From secondary to bottles

I am just wondering what the massive fuss is about steralizing the bottles. I wash out my bottles and they are sparkling clear. I also then use a steralizing solution as a rinse and thats it. As far as I have gone I have never had any bad bottles other than the odd exploding ones, but i cant understand why people want to Boil their bottles or put them in the oven etc. Without offending anyone this seems almost paranoid to the onlooker. I guess it comes down to how filthy some bottles are.. After pouring each I always full it with water and wash it out. Thats about it. Also isnt alcohol actually resistant to infection? Being alcohol and a preservative.

Just make sure they're clean, then sanitize with iodophor. You don't need to boil the sugar more than 5 minutes.

As to the small bubbles, they're most likely just trapped CO2 from the ferment. It seems that the colder the temp at which you're keeping the secondary, the more CO2 gets absorbed into the beer. One book I have gives complicated formulas for adjusting the amount of sugar for the temp of the beer about to be bottled. My experience is just go ahead and bottle with the usual amount of priming sugar. I'm just about to bottle a carboy of beer I've had in my cellar a month. I'm getting bubbles too. But since when I transfered from primary I took a reading of 1.013, I know there was very little fermantable sugar remaining. I'm just going to use 2/3 cup dextrose and bottle. (ended up with +or- 4.5 gals.)

Good luck.

John

The people who boil or bake bottles aren't trying to "clean" the bottles, which you seem to be implying. They are using the boil or bake as their method to sanitize the bottles.

I agree that there are much easier and quicker ways to do it, but to each their own.

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 22:03:07 -0400, "Paul Zwiez" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

When the SG hasn't changed for at least 72 hours. That's the definitive test. It means that fermentation of that wort by that yeast has gone as far as it can.

I use Oxyclean and iodophor, but B-bright is also good for cleaning. Iodophor is fine for sanitizing - just drain the bottles for 10 minutes or so before filling. (The nice thing with iodophor is that even if a drop or two remains in the bottle [you can never get that last tbs or 2 out of a Corny keg] it won't affect the taste of the beer.)

i like you. okay let's go to it. first PLASTIC BUCKET? is this a food grade container. many buckets are made with lead and other lethal compounds which can leech into your beer. lining it with a green/black garbage bag is not kewl. without a temp erature or a final reading, don't bottle yet. if it bubbles and burps it is not ready.

soda bottles are soda bottles. beer bottles are beer bottles wine bottles are wine bottles.

the beer bottle companies would love to switch to plastic. aluminum and glass are expensive to use.

you really cannot sterilize plastic so that answers that question. a plastic bottle in boiling water, will melt. just use glass. your solution of chemicals, to sterilize, are poison. i do not usually willing injest even slight traces of poisons.

regular sugar gives that regular sugar sweetness. a sugar packet in your mouth tastes SWEET corn sugar, dextrose, is almost bland. sucrose and dextrose are not interchangeable.

boil time is irrelevant. some bacteria live beyond the boilking point. ya takes your chances or you buy quality product.

i would love to be around your place when you kn ock over a bottle. painting the wall in true fashion.

if you want to reinvent the world, do it ONE step at a time.

thanx i needed a chuckle tonight. best of luck you need it dug88

your sterilizing solution is skull and cross bones, deadly experiment to try in an empty clean beer bottle put 1/2 tsp teaspoon regular salt.

now fill it with regular water and drain it fully 3 times.

NOW fill it with water again and drink it. the salt you taste is the indication the poison of your sanitizer/sterilizer is still going into your body.

poisons don't need much to do their work. i prefer beer in my beer. dug88

I didnt taste any salt..... *shrug*

I'm sure they used a food grade bucket. I mean, they had a carboy, so probably bought the whole kit as a unit. Why do you even bring it up?

If this were true, then they would. They stick to glass for a reason: It's the best to bottle in. It is impervious to outside air - while plastic is not.

Who boils bottles to sanitize them? Most of us chemically sanitze our bottles. This is done using cool or lukewarm water, so it would work equally well on plastic or glass, dummy.

Just a couple of posts ago you said you MUST boil your bottling sugar because it is full of nasties, now you are saying it's not relevant whether it's boiled or not. Which is it, Sybil?

WTF are you talking about? Regular sugar will cause the same carbonation level as corn sugar, but will add a cidery taste to the end product. It will no more be a bottle bomb than one bottled with corn sugar.

Your posts, however, don't make us chuckle. They make us sigh as we ask why you keep dispensing your bad advice.

Hey dumbass88 -

Many chemical santizers are no-rinse. You can use them, and drink the residue, with NO PROBLEMS.

Now go away. St>your sterilizing solution is skull and cross bones, deadly

Agree with this except the statement "regular sugar will ... add a cidery taste" when used for carbonation. I'm speaking from experience... I'm drinking a very light all grain pilsner that I used table sugar for carbonation and there is no cider taste at all. If any beer would show the cider taste, it would be this light pilsner. Sugar causing cider taste has pretty much been proved a myth - the cider taste is caused from OLD STALE EXTRACT (the sugar adds no taste and you are just allowed to taste the extract's cider twang).

Derric

That'll work. Not necessary for 10-20 minutes of boiling the sugar solution 5 minutes is plenty.

Table sugar (cane sugar) works fine,

Don't boil the bottles use a sanitizer and rinse them (or don't as the case may be). A matter of semantics: we sanitize, we don't sterilize. Unless you happen to have an autoclave around, and take your beer intravenously.

The one thing you seem to have missed is stirring the carbonating solution into the wort. Failing to stir will leave the sugar solution at the bottom of the bucket since it is usually heavier than the wort.

Stir it very well, with a rolling motion and avoid entraining air or splashing the wort. You want to make sure the top and bottom layers mix well. Fill 6-8 bottles and stir again briefly, another 6-8 stir again, etc..

Failing to mix the carbonating sugar in will cause the carbonation to be variable among the bottles. Some flat beer, some burst bottles are the worst case.

Small bubbles in the wort are normal. I find that I can bottle to a plastic soda bottle and squeeze the air out before capping, then shake the capped bottle and it will stiffen as the gas comes out of solution (long before the carbonating sugar has time to work).

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 02:40:04 GMT, "dug88" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

Not plastic buckets.

But it works.

But soda bottles hold a liquid carbonated to 3 volumes, so they're probably *tested* to at least 6 volumes, and can probably hold almost as much pressure as a Corny keg. They're food grade, and easy to fit in the fridge. They're also free. (Of course, all the above can be said about glass beer bottles, if you know where to get them for free.) About the only reason for not using soda bottles is lack of intelligence.

We don't sterilize anything - but you *can* sanitize plastic, which is all we do - sanitize.

No reason to boil bottles - we're making beer, not canned veggies.

Alcohol is a pretty potent poison.

Except for carbonation, where any simple sugar will do. Since it's ALL fermented, none is left, so it doesn't sweeten the beer, whether it's table sugar or corn sugar.

Unless you want bitterness or flavor.

Which has nothing to do with why we boil the wort.

You're easily amused. But most of us wish that you'd stop giving newbies bad advice. And about 99.9% of your advice is just that - bad. And wrong.

Listen to all these guys except ol'88, sounds like you have a handle on things. Keep things clean, and sanitized (iodophor is fine) don't boil. I eyeball every bottle right before the iodophor rinse; also I prefer 12 oz bottles, less waste, better to open a second bottle that to toss half a bottle cause its hot.

Avery Brew on brother!