Re: help with kegging...

Hi Steve,

I haven't tried kegging yet. I intend to someday.

But as far as cleaning bottles have a look at the following clip i got off the net some time ago ( and which works for me)

Regards

Ian C

A page about beer

How to make your beer better. Thats what it's all about. I hope I cover some tips and tricks that help in your brewing life. Some people like a crystal clear beer to sip, and want to know how. What about steralizing a large number of bottles? Keeping your brew at the right tempreture and other such tips from the wisdom of my compiled resourced.

Make a clear beer. Do you have to make beer clear to be successful? No. What's wrong with yeast Lees (floaty bits)? Nothing. Should your brew be visually pleasing to be great? No, but it helps.

Do you want to know two great ways of clearing your beer? Yes. More questions? No.

Firstly, fermenting the beer in two fermenters. When you are satisfied that primary fermentation has ceased, steralize a second fermenter of the same volume of the first, and take the lid off the first fermenter. Use a hose or other such device to syphon the beer into the next fermenter. Do this slowly and do not splash the beer, this way we reduce the ammount of air introduced into the beer. Syphon most of the beer, leave a small amount and the sediment in the first fermenter.

The contents of the first fermenter can now be tiped out and the fermenter washed. Now is a great time to add more hops, if you are going to. See the Beer, Tried and True page for more information about hops. If you decide to add finings to the brew now is the time to do it. OK, What's finings...

Finings are matter that, by way of their electrical charge take all the sedement from the beer and it gathers at the bottom leaving a clear beer. It is often gelatine or isinglass. I heve not yet used isinglass so I can't comment on it's benifit compared to gelatine. To introduce gelaitne to the beer at this stage, disolve 1 tablespoon in 500ml of cold water(makes enough for 20L of beer), slowly walm, and slowly stir into the beer so as little oxygen is introduced as possible. It then works for a few days and collects in the bottom of the fermenter. Bottle as per useual.

Thankyou to Steve who sent me a tip to share. He writes...

"I have now been brewing beer for over 15 years and have brewed countless thousands of bottles.To save cleaning bottles just prior to bottling, after consuming I simply rinse my bottles in hot water straight from the tap and allow to drain overnight. The following morning a piece of plastic cling wrap or "glad wrap" is placed over the top of the bottle. When bottling, remove cling wrap and presto! a clean bottle. I have used this method for over 15 years without a single contaminated bottle! As a matter of interest, my brother gave away brewing in 1991 (pure laziness) however his 100 or so empty beer bottles remained in his "beer cupboard", protected by cling wrap, until March this year when he finally got of his arse and started brewing again.He has since used all the above mentioned bottles,without cleaning them,and guess what, not one contaminated!"