Beer Bottling Ideas

[GuingesRock]

I’ve been using wide necked SS water bottles from Zellers because they wash up in the dishwasher at the end of the evening and I can sanitise a load in the dishwasher and they are ready to go. I have a Blichmann beer gun now which makes the whole bottling thing more feasible and I find if I need room in the keezer and there is a half empty keg, I can easily bottle it with that method.

I also supply family and they are not set up for kegs.

I have some issues however: 1) they are expensive…They were 9.99 for a pack of two, but Zellars is now closed and I can’t find them at that price any longer, 2) I send them home full of beer with people and often don’t see them back again…my numbers have dwindled drastically.

I was looking for a cheaper option, maybe a brown or light impermeable plastic, or a glass bottle with a screw cap, but I really want a wide neck for the convenience of dishwasher cleaning and sanitisation. Does anyone have any ideas please?

Any other interesting bottling ideas?

[gm-]

When I bottled I just used regular 500 ml brown bottles (picaroons/propeller/garrison). After a go through the dishwasher at the hottest cycle with bleach based detergent they came out very clean and I've only had one bottle out of few hundred that have gone funky.

[GuingesRock]

When I bottled I just used regular 500 ml brown bottles (picaroons/propeller/garrison). After a go through the dishwasher at the hottest cycle with bleach based detergent they came out very clean and I've only had one bottle out of few hundred that have gone funky.

That’s interesting. There isn’t such a thing as an automatic small home brewers bottle washing machine?

If not, perhaps a cheap dishwasher could be adapted by removing the bottom rack and replacing it with bed of vertical copper spray tubes…each bottle would sit on its own tube and the top spray would wash the outsides.

Those brown bottles are so cheap/free and available…such a machine might pay for itself in short order, in labour savings alone.

I find 1-Step “no-rinse” cleaner & sanitizer works well in the dishwasher.

[GuingesRock]

Started looking into people's ideas

I see someone already had my idea of dishwasher to bottle washer conversion. This one looks great (pictures below): http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/25327 ... onversion/

Some guy's washer he made in the video (doesn't wash the outside of the bottles).

Picture below of bottle washers at WineKitz (wonder where they get them from)

[GuingesRock]

$80 on ebay (picture below) http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-Bottle-Dishw ... 0941671204

Also...found the manufacturer of the WineKitz bottle washer http://www.aquatech-bm.com/produits.html#bottle-washer

[GuingesRock]

The bottle washers at WineKitz that they use are quite a lot of money. I like the idea of modifying a countertop dishwasher best.

Hello,

First I would like to thank you for your email and interest in our Product.

In regards to your request, our *Bottle Washer* is $7995.00 CAD It comes fully loaded with options and also includes one stainless steel & plastic coated rack that can hold 30 bottles at once (bottles from 200ml up to 1 litre).

We do have 2 other different models depending of your needs, please do not hesitate to let us know if you need information on one of them.

If you wish to order additional racks, your price at time of ordering is $308.00 instead of $368.00 if ordered seperatly.

All washers come with electronic control board, that work on 120 / 240 volt, with the higher quality components that work everywhere. Friendly user panel board with nice looking buttons switch. More than that, it’s come already pre wired, the only thing you need to have in order to make it work, it’s an electric WOODS dryer plug mounted on your wall, (you can get it in every Hardware Store) hot water supply and a drain. You need to have 26½ ‘’ wide space to slip the washer in X 32’’ deep and a clearance of 7 feet high.

In regards to shipping fees, you look at approximately $250.00 delivered to your door, but in order for us to give you a fare quote we will need your complete address and if the trucking company will have access with to an unloading dock.

If you require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Chantal Leclaire

Executive Assistant

Aquatec Leasing & Management Inc

Quebec, Cananda. J3Y 8K5

Phone : 450.904.4996

Toll Free : 1.877.904.4996
http://www.aquatech-bm.com/produits.html#bottle-washer

[GuingesRock]

I found some Stainless Steel bottles at Dollarama today. $3 each! I'm back in business!

25 oz = 739.338 mls (roughly same size as a wine bottle).20 - 24 needed to bottle a Corny full (depending on headspace and dregs).

