Reddit mentions: The best beer brewing bottles & bottling products

Your recipe sounds like it'll turn out well if all goes according to plan! You may want to add some sweetness back if it ferments dry, but you've got several weeks to figure that out and read the Wiki to get all caught up on the method and terminology to things like back sweetening and nutrient addition schedules. I admire that you're being industrious with your fermentation equipment, I wasn't brave enough to start fermenting with whatever I had on hand with my first batch.

If you think you'll stick with it, here's the equipment I used for my first batch. I highly recommend looking into it if you think you'll do another batch! (I apologize if you aren't in the US, Amazon is my go-to)

• Hydrometer - $15.99 | You'll definitely want one of these first! It'll help you figure out when fermentation is done, plus it's nice to know your ABV when your friends or family ask "How strong is this?" (if you like to share)
  
• One Gallon Glass Carboy with Airlock, Drilled Stopper, Polyseal Lid - $14.81 | A glass carboy could last you forever! These have done very well for me, and the included airlock will give you a great setup for less than $15. The screw-on cap is just an added bonus, I use mine when I cold-crash.
  
• Star San 16 oz - $16 | This seems like the go-to sanitizer for the sub, and I use it as well. If you think you'll do several batches, I recommend going with the 32 oz size instead! It's much cheaper per ounce.
  
• Campden Tablets aka K-Meta (Potassium Metabisulfite) - $6.08 | This will help you preserve and stabilize your mead before you bottle. Some people don't, but it's highly recommended!
  
• Auto Siphon - $13.99 | This makes racking to secondary and bottling much easier! When it comes time to bottling, it's also really nice to have a Bottling Wand - $5.86
  
  All-in-all, this is just about my current setup excluding yeast, yeast nutrients, and extra carboys and airlocks. The list above comes out to about $127.45 USD before tax, which really isn't too bad considering one gallon should yield just shy of 5 standard wine bottles! Most commercial meads I've seen ranges from $15-$25 with some exceptions (There's a winery near me called Oliver Winery that makes a mead called Camelot Mead that sells for about $8 per bottle. Very good for such a cheap mead, you can probably find it at Total Wine & More if you have one nearby).
  
  ​
  
  Sorry for such a long comment! Best of luck in your mead-making adventure!
  
  Edit: If you have a local homebrew store, I would opt for that rather than Amazon. Prices may not be as cheap but you won't have to wait for shipping, you'll be able to support a local business, and employees at homebrew stores are usually really helpful and they can recommend recipes and give you pointers. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction!

I've made some slight modifications to this, mostly to make it easier to follow. I've also included steps that should be quite obvious to someone who's done any homebrewing before, but I wish someone had told me when I first started.

I'd link to the original, for the sake of attribution, but the user who posted this deleted their account not long after I wrote everything down.

This will produce a sweet fruit-mead (or melomel). WARNING this will be far more alcoholic than it tastes, and should not be consumed if you've recently taken antibiotics, or suffered gastric distress, as the yeast culture will still be alive, and will happily colonize your intestines if your gut microbiome is too fucked up.

Equipment: Most of this stuff will be a good deal cheaper at your local homebrew store, but I've included amazon links (also to the yeast).

At least 2 (3 is better, for reasons we'll get to) 1-gallon jugs (I don't recommend scaling this up), glass preferred. Add an extra jug for each additional batch. This one includes a drilled stopper and airlock

Drilled stoppers (or carboy bungs) and airlocks, non-drilled rubber stoppers.

An autosiphon and food-safe tubing.

Food-safe sanitizing solution (I recommend StarSan).

An electric kettle with temperature selector is useful, but not needed.

If you want to bottle it rather than just keeping a jug in your fridge:

Empty beer or wine bottles (just save your empties), capping or corking equipment, caps or corks, and a bottling wand.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs (1130g) honey, clover recommended.

A cup (approximately 250ml) or so of fruit (I recommend blackberries, and I strongly recommend against cherries, other recipes have worked for me, but this yields a very medical flavor with cherries).

1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (a champagne yeast notable for its hardiness, its ability to out-compete other microorganisms, and its high alcohol tolerance).

