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Bottling
It seems like the longest and borings part of making your own beer is prepping the bottles. I meticulously wash each bottle with soap and water and a bottling brush, rinse, soak in bleach water and then blast with a jet blaster and hang on a bottle tree. I know that my bottles are good but it seems to eat up a whole morning just getting the bottles ready. Has anyone out there got a better way? I have tried mini kegs and egging is not an option at this time so please stick to the fact that I will be bottle conditioning my beer.
Thanks
keith
On the cleaning part of the process:
it seems to me you probably spend a lot of time just rinsing to get soap and bleach residue out of the bottle. If you used a per carbonate based cleanser (like PBW, One-Step, etc.) your rinse time would be cut considerably. These work so well, you might not even need a brush. Then I would switch to a no-rinse sanitizer like Star-San or Ionosphere--dunk the bottles in this sanitizer for the required time and drain it. Then you're ready to fill it.
On the filling end of the process:
My first approach was to use bigger bottles--16 oz, 22 oz, 32 oz. But then you need to concern yourself with possibly 'wasting' beer if you don't finish the serving in your bottle (and who wants to waste beer?) Consider using swing-top bottles instead of bottles that need to be capped as another time-saver.
Then I went to mini-kegs.... the Party Pig to be specific. This worked for me for a while. The Pigs were easy to use once set up, and they're mobile, but the cost of the inflatable pouches add up--$4 each, one per pig per use. Additionally, removing the pouches once inflated to full size was a major PITA.
As a replacement I looked at the Tap-a-Draft and the 5L mini-kegs. I never went this route because I made the plunge into full kegging, but if hadn't I would've used the Tap-a-Draft. You'll have to buy the little CO2 canisters and, if you want more than one beer on tap, another taps head. Then you'll have the recurring cost of replacing the bottles probably every year.
So these were my thought processes as I remember them about 3 years ago. I know you said kegging isn't an option for you. But if space is the issue, have you considered the 2.5 or 3 gal corny kegs? They're half the size of a 5 gal corny and would keep your equipment footprint down by not requiring a large fridge.
Thanks
simon
The mini keg I was referring to was the 1.25 gal tin keg. They are tough to clean and don't react too well to pressure. I have been told that they really were not designed for the homebrewed, as the pressures generated by natural carbonation are too high. I can validate that statement as well as the deformed kegs I experienced mega foaming. I cut the priming sugars way down and still had the same problems so I went back to bottles.
I also own a party pig, which worked pretty well except for getting the blotter to activate and the cost of the blotter. Removal wasn't much of a problem if you jab it with a sharp pointed object.
I appreciate all you info and will try the no rinse sanitizers to speed up the bottling process. My wife is the "official" bottle filler which helps
Thanks
Andy
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