I looked on the importer's web site and they are BPA free: http://www.greencanteen.us.com/

[Woody]

I would have never thought about using these water bottles for bottling. I would have my concerns about bottle conditioning and the pressure but see you use the bottling gun. At 3 bucks a pop that still seems expensive. I use my left over 500 ml & 1 liter glass bottles and rinse once used. I just seems cheaper to buy the bottles with the beer in them & drink it. I've never used the dish washer for sanitation as I've read allot of stories about food particles possibly getting inside and spoiling beer. Now if you have a dedicated bottle washer your laughing. When I used to get beer kits at Truro Water n Wine I know they offered a $5 bottle washing service for 30 wine or beer bottles but I never used it.

I still find it pretty convenient to rinse the bottles once done and use my sulphitor to squirt chlorine detergent inside, than bottle blast with water and hang on my bottle tree. I have accumulated hundreds of these bottles and give many away much like you. I find allot of people clean and return them to me. That's the great thing about home brewing which is doing what works best for you, so if the stainless works for you than great.

[GuingesRock]

Derek, it only works for me because they have wide necks and I can therefore wash/sanitise in the dishwasher, for me it’s worth paying the $3 for that convenience. Another thing is there’s no risk of exploding glass. I’ve put them in the freezer from time to time to chill from room temp and forgotten them. The only thing that happens is the bottom bows outwards and they rock when you stand them up for ever afterwards. Regarding your pressure concerns, they may be valid as I haven’t really evaluated whether they keep pressure for long periods, since I drink my IPAs within a few weeks and I carbonate at low levels. I’ll have to fully carb some beer and try it in them for a few months. They have a reasonable silica gel O rings on the lid.

I agree that glass bottles are the nicest option, and I’m kind of itching to get a one level countertop dishwasher and convert it to a bottle washer…but that will have to wait a while.

In the picture of the SS bottles above, the information tags, made of card, are attached to the handles. I had a thought that I could make some beer labels on the computer, print them on card, and attach them to the lids the same way, or maybe use the supplied clips…that would look a bit cool, and would negate the need to remove labels from the bottles. Also I could re-use the labels/tags doing it that way.

Thanks for the great input.

Edit: I remembered that I used to prime in these things before I got kegs and it worked. It's long periods of time that I haven't evaluated. The beer might end up going flat. I'll have to report back on that one in several months time.

[Woody]

G-Rock I mean Mark, I hear you completely on the convenience factor and labels sound pretty cool. The bottle bombs have never concerned me much as I check the FG etc. If I do a high gravity brew ie a RIS I leave it in secondary for a month or so. My wife really likes Raspberry, Cherry and Apricot Wheat beers so when I add the puree and I wait about 3 weeks before I consider bottling as it's hard to figure out the FG when you add 3 lbs of puree. I think in the long run it may be worth it for you to buy a bunch of growlers as I would guess the mouth would be the same size as your stainless bottles and you could wash them in the dish washer. I bought a plastic cap available at Noble Grape that fits on growlers. I only have one but it was only a buck or two and you can bottle condition beer with this cap. It is plastic and screws on. When I asked Noble Grape about the cap they didn't think it would work to bottle condition due the size but I tried it and had no issues. Obviously if you use the standard cap for a growler you are going to blow the cap off. Giving away 2 litres of beer would probably not be as convenient as your 25 oz. bottles or having to open 2 Litres every time. Food for thought none the less. Good chatting about different ways of doing business.

[GuingesRock]

With the clip-on labels, I'm now thinking I could print them on photo paper and laminate them at work so they can be re-used. Might even be able to run them through the dishwasher

I was going to put "GuingesRock Beer" on the labels, but now you have me wondering...should it be "G-Rock Beer", "Rockin G-Strings Beer", "don't put your rocks in a G-string beer" etc. etc.

I have a cupboard full of growlers, either because I haven't had time to take them back to the pub, or because I might use them again some time for bottling. I suspect it's just laziness though. The necks are a bit small on those and I am worried that the dishwasher jets won't find their way right up inside. Interesting about the caps, and growlers would be less bottles to wash by hand because they are much bigger.

As you have gathered by now, I don't have anything intelligent to say at the moment. I'm a bit distracted because, according to Tony L, it's National IPA Day today

[Woody]

Ha ha I'll drink to that (IPA Day)! Go with G-Rock Brewing. We rock the g strings or like you said don't put your rocks in a g string. lol