Optional: potassium sorbate (to reduce yeast activity when our ferment is done), pectic enzyme (aka pectinase - for aesthetic purposes). Both are also available in bulk.

Process:

Day 1:

Mix sanitizing solution with clean water at specified proportions in one of your jugs, filling the jug most of the way. Stopper it, shake it. Remove stopper, set it down wet-side-up (to keep it sterile), pour the fluid to another jug. There will be foam left behind, this is fine, don't bother to rinse it or anything. At low concentrations this stuff is totally fine to drink, and won't ruin your fermentation or flavor.

Add honey to jug, all of it.

If you have a kettle, and your jug is glass, heat water to around 160F (71 Celsius), pour a volume into your jug roughly equal to the amount of honey present. Fix sterile stopper to jug. Shake until honey and water are thoroughly combined. The heat will make it FAR easier to dissolve the honey. Set aside for an hour or so while it cools. Add clean water 'til mostly full, leaving some room for fruit and headspace.

If you're missing a kettle, or using a plastic jug, this is gonna be a little harder. Fill most of the way with clean water (I recommend using a filter) leaving some room for fruit and headspace. Fix sterile stopper, shake 'til honey and water are thoroughly combined. This will take a while, and you will need to shake VERY vigorously.

At this point, you should have a jug mostly-full of combined honey and water. To this, add fruit (inspecting thoroughly for mold, don't want to add that). Then dump in a single packet of the Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, don't bother rehydrating it first or anything, it'll be fine going straight in. Add pectic enzyme if you have it (this does nothing to the flavor, it just makes the end product less cloudy). Stopper it up, shake it again. This jug now contains your "must" (pre-ferment mead).

Pour some sterilizing fluid in a bowl, put a carboy bung/drilled stopper in the bowl, with an airlock. Ensure full immersion. Let sit for a minute. Replace stopper with your bung/drilled stopper, affix airlock. Fill airlock with clean water, sanitizing fluid, or vodka. Rinse the stopper, fix it to your jug of sanitizing fluid.

Place must-jug in a dark place, I recommend a cabinet or closet.

Days 2-7:

Retrieve jug, give it a little jostle. Nothing so vigorous as to get your mead into the airlock, but enough to upset it. This is to release CO2 buildup, and to keep any part of the fruit from drying out. The foaming from the CO2 release may be very vigorous. Do this over a towel for your first batch. If the foam gets into your airlock, clean your airlock and reaffix it. Perform this jostling procedure at least once per day, more is better.

Day 8:

Final jostling, I recommend doing this in the morning.

Day 9:

let it sit, we want the sediment to settle.

Day 10: Time to get it off the sediment

Shake sterilizing fluid jug. Affix tubing to siphon. Put the siphon in the sterilizing fluid, shake the jug a little just to get the whole siphon wet. Siphon fluid into either a third container or a large bowl. This is all to sterilize both the inside and outside of your siphoning system.

Remove siphon from jug. Give it a couple pumps to empty it of any remaining fluid. Place siphon in your mead jug, leaving the end of the tubing in sterilizing fluid while you do this.

Take the jug that you just siphoned the sterilizing fluid from. Dump what fluid remains in it. Place the end of the tubing in this jug, then siphon the mead into it. Make no attempt to get the last bit of mead into your fresh container, it's mostly dead yeast and decomposing fruit.

Add potassium sorbate if you have it, stopper the jug, place it in your fridge.

Clean the jug you started in. Clean your siphon and tubing.

Day 11:

Let it sit

Day 12 or later: time to transfer again, or bottle it.

If you no longer have a jug full of sterilizing fluid, make one.

Repeat the earlier steps to sterilize the siphoning system, with a bottling wand attached to the end of the tubing if you want to bottle.

Sterilize your bottles or a clean jug, either with fluid or heat.

Siphon mead either into your bottles or jug. Stopper/cap/cork when done.

Put your jug/bottles in the fridge.

The yeast culture is still alive, and will continue to ferment. The fridge, and optional potassium sorbate, will merely slow this down. I recommend drinking any bottles within two months, to avoid a risk of bursting bottles. The mead should already be tasty at this point, but usually tastes much better after a couple more weeks.

