Time / hassle savers

Khannie

One of the things that bugs me about home brewing is the time consuming aspect of it. Anything that can reduce that is two thumbs up in my opinion. Someone on here recommended one of these things to save time and I'm going to buy it in about 10 minutes.

I have found batch priming a big time / hassle saver too.

I have also recruited my daughter during the bottling stage. She fills with the "little bottler" and I cap. She has good fun doing it and it saves me time.

What other stuff have you found to be useful time savers? (preferably that don't cost a fortune )

BeerNut

My best ever brewing purchase was an 80L trug for €10 in Woodies. I make up 60L of sanitiser on bottling day so can get 20L of bottles submerged at once.

mayto

I have my bottles clean before bottling day. just needing a dunk in starsan on bottling day before going on to bottling tree. A bench capper is a great investment, really speeds up the bottling. Keep one finger on the height adjust lever on the capper and adjust height then for each bottle offered up. You can put caps on in a few minutes easily.

Khannie

Khannie wrote: »

One of the things that bugs me about home brewing is the time consuming aspect of it. Anything that can reduce that is two thumbs up in my opinion. Someone on here recommended one of these things to save time and I'm going to buy it in about 10 minutes.

I bought one of those after doing my first batch. I put it to use over the weekend before bottling my second batch. Worth every cent!

Khannie

Nice one. I've bought it so it should be here before the weekend. I must admit I was reluctant to drop 20 euro on it until I read the raving review so it's good to hear a second one.

lil_lisa

We've started to heat the collected wort as we're sparging. Then, by the time we're done sparging, its usually at a boil and the 60 minute timer can start. It saves a good 20-30 minutes!

Khannie

I had to google sparging, but that seems like a very good idea alright.

sharingan

BeerNut wrote: »

My best ever brewing purchase was an 80L trug for €10 in Woodies. I make up 60L of sanitiser on bottling day so can get 20L of bottles submerged at once.

+1

In my case a 60L plastic gardening bucket from wilkinsons for about £5. Use it for the same purposes, long sterilisation with cheap vinegar/bleach.

Also good for cleaning used bottles that have let their residue get sticky.

Also plastic beer reseals and plastic wine/champagne corks. Sterilise everything in one go, sterilise the seals and cap them. Store the bottles well in advance of bottling day.

Khannie

Khannie wrote: »

Someone on here recommended one of these things to save time and I'm going to buy it in about 10 minutes.

Used it on about 30L of cider today. Great time saver. Pricey enough, but it'll pay for itself over time. I'm bottling a batch of wine in a few days so it'll help with that too.

Lars

Khannie wrote: »

Used it on about 30L of cider today. Great time saver. Pricey enough, but it'll pay for itself over time. I'm bottling a batch of wine in a few days so it'll help with that too.

That rinser was one of the best things I bough along with a bottling tree to speed up bottling day. I used to dunk them but it was a major pain in the ass. That rinser i sso much quicker...

DeadSkin

Would kegging be a time saver? Thinking of getting this Minikeg Starter Kit. Would save me some space too!

Any body on here use this kit?

Khannie

Don't have one, but I have considered them in the past and probably will again when I feel like a splash out. I don't see myself using the CO2 cartridges, but keg conditioning and keeping it in the fridge would sure save a lot of hassle (note: cider drinker).

sharingan

DeadSkin wrote: »

Would kegging be a time saver? Thinking of getting this Minikeg Starter Kit. Would save me some space too!

Any body on here use this kit?

My only concern with the minikeg system, is cleaning them out. You want to check if you can open them up to give them a good scrub. Otherwise you will have to be very fastidious about keeping crud out of the kegs at kegging time.

You are right though in general - kegging fans cite time saving as a huge advantage.

5L kegs have other advantages too, like being easy to chill for brews that need it, and are very portable. If you keg condition, you can get your carbonation that way, and may not need external CO2 (depending on the design of the keg).

I used to bottle into 5L PET water bottles, and it was a real party/BBQ convenience.

DeadSkin

sharingan wrote: »

My only concern with the minikeg system, is cleaning them out. You want to check if you can open them up to give them a good scrub. Otherwise you will have to be very fastidious about keeping crud out of the kegs at kegging time.

You are right though in general - kegging fans cite time saving as a huge advantage.

5L kegs have other advantages too, like being easy to chill for brews that need it, and are very portable. If you keg condition, you can get your carbonation that way, and may not need external CO2 (depending on the design of the keg).

I used to bottle into 5L PET water bottles, and it was a real party/BBQ convenience.

Cleaning would be a concern alright, doesn't look like there's a big enough opening. Although I do rinse all out all my bottles after I finish I with them.

Saruman

I keg using Corny kegs. No bottling other than a few from the leftovers that I use for sampling. Much quicker than bottling but of course requires some investment.

Baz_

This is a good thread and I believe it should be stickified and the first post should have a synopsis of all the good advice added to the thread (as good is a subjective term, it could perhaps be based on the number of thanks a particular post receives).

Saruman

By the way, that thing Khannie posted is designed to sit on top of a bottling tree.
I have one at home from my bottling days. Now it's just used for draining the odd bottle.
It will get use bottling wine if my wife ever does it again.

See here for a clip of it in action.

Khannie

Yeah, I think my next purchase will be a tree tbh. They look useful / think my daughter would get great entertainment out of it. She loves helping me out at bottling time anyway.

