Bottling Day No-Spill Tips?

[ChuckGViolin]

I've been brewing for a while and my bottling days get a little better each time, but I still wind up with a decent amount of beer on the floor/counter by the end. Besides using a bottling wand (the best invention ever), any other tips to keep spills and wasted beer to a minimum?

 

[Donoroto]

I have a large stainless catering tray, almost the size of a kitchen sink, to contain the wet stuff. And a place for the filled/capped but wet bottles, on a towel.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I do basically the same thing as Donoroto, but I use cheap plastic bins I get from the dollar store. does your bottling wand have a spring loaded tip? For years I used one that just gravity to seal between bottles, it worked, but there were often small leaks. Ever since I started using the spring loaded type, I"ve not had those leaks anymore.

 

[Zambi]

Like Don
Just accept some leakage/spilling, but hopefully just from the starsan foam.
Cap, dry bottles and give them a quick starsan spray

 

[Sandy Feet]

Get significant other to hold the bottle ward while you cap. That helps a great deal.
Use bombers. That helps too.
I always had a towel under the bucket that was on the counter and a towel below the sanitizer bucket and where I was filling on the floor. I never made a big mess, but again, had my wife just for an extra set of hands.

 

[Herm brews]

I put a deep plastic tub on the open dishwasher door, and put six bottles in the tub. Then I fill one bottle at a time using a bottling wand that is the spring activated kind. After filling a bottle, the wand goes into the next empty bottle while I cap, crimp, rinse and towel dry each bottle. When only one bottle is left, I load the next six into the tub. If I am careful, after filling 24 bottles, there might be an ounce or two of spillage

 

[Sandy Feet]

I put a deep plastic tub on the open dishwasher door, and put six bottles in the tub. Then I fill one bottle at a time using a bottling wand that is the spring activated kind. After filling a bottle, the wand goes into the next empty bottle while I cap, crimp, rinse and towel dry each bottle. When only one bottle is left, I load the next six into the tub. If I am careful, after filling 24 bottles, there might be an ounce or two of spillage

But filling up that brand new corny keg is going to be a hell of a lot easier

 

[west1m]

Yup, over the open dishwasher door helps a lot.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Another dishwasher door user here! Yeah, lost brew when bottling is a just another sacrifice we make for the final product. Good hand to eye coordination is about the only trick I can offer!

 

[Herm brews]

But filling up that brand new corny keg is going to be a hell of a lot easier

I will still be bottling things like Smooth Stout, but kegging those beers that will be drunk in multiples. My skill set will just be expanded, and maybe my keg set will be expanded, too. I still need a fridge for my kegs (I have only the 1 Corny keg at the moment), and likely missed out on a potential free fridge as we drove out of town on Thursday. The fridge that was visible in the neighbor’s garage was gone when we returned home yesterday evening.

 

[Ward Chillington]

. The fridge that was visible in the neighbor’s garage was gone when we returned home yesterday evening.

Ufft ! How many curbside opportunities have I passed up on the way onto work? If it's not there on the way home I just tel l myself it wasn't meant to be!

 

[Megary]

The rare occasion that I bottle, I bottle straight from the fermenter spigot into bottles pre-primed with carbonation tablets in them. The fermenter is on the counter and the bottles are in the sink. Spills are not a concern and the only extra piece of bottling equipment I need, aside from the bottles and caps, is a short piece of tubing to run from spigot to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I will still be bottling things like Smooth Stout, but kegging those beers that will be drunk in multiples. My skill set will just be expanded, and maybe my keg set will be expanded, too. I still need a fridge for my kegs (I have only the 1 Corny keg at the moment), and likely missed out on a potential free fridge as we drove out of town on Thursday. The fridge that was visible in the neighbor’s garage was gone when we returned home yesterday evening.

Make sure the 5-gallon kegs are going to fit in the fridge with the height. Mine barely does and requires some tilting when you put it in.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I've been brewing for a while and my bottling days get a little better each time, but I still wind up with a decent amount of beer on the floor/counter by the end. Besides using a bottling wand (the best invention ever), any other tips to keep spills and wasted beer to a minimum?

I use a spring-loaded bottling wand that is mounted so I can fill a bottle with one hand and have an empty bottle in the other. Just before the foam reaches the top of the bottle I lift up the wand to stop the flow. I set the full bottle aside and insert the bottling wand into the next empty bottle to minimize beer dripping off the wand and onto the floor. I set a sanitized cap on the filled bottle but, don't crimp until all the bottles are filled.

 

[ChuckGViolin]

All great tips, thanks! I do use the bottling wand which is wonderful. I'm definitely going to try using the open dishwasher. That is, until I can spring for a keg or three.

 

[Daniel Parshley]

Fill bottles without spilling any? I'm in the towel crowd. The spring-loaded stainless bottle filler was one of my better investments. It breaks down for complete cleaning and no leaks.

 

[NorthWest Small Batch Brewing]

Yup, over the open dishwasher door helps a lot.

this is the way

 

[Craigerrr]

this is the way

Definitely "a" way, and definitely a very good way, but not the the "only" way

 

[Zambi]

It won't work if you don't have a dishwasher

 

[Sandy Feet]

It won't work if you don't have a dishwasher

Most of us don't get to see elephants from our back yard either