EDIT: Fixed the formatting up a bit.

Mead is super easy and rather cheap compared to other types of brewing. If you have a local homebrewing store they can help you get started and will have everything you need, most major cities have one and I find that the people are almost always very helpful.

The first thing is to decide volume, then if you want to boil or not, and then recipe (which includes batch strength). I prefer to boil my mead to help dissolve the honey and make sure its good and sanitized, but thats not entirely necessary

So Optional Equipment (if you boil)

1 Big Boil Pot - This needs to be big enough to do however much you want as a batch. If you get a 5 gallon pot, this is good enough for 2-3 gallon mead as well as if you got into Extract Beer Brewing. If you buy a 10 gallon boil pot (usually $120 or so) its big enough for 5 gallon All grain beer batches, as well as 5-8 gallon mead batches

2 Burner - If you are doing smaller batches your stove can handle it, if you move up to big batches or beer batches it helps to have a propane burner and propane tank.

Non optional Equipment:

1 Fermentation/Secondary Vessel - There are two options here. The cheaper route is the 8 gallon buckets with a lid and an airlock. A rubber mallet also really helps to get it on the first time (trust me here). They are about $20. The second option which I'd recommend is one of the Speidel fermenters, they are a bit more expensive at $50-$60 but have a nice spigot for siphoning and are super nice. You also need an aging vessel as you need to let it sit for 5-6 months before bottling. For this I recommend a PET carboy or a smaller Speidel Fermenter

If you are doing 5gallon, get the 8g Speidel or equivilant sized bucket. Get a plastic carboy or the smaller speidel fermenter for aging

The downside to not doing the Speidel fermenters is then you need a bottling bucket and a siphon pump to get the mead out of the bucket, I like the speidel fermenters because I can just transfer to it and use it to bottle with.

Bottle Filler and 3' rough of Hose - This is for bottling

Bottles - I prefer the nice flip top ones but they are usually around $30 for only 12 of them. The other option is to buy some bottle caps, and clean

Iodophor / Star San - Cleaner, just google them. You need this to clean all your equipment as well as your fermenters

There are some minor other things, such as a Big spoon for stirring, having a thermometer is a good idea... maybe other things but I think I covered most of it

Recipe: (The recipe itself)
Normal recipes are around 3 pounds of honey per gallon of water, so you need to get 15lbs of honey if you do 5 gallons. More honey will up the alcohol, less honey will lower it

A vial or two of yeast. I like to pitch two of them just to make sure it starts. I use Sweet Mead Yeast

Yeast Nutrient - Mead doesnt have some of the nutrients beer does, so a bit of this added per the instructions gets the yeast going

Optional - Flavoring. I tried out strawberry this time, totally optional but just google it and you can find it. Usually it comes in a tiny bottle

Instructions

First you dissolve honey into water. If you are doing a 5 gallon batch, use 5.5 gallons of water. If you are going to boil, nows a good time. During this process, Add the yeast nutrient. Put the mixture into your fermenter vessel. Cool it down to room temperature (important)

Its fairly important to ferment at 68-70 degrees for at least the first week or two (yeast stuff), so if you don't have central heating/cooling that could be an issue you have to tackle from another angle. At this point, pitch the yeast and seal it up and let them do their job

Wait about a month for it to ferment (the airlock will go bloop bloop a lot). Sanitize the hose and secondary/aging vessel, this vessel should be close to your actual volume so there isn't head room. Then transfer to the secondary, pop the airlock on it and let it age for usually 3-6 months, depending on your patience. At that point, transfer it back to a different vessel (to get it off the trub) and during this process add any flavoring (if any). Finally, siphon into bottles using that little spring bottle filler attached to the hose, and cap it

That was a bit long winded but I was trying to be thorough. if you have any questions feel free to PM me!

Don't buy a kit! They sell you all kinds of shit you won't use when there are better options for similar money.

Get a brewing bucket as if you don't have a bottler then this will make your life so much better.

Get 2 carboys (glass is best but better bottles will work too). Check Craigslist for these...you can get some awesome deals.

Get 1 Refractomoeter instead of a hydrometer because they use WAY less of your must to calculate and they aren't mega fragile like hydrometers are.