"Child labour....the ultimate hassle saver"

Saruman

Khannie wrote: »

"Child labour....the ultimate hassle saver"

That should be stickied

Baz_

Well, thanks to this thread I ordered some hassle savers in the shape of a bottle tree and bottle rinser. And they arrived today, yay!

With that also came crown caps and two handled capper, which I tested and I must say works much easier than I was expecting based on peoples comments about them. Now I'm sure the bench capper does work much more effectively but this two handled capper was less than half the price of the bench capper and since I'm only starting off I thought I'd best not go for the bigger investment until I know it's going to stick.

With the arrival of this equipment another two questions popped into my head. 1. Do you have to sterilise/sanitise the caps before they're used? 2. Can they be reused?

Aside from not having a hydrometer to check whether I've reached final gravity, I'm now ready to move to bottling stage and I just have to sit on my hands to make sure I don't let myself go too soon. Mmmmm, Amber nectar!

Saruman

Yes, sanitise the caps. Everything that comes in contact with beer you sanitise.
That includes the bottle tree itself.

sharingan

Saruman wrote: »

Yes, sanitise the caps. Everything that comes in contact with beer you sanitise.
That includes the bottle tree itself.

Siphons, Fermenter Taps and bottling wands are absolutely critical at this stage. They are all convenient/necessary, but they are the most dangerous things to get infected, and in some cases the hardest to clean.

Baz_

Saruman wrote: »

That includes the bottle tree itself.

Good point about the bottle tree. Didn't even think of that .

Ratsathome

Baz_ wrote: »

Can they be reused?

I reuse them on non alcoholic ginger beer,but I use a table top capper.
When I open the bottles I use my opener to open a little bit of the cap at a time,twist and open a bit more until it's open trying not to bent the cap to much in one place.
So far lucky

Khannie

Ratsathome wrote: »

I reuse them on non alcoholic ginger beer,but I use a table top capper.
When I open the bottles I use my opener to open a little bit of the cap at a time,twist and open a bit more until it's open trying not to bent the cap to much in one place.
So far lucky

That's more or less exactly what I do too. I don't have the bench capper, but it's on my todo list.

actuallylike

I always have a Sterilization filled sprayer (not sure of the name, like a Windolene thing but empty) beside me. I feel it comes in handy for quick sterilizations of things. Such as, if I'm pouring the wort from a tin I'll spray the tin on the outside or the lid so I can dip it in the mix to free up the residue. It comes in handy for the bottle tree as well, spraying each branch. Makes everything a lot less messy.



also, I like to use bottle brushes that I've gotten from MotherCare. They have a kinda sponge top on it which cleans the base of the bottles quite well.

oblivious

one of these (any brand) are cheap and it give you a free spay bottle and some disinfectant to use around the house

lil_lisa

I have the same, a home made mix of Iodophor and water in a spray bottle, really handy when you accidentally brush off something.

Paz-CCFC

I was having trouble cleaning a 3/4 inch tubing I use for syphoning. There was a bit of mould growing inside that I couldn't get completely cleaned out. My uncle told me a fantastic trick. Dab a piece of cotton wool in your cleaning solution and push it through the tube with a wire hanger. It worked very well, was able to clear out that little bit of mould.

slayerking

Some hassle savers I brew by....

Using no rinse sanitizers is the way to go IMO. Starsan made with de-ionised water can be reused for months (once the pH is below 3). Plus no need to rinse is so convenient.

Oxyclean for steeping cruddy fermenters over night is also great and means no need to scrub (which is a no no if you use plastic).

Kegging (in Corny's) is a huge time saver IMO. Very quick and easy, force carb and away you go.

Primary fermenting is absolutely fine for almost all beers. Secondary is generally, really unnecessary and risks doing more damage than good TBH!

Dare I say... banging out an extract brew :eek:!! You can knock out an extract beer in about 2 hours, and it can be as good as its all grain counterpart (depending on the beer style brewed obv).

And also..... just keeping it simple. Don't over complicated it with elaborate recipes with every ingredient under the sun going in! Some of my favorite beers have been very basic plus you really get to see what particular ingredients bring to the table.

sharingan

slayerking wrote: »

Using no rinse sanitizers is the way to go IMO. Starsan made with de-ionised water can be reused for months (once the pH is below 3). Plus no need to rinse is so convenient.

Must get some Starsan. The better half is always complaining about by sanitisation bucket.

Kegging (in Corny's) is a huge time saver IMO. Very quick and easy, force carb and away you go.

I have seen a demonstration of pressure bottle filling from a corny. Impressive (no haze, no sediment). Some lads from the local brew club who are competitive do all their competition bottling that way.

Primary fermenting is absolutely fine for almost all beers. Secondary is generally, really unnecessary and risks doing more damage than good TBH!

+1. Dont screw with your beer too much.

Dare I say... banging out an extract brew :eek:!! You can knock out an extract beer in about 2 hours, and it can be as good as its all grain counterpart (depending on the beer style brewed obv).

Brew in a bag is another great trick too.

And also..... just keeping it simple. Don't over complicated it with elaborate recipes with every ingredient under the sun going in! Some of my favorite beers have been very basic plus you really get to see what particular ingredients bring to the table.

My first all grain recipe was oatmeal, maris otter, cascade & yeast. And it was f*cking divine.

I was expecting it to be drinkable, I didn't expect it to be as good as it actually was.