'm just standing around looking at a pot full of wort.

As far as bottling, I don't really bottle 5 gallon batches anymore, since I got my keezer. Kegging is much easier and faster. But I still do 2.5 gallon batches, and some of those I bottle, since I only have one keglet against my three corny kegs.

The bottling process can be sped up time. Setting up the work place(s) always helps me streamline things. I batch prime, which I believe also saves time (although some might disagree). One of the primary differences, besides the fact that I only bottle smaller batches, is that I use bomber bottles instead of 12 oz. bottles. It's a space-saver, too.

berryman wrote:

Scoper50 wrote: Another thing I'm curious about is other peoples bottling process. I bottled my first 5 gallon batch last sunday and it took 3 hours. I wasn't trying to rush it or anything, but by the end of it made me only want to brew 2 gallon batches in the near future. Maybe my process wasn't efficient. I'm sure it could use improvement.

Did you batch prime or bottle prime? Are you also doing bottle clean up in that time period along with sanitation? One more question, what are you using for bottles, screw caps PET's or glass with caps and if yes on glass what you have for a capper? Opps, sorry that was 3 more questions
I always have my bottles clean before, I batch prime so I will boil some sugar water for a few min. and while that is cooling I mix up some sanitizer in the bottling bucket if I don't have any left from a previous brew or has been too long in between and then draw off that for the bottles, by then the priming mix is cooled enough and bottle, I use a Armstrong bench capper and also use a homemade air capper. About a hour and a half for a 5 gal. batch and usually take a quick beer break after the first case. (you have to, to make bottling more fun) One more thing I forgot, are you using a bottling wand?

I WAS using a bottling wand. And you know what? That stupid thing is what was slowing me down so much. It was a brand new one made my "Fermenters Favorites" It worked well at first, but started to get slow pretty quickly. At first I thought I had trub blocking the valve in my bucket but I soon figured out that my bottling wand was clogged. And on top of that it leaked too. So I guess now I'm on the hunt for a bottling wand that isn't a piece of junk. Any recommendations?

To answer your other questions, I always batch prime and I mostly use glass 12oz bottles that I cap with a basic "butterfly" style capper. I have some larger 16oz and 24oz bottles that I think I"ll utilize more on my next big batch. That should speed things up.

RickBeer wrote:

Scoper50 wrote:I have always boiled my extract brews without a lid on the pot.

What's an "extract brew"? I assume you mean LME/DME, steeped grains, and hop additions, not a Mr. Beer or Brew Demon can (which should never be boiled).

You want the lid off to allow precursors to DMS to boil off. Dimethyl sulfide will have the off-flavor of creamed corn, very undesirable. Never boil with the lid on.

By extract brew I mean exactly what you thought. I don't know why, but I feel the need to let it be known that I'm not talking about all grain brewing. Not sure if it would matter anyway.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/spring-tip-bottle-filler

Works a treat, and it comes apart for thorough cleaning. Just be careful not to drop any of the small parts down the drain. I fill a Pyrex measuring cup with cleaning solution and drop the parts in that to clean them.

Scoper50 wrote:Not sure if it would matter anyway.

Nope, sure doesn't. Absolutely nothing wrong with extract brewing!!!

RickBeer wrote:You want the lid off to allow precursors to DMS to boil off. Dimethyl sulfide will have the off-flavor of creamed corn, very undesirable. Never boil with the lid on.

Except this doesn't actually happen. Maybe it does if you brew an all pilsner AG batch. But for even a PM... not for me.

IE to make very hoppy pale ales/lower abv "Session IPAs", I very often make 2-3 gallon extract + steep or even a PM batch where I do a little 5 minute boil with the lid on to sanitize the lid with steam, remove the lid for a few seconds to throw in all of my high AA hops at flameout, put the lid back on and do a 30 minute hopstand that gives me all the bittering I want, all the flavor I want, and all the aroma I want, because then as the wort cools (wht the lid still on the pot) the aroma compounds that blew off and would have otherwise ended up making my room smell good stay mostly in the pot and as it cools all those hop oil re-condense back into the wort. It's like perfume distillation except the vaporized oils never leave the initial vessel.

Now I do pitch a crap load of yeast so I get very vigorous fermentation. Vigorous fermentation blows off DMS. So if I pitched a lame amount of yeast maybe it would be bad, I don't know. I just know I don't fear the DMS gods, they have never bitten me.

I think Brülosophy did an experiment that showed that it didn't happen for them even in an AG batch.

I have had a few different bottling wands and I don't care for the ones that are gravity and like the ones with a spring in them, but even with that they can plug and will leak in between bottles and need to be cleaned well after each use. I don't like a butterfly capper and have 2 of them, if that was all I had to use I definitely would be kegging.

berryman wrote:I have had a few different bottling wands and I don't care for the ones that are gravity and like the ones with a spring in them, but even with that they can plug and will leak in between bottles and need to be cleaned well after each use. I don't like a butterfly capper and have 2 of them, if that was all I had to use I definitely would be kegging.

Sometimes the spring-loaded bottle wand I linked to can not sit properly after filling a bottle, but I've found if you gently prod the tip with the lip of the bottle, it'll re-seat itself pretty well. And I've noticed it may drip once or twice in between bottles, but that's not a deal-breaker for me. YMMV

Re bottling/wands/getting it done:

I only use fermenters where I can bottle from the spigot.

I take the spring/thing off the end of the wand, so the wand is just a wand.

I make sure the wand is all the way at the bottom of the bottle before I turn on the spigot to minimize oxidation.

Be careful, especially with a high flow spigot, as you will fill the bottle very quickly and have to turn off the spigot.

But once you get used to it, it's very fast to "get 'r done".

I have had beers 1+ year old in the bottle without noticing any significant degradation or weird "cardboard" flavors or what not, so I'm not getting stupid levels of extra oxidation because of the missing bits.

I sometimes batch prime if i'm really looking for a very specific carb level. Otherwise I bottle prime with Domino's Dots sugar cubes.

The right ones are 2.5g each and come 198 to a box.

1 dot per 12oz gives a good "American" level of carb. Since I bottle in 740ml bottles, I can tweak my carb levels, 1 dot = "English", 2 dot = "'Merican", 3 dot = psycho Belgian and/or wheat beer.

Using the dots takes less time then batch priming. It takes me all of 30 seconds to prime the bottles for a 3 gallon batch.

I bottle a 3 gallon batch start to finish in like 45 minutes.

The only down side of taking the dohicky off the wand is that stuff that would have plugged it up (usually hop bits) can end up in the bottle. They typically end up down in the bottle trub and don't cause any issues, but worst case I might end up with a hop floatie in my glass.

Which I could care less about. Hops. Yum.

Another couple of suggestions. I kept a mixing bowl on the open dishwasher door to catch drips or leaks. I picked up the kitchen rug and laid down an old towel for spills.
I still do this with kegging: I put a big pot on an old towel, the keg goes in the pot.
I also do all of this while my wife is out!

For LME and DME they are already processed to the point of removing the precursor to DMS, so the lid on really would just lead to a boil over.

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