You will want an auto siphon

You will want a carboy brush that fits on a cordless drill because cleaning a carboy without one fucking sucks (and for 18 bucks this is a no brainer).

You will need sanitizer. I personally like Iodophor because it's super cheap, it doesn't really foam up and it lasts forever. I bought one of THESE bottles like 2 years ago and it is about half full even though I brew between 50-100 gallons a year.

I always advocate people start with beer bottles rather than wine bottles. The reason for this has less to do with the bottles and more to do with equipment. The Ferrari Bottle Capper is 14 dollars while a good floor corker for wine bottles will set you back 60 bucks. In addition, it's cheaper to bottle in 20 ounce beer bottles with caps rather than in wine bottles with good corks. Use of a double lever corker for wine bottles should be considered a war crime...seriously...unless you're a masochist who loves dumping wine everywhere and having to clean it afterwards...then just avoid them...they are absolutely awful.

If you go the wine bottle route then NEVER use agglomerated or colmated corks (the ones made from tiny pieces of cork glued together) as they fall apart and will leave chunks in your bottles. In addition they don't age well, so you are much more likely to lose your brew to spoilage. I like synthetic Nomacorc but you can also buy very good quality solid natural corks as well.

Good oxygen absorbing bottle caps on the other hand are mega cheap. Again...this isn't about one being better than the other, so you can use either one.

For wine bottles, I REALLY like the ones with screw tops because they make it nice and easy to cap your bottles once opened. But for all of your bottles buy these locally...shipping will double or triple the cost of these vs buying locally. I get them for 15 bucks a case a few miles from my house...they're almost 30 a case on Amazon or close to that from Midwest or from Ohio (shipping is like 11-15 dollars a case.)

For beer bottles...I prefer clear, but they'll be tough to find locally so I often end up with brown ones. Again...buy these locally not online due to shipping costs. Your local brewing supply stores buy these pallets at a time so even Amazon can't compete with the lack of shipping costs.

Cool add-ons to the Brooklyn Brew Shop 1G kits (which I liked):

• Refractometer !! You won't want to take a hydrometer sized sample of a 1 gallon batch, after you have pitched yeast. IF you are like me you want to know whats going on with your brew, and take gravity readings at the beginning and end to find out how your yeast did. Also to make sure its ready to bottle. Anyway, its just way too much beer to take out and put back in or otherwise lose if you are using a hydrometer and test jar. Alternatively a Refractometer takes only a few drops of beer to measure, even though you have to correct for the presence of alcohol.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Wort-Wine-Refractometer-Scale/dp/B006GG0TDK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1398314617&sr=8-3&keywords=refractometer+dual+scale
  
  
• You probably want a mini auto siphon , tubing, and a spring loaded bottling wand to fit your tubing. This makes getting the beer out of your 1 gallon jug pretty effortless. Anything like the below will make your bottling day soooooo much easier.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-MINI-Mini-Auto-Siphon/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398314371&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+auto+siphon
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Brewcraft-Fermtech-Plastic-Bottle-Filler/dp/B0064OEE9O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398314427&sr=8-2&keywords=bottling+wand
  
  
• Just go ahead and buy some starsan for sanitizing. Much easier than the powder they give in the kits, I got something in my kit that must be rinsed out before bottling or getting beer on it. (not good to drink).
  
  Starsan you don't have to rinse off, and it really helps you to be confident in your sanitizing abilities.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-FS_SS_16-San--16oz/dp/B00FA86OZ2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1398314939&sr=8-3&keywords=star+san
  
  
• You need a bottle capper and caps. Winged capper works fine and pretty easy to figure out.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Capper-Red-Baron-Homebrew/dp/B000Q6ARMY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398315533&sr=8-1&keywords=bottle+capper
  
  
  
• Also, you really need 3 kettles for an easy time doing the BBS kits. 8 quarts is a good size. 1 for mashing, one more to pour it all out over the strainer to collect the wort, and a 3rd one ready to go with boiled, heated water if you need to top up before the boil. I suppose you could get away with 2 if you do kind of a "Brew In a Bag" method. They say 2 is 'recommended' but I say that 3 pots is pretty much necessary the way they write the instructions.
  
