So I bottled my first batch tonight. What a mess...There was so much crud in there between the stuff I dumped in the fermenter after the boil and the dry hops that the siphon got all kinds of jammed up with about a gallon of beer left to siphoned into the bottling bucket. Long story short, I took a strainer out of the cabinet and just dumped the remaining beer through the strainer thus aerating the entire batch. There is absolutely nothing fun about bottling and I won't look forward to doing it again... Is my batch ruined? What is the best course of action from here? Drink the beers fast?
I have never had that problem did you hold the siphon up off the bottom and then slowly lower it into you brew as the level dropped? That is what I do. And yes, I would drink these brews early rather than late.
That thing wont filter anything. It would stop you from siphoning up a goldfish maybe but not trub and hop matter. Like discdueler said, siphon just below the surface of the beer next time and lower the siphon as the beer drops. The beer might be oxidized but I wouldn't worry about it (I hope that strainer was sanitized). You can always restart a siphon too. Fill it with sanitizer and chase that out with beer. Also realize that you're not always going to bottle every drop you brew. Expect to lose some volume. If you brew 5 gallons, I'd expect to bottle 4.5 gallons. Bottling will get easier. Enjoy your beer!
Yep. Here's what I would do... - Drink this batch fast. - For future batches, either whirlpool the wort before siphoning to the fermenter, or strain it on its way to the fermenter. - When racking from the fermenter, slowly lower the racking cane/autosiphon to the bottom, and when you get to the end, stop as soon as you see any trub being sucked up. With careful technique, you can rack clear beer with minimal loss (certainly less than a half gallon). It just takes a little practice.
Agreed. I feel like I learned many a lesson in my first batch. Reading a book and checking out the forums isn't enough until you actually do it yourself.
