First Batch Bottling Struggles

[MrBIP]

Well, first I WILL have something different (like one of those spring loaded bottling tips) before I bottle again. ...

This stuff I borrowed was leaky and clumsy ... what concerns me right now is that I could see air asperating into thru the bottling tube on and off much of the time. I'm guessing I got maybe a dozen or so bottles that didn't do that (in hindsite I should have seperated them). I've read over and over that AIR is BAD for beer, so how screwed up am I now?

It's all bottled and put away now, so nothing I can do but wait.

 

[JAMC]

I wouldn't be too worried if you're bottle conditioning, as the yeast will scrub a good quantity of the oxygen out of the beer while it carbonates it.

 

[sbaclimber]

I wouldn't be too worried if you're bottle conditioning, as the yeast will scrub a good quantity of the oxygen out of the beer while it carbonates it.

+1
I bottle condition and have never been too worried about too much air getting into my beer while transferring primary to secondary, secondary to pre-bottling, or while filling.
I obviously don't overly agitate where it isn't necessary, but even stirring in sugar pre-bottling introduces a fair amount of potentially detrimental air into the beer, but I still haven't produced an oxidized beer yet (knock on wood).

 

[MrBIP]

Well that makes me feel better .... still need a better system than this loosely fitting plastic tube on a plastic valve ... messy and wasteful.

Thanks,

 

[chessking]

Well, first I WILL have something different (like one of those spring loaded bottling tips) before I bottle again. ...

This stuff I borrowed was leaky and clumsy ... what concerns me right now is that I could see air asperating into thru the bottling tube on and off much of the time. I'm guessing I got maybe a dozen or so bottles that didn't do that (in hindsite I should have seperated them). I've read over and over that AIR is BAD for beer, so how screwed up am I now?

It's all bottled and put away now, so nothing I can do but wait.

How was the air leaking in? If the hose is not making a good seal on the racking cane, then push it on tighter or get a clamp. If you are using a bottling bucket with a spigot,(which I recommend. After years of bottling directly from the carboy, and trying to get a good mix of priming sugar without disturbing the yeast cake, its so much easier with a bucket.) any air leakage should be minimal.

Also, if you are bottling too early, with fermentation not yet complete, you can get some CO2 coming out of solution as the beer is actively moving, and this CO2 can build up in the hose and produce pockets of "air" at the high points of the hose. This can appear to be air leaking in. In that case, the CO2 wont effect the taste of the beer, or contribute to oxidization, however bottle bombs could result.

 

[MrBIP]

Not sure how it was happening, but some bottles, I could see the tube full, nice flow, quick fill; others I could see it was mostly air and very little beer (and the fill was slower). This was in primary for 2 weeks and secondary for 2 weeks, so fermentation surely must be complete. This set up, I think, is homemade (bucket) and it was leaking and not easy to work with at all. There's definitely a better way.

On the positive side, it tasted nice (nice and flat, ya ) .. it was clear, color was nice. So, I'm hoping it comes out like I was thinking it should be when I started.