  
• Have somewhere to keep the beer at the right temperature. BBS said 70 degrees F was fine. Yes it will make beer. Keeping it constant is supposed to make a big difference, even if a lot of people say you need to ferment around 64F.
  
  http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-temperature-control-440670/
  
  Anyway, enough. Don't overthink it. Those kits are so freaking easy to do, my first batch turned out pretty drinkable despite some temperature screw ups during mashing.
  
  You can watch homebrewfinds.com for deals on any items I listed, and you can even better, get them from your local home brew shop.
  
  Note, if you think you want to do bigger batches later, the mini auto-siphon and any tiny kettles are going to be a waste of money... the refractometer, starsan, capper, etc. will still be quite useful.

Lets start at FG and OG which stands for final and original gravity. Original gravity is the density of the apple juice before you add anything to it(so basically open the apple juice and take the OG). The final gravity is the density after fermentation has completed. To measure OG and FG you will need a hydrometer or spectrometer. Hydrometers are really cheap and everyone starts out with this.

To take the OG siphon(you will probably want to get an auto siphon also not very expensive) of enough water juice into a plastic cylinder(like a graduated cylinder but with no precision marks and drop the hydrometer into the fluid. Then you simply read the marks on the hydrometer and that will be the OG. To get FG you just do this after fermentation. To determine when fermentation has stopped you getting taking hydrometer readings 1-2 days apart when the reading from one to the next are the same, fermentation is no longer active. Make sure you sanatize everything that will come in contact with the apple juice....hydrometer, cylinder, siphon, air locks, keeping the apple juice free of any living thing that is not yeast is a key to success here. If you do not have the OG and FG you will have a much harder time figuring out the ABV(alcohol by volume)

 

Link to an auto siphion (which you can purchase at a local home brew store)

 

Link to a hydrometer (which you can purchase at a local home brew store)

 

Link to sanitizer (which you can purchase at a local home brew store)

 

What is a cold crash. Exactly, you just bring down the temp to a serving temp. Simply put for the cold crash you need to keep the airlock on the glass jar and stick it in a regular fridge for 3 days time.

One other thing to mention. Cider yeast will want to ferment in the 60-75F degree range. Its best to get it between 62-68F however that's not always possible but it absolutely will produce some off flavors if you allow it to get above 75F degrees. The temp of the juice fermenting will be about 5 degree warmer than the ambient room temp because fermentation is an exothermic reaction(it gives off heat). Don't be scared at all, if you really want just ferment the apple juice at whatever room temp with just sugar yeast and juice. It will produce a drinkable alcoholic beverage. If you want to get further in an refine the hobby and make some honest to god delicious cider follow my steps. However I want you to know my first time brewing anything was a cider. I simply used wine yeast and apple juice. I used a condom as a fermentation lock and by god college kids drank every ounce of this brew that taste like a bready cideryish wierd thing. However it was awesome and I had a blast doing it.

Hello world.

When I don't know what to get someone, I usually go over to mysubscriptionaddiction.com and find a nice monthly subscription box they'd like. There are monthly beer clubs, to fancy foods, and the infamous dollar shave club.


As for something on amazon, me and my boyfriend loved the Mr. Beer Kit. Me and my gal friend each got our boyfriends one of these for Christmas, and we all took a day out to brew beer together. The best part is making custom, inside joke labels with these clear label wraps and then sharing them with friends. Health/Mana Potion and Molotov Cocktail labels are always good for game night.

If beer isn't your thing, there's a wine version and a [cider version](http://amzn.com/B00I5R7MR4
). And if you're living sober, then I'm an ass and enjoy your anniversary! Congratulations. :)

Recipes on the internet! It's basically whiskey and heavy cream. It's not terribly hard to make aside from making sure the cream doesn't curdle and isn't time consuming at all. Just Google "bailey's recipe" and you'll get a ton of versions, all pretty similar. No suggestions on which one as I haven't made it in years, but I just picked one at random from Google. Just don't listen to the ones that say you need eggs, it's unnecessary (and gross) IMO.

Too little too late, but you can make huge batches, get [inexpensive but nice looking glass bottles](Chef's Star CASE OF 6 - 16 oz. EASY CAP Beer Bottles - CLEAR https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KrVyybC36C3R0) off Amazon, and gift them for a cheap and easy but crowd pleasing present.

To add to what /u/Sintered_Monkey has said, a kit to start can be a pretty good idea, though honestly, you could skip extract altogether^1. I got into the hobby with a 1 gallon all-grain kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. They're $40 and include everything you need to get started brewing, so long as you have a couple of 8 quart or larger pots and a strainer (you can get by with 2 pots, but 3 can make it a bit easier; alternatively, brew-in-a-bag, or BIAB, could allow you to do this with just a single pot and is honestly easier). You'd also need one of these to cap your bottles. I'd recommend this route because it allows you to jump into the hobby pretty thoroughly; even a basic BIAB all-grain setup is doing all of the fundamental steps of beer-making that the pros use, and any gear upgrades beyond that (and you will end up having gear upgrades, because there are lots of fun toys in this hobby) are just to further refine your process. If you end up not liking it, you're out not even a hundred bucks. If you do enjoy it or just want more info, come join us at /r/homebrewing!

^1 (One of the first steps in brewing is extracting sugars from grains; this resulting liquid is called wort. With all-grain brewing, you do this extraction step yourself; with extract, you're basically buying concentrated wort—more expensive on an ingredient basis, you have less control over the final product, but your equipment costs are less.)

I live in San Francisco and our best local brewcraft store is SF Brewcraft, http://www.sanfranciscobrewcraft.com/. The guys there are super knowledgable. They have several beginner kits, all 5 gallon. There are 3 different options of 2 plastic fermenters, 1 plastic and 1 glass, and 2 glass. I'd suggest going with this one: http://www.sanfranciscobrewcraft.com/product_p/eq101.htm

I got the plastic/glass combo a while back and that was how I got started. You can tell them which kind of beer you want and they'll make recipe recommendations and include everything you need for it.

There are smaller kits on Amazon and other places like MoreBeer if you don't want to go with a full 5 gallon setup.

5 gallon batches is about the biggest you can do on a normal stove top in a kitchen. Any bigger and you can't get enough heat to bring that much water to boil. If you don't have a lot of space in your kitchen, that might also be a reason to go with a smaller kit.

So the kit I recommended is great to get started. In reality, it comes with two plastic fermenter buckets but you only need one for beer these days. The instructions will indicate a traditional two-step fermentation process, but you'll have 2 which is great if you decide to do double batches.

You've GOT to have a pot. If you're doing 5 gallon batches, you need at least a 6 gallon pot with a lid. If you're doing smaller 1-2 gallon batches, you can use a smaller pot. A regular pot is fine, but spending a little more on a kettle that has a thermometer and ball valve is hugely helpful.

Ok but back to specific recommendations since that's what you need:

5 gallon batch recommendations

1. http://www.sanfranciscobrewcraft.com/product_p/eq101.htm. Tell them you want an IPA recipe when you order it.
   
   
2. A pot like this is preferred http://www.amazon.com/HomeBrewStuff-Stainless-Home-Brew-Thermometer/dp/B00JDVPCKU/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415488286&sr=1-3&keywords=beer+kettle or this is ok http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Kettle-Welded-Thermometer-Bazooka/dp/B00IT5LTCQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415488366&sr=1-2&keywords=beer+kettle
   
   1-2 gallon batch recommendations
   
   I haven't tried these kits, but they seem to fully be what you need.
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Brooklyn-Brew-Beer-Making-Everyday/dp/B005G20IIG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1415488462&sr=8-6&keywords=homebrew+kit
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Monster-Bookshelf-Brewery-Amber/dp/B00AKIUIEU/ref=sr_1_10?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415488614&sr=1-10&keywords=homebrew+kit
   
   You will need bottles:
   http://www.amazon.com/12oz-Amber-long-neck-bottles/dp/B003X4BO64/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415488782&sr=8-2&keywords=beer+bottles
   
   5 gallons of beer will fill about 48 bottles. Get 2 boxes of bottles. 1-2 gallons, get 1 box.
   
   You will need bottle caps. If you buy from the kit I recommended from SF Brewcraft, caps are included. But if you don't, make sure you get them or that they come in your kit. http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Colored-Polished-Bottle-approximately/dp/B002W2E99C/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1415489000&sr=8-9&keywords=colored+bottle+caps
   
   
   Hope this helps.

In my experience the quality of your cold brew is also highly dependent on your filtering system. I use the Hario mizudashi because it has a very fine filter and produces extremely clean cold brew. I prefer the cold brew from the Mizudashi even with lower quality beans to simply submerging coffee in water and filtering it later. I use a 10:1 ratio in the Mizudashi and I like drinking it at that strength. 4:1 is meant to be diluted by half, so keep that in mind.

If you're making cold brew by simply submerging it in water and filtering it later, I'd recommend putting the coffee in something like this and seeing if you like it better. However it's still possible to make good cold brew without doing this, just make sure you leave all the sludge at the bottom and filter out the good stuff. A siphon like this which is commonly used for home brewing beer could be the perfect tool.

EDIT: as far as beans go, try making cold brew with the cheapest possible option if you have a low budget. Some grocery store coffee will work just fine as long as it's made well. Cold brew is perhaps the most forgiving method of coffee brewing.

That's actually not bad but as mentioned below, a decent pot will go a long way. I bought a 30quart turkey fryer and put in a ball valve and that's been one of the best upgrades I've made. I have a fermentor now, but I got some free 6+ gallon food grade icing buckets from my grocery's bakery. Spigots, air locks, and bottling wands are $6 on Amazon. Tubing can be found pretty cheap online or at LHBS/hardware store.

Kettle - $25

Ball Valve - $22

Bazooka Screen - $9

Buckets - Free

Spigot - $6

Airlocks - $7

BIAB Bag - $5

Bottling Wand - $5

Capper with Caps - $18

Various Tubing - $15

This doesn't include your first beer kit, but you can pull off an all grain BIAB as long as you've got fire. My second favorite piece I own is my mash tun which is just a 10 gallon cooler with a bazooka screen and ball valve. I don't bottle anymore, but I feel like if I were to do it again that's all I would need to start. Oh, and a thermometer and some StarSan.

So I’m a newbie (and had some explosion issues) but here goes with what I did!

1.) I did 2F for 5 days at room temperature. Longer than the 2 days people sometimes recommend, because I had tried one bottle after 3 days and it was too sweet. (I also bottled 1F at sweeter than I would drink because I wanted to ensure carbonation.)

2.) I used chunks of strawberry, minced ginger, and lime juice. (Also made one with pineapple purée but that exploded!) ((Also made raspberry-lime not featured with mashed raspberry and that worked the best out of the three flavors.))

3.) About 1/4 cup fruit per 16 oz kombucha bottle. (For the featured Strawberry-Lime-Ginger: 1/4 cup finely chopped strawberry, 1 tsp minced ginger, 2 tsp lime juice.)

4.) These https://www.amazon.com/Swing-Top-Glass-Bottles-Chalkboard/dp/B01LB1862A?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

Going forward thing I’m going to try different are:

-Juice over plant matter like someone suggested (except raspberry which worked great!)

• Allowing 1F to get a tad more acidic so I can open at 3 to 4 days without sweetness issue (it had enough carbonation.)
  
  -And I’m going to try to use herbs and perhaps chia seeds in one batch!
  
  Happy Brewing!
  
  
  
  

I'm assuming this is from Brooklyn Brew Shop (I started the same way, have the same carboy :P ). That's pretty normal, it will settle!

What I did for my second kit from them was a cold crash. Stuck it in my fridge for 5 days and then bottled. I was warned this may kill the yeast/make bottle conditioning impossible but it turned out just fine. I can't say it will always work, but for me it did.

My first batch was super carbonated (possibly just too much sugar. Be careful! Small batches mean small miscalculations can make huge differences).

Also, be very careful when siphoning, the yeast can kick up very easily, especially if you don't cold crash. You will want some yeast for bottle conditioning, but the suspended yeast should be enough. If you can, buy a mini auto siphon. Makes siphoning way easier. I won't go back to just a racking cane. Also a clip if you can, or just a steady hand :)

It is fairly easy to get large equipment like vessels and burners locally in India but it's the little stuff that makes your brew day/bottling day easier like the bottle fillers and auto siphons which are kind of difficult/expensive to get hold off. Depending on which city you are in hops, malts and yeast can be easy to source especially if you have any brewpubs around. The selection of hops is again very limited so like like /u/chino_brews suggested you could get bulk hops from YCH. Dry brewing yeast is available (Fermentis, Lallemand) but it is mostly sold in 500g bricks so I would recommend picking up some 11g packets as well. You should definitely pick up a large 16/32 oz bottle of StarSan and a tub of PBW or something similar for cleaning and sanitizing. I would also pick up a hand held bottle capper, a racking cane, a couple of airlocks and a spigot for bottling. Almost everything else can be improvised or jugaad if you're a little handy :)

6.5gal plastic fermentor - $17.88 (Don't bother with glass fermentors!)

6.5gal Bottling Bucket - $18.81

Hydrometer - $12.99

3 3-piece airlocks - $5.00 - trust me, they'll break.

stopper not needed with plastic fermentor

Bottle filler - $5.09

10 ft 3/8th inch tubing - $10.99

Auto siphon - $8.76

don't need a bottle brush with plastic fermentor

144 bottle caps - $5.78

Use any pure sugar for priming - just calculate it right. I use cane sugar without issue.

Wing bottle capper - $15.48

Dial thermometer not really needed if you're slapping on an adhesive one, but definitely get this for a hot liquor tun if you're doing that.

Wine thief - $11.20

I never used a funnel or fermentor brush - you can use anything to clean but I suggest Oxyclean rinses

32oz Star San - $20.70

Adhesive Thermometer - $4.84

Total Cost: $137.52. Not ridiculous savings BUT you get 32oz of star san instead of 4oz of io-star which will last you years and sanitizer is expensive. You get a plastic fermentor instead of glass which is so much easier to clean and keep light out. Glass carboys are good for aging and aging is good for wine or special beers. Focus on simple ales that don't require it first.

The real savings come when you do all grain and make your own equipment. You can save $137 alone if you buy a big stainless steel pot and slap on a dial thermometer with a ball valve.

Sorry I tend to do my brewing calculations in imperial (Murican) but.. what I shoot for is a ratio of roughly (usually just a tad under) 1 oz/1 gallon when using dextrose.

For a 5 gallon batch I usually use 4-5 oz in most beers/ciders of medium-higher carbonation. Perhaps shoot for the lower side of that spectrum if you think you may have any residual sugars. If a cider is a bit undercarbed in the end it's not so big of an issue in my opinion.

So to convert converting to metric that would put you at about 13g/liter of what I use maximum if I'm not mistaken. 10-12 g/l should be more than plenty.


> Are there any major differences between top to top siphoning between fermenters, and tap to bottle? (Presuming 10 minutes to let the priming solution diffuse.) We would minimise splash and thus oxygenation in both cases.

Sorry not sure what you're referring to with your process. Maybe you could explain a little better what you're looking to do.

Here are the general beginner steps most people use for bottle carbonating:

1. Heat the measured dextrose in a small amount of water (I wouldn't stress the volume of water, just enough for it to dissolve and become an aqueous solution works fine).
   I usually heat it until just before a boil or cut it right as I see a boil. As it cools I start getting everything setup.
   
   
2. Once I'm ready I pour the dextrose water (once it's not boiling hot) into the bottom of a bottling bucket allowing my dextrose to get an even dispersion in the cider when I rack vs just pouring it on top after racking.
   Usually the dextrose mix cools relatively quickly especially as the cold bucket acts as a heat sink. It's best to not rack the cider right onto the boiling hot mixture.
   
   
3. I rack my cider carefully into the bucket.
   A good tip is keeping the tubing just below the surface of the cider in the bottling bucket as it fills so I'm not splashing and introducing larger amounts of oxygen.
   
   
4. Then I use a bottling wand attached to my tubing and fill each bottle from my bottling bucket and subsequently cap them.
   
   Sorry for the wall of text haha. That's a quick little rundown, hopefully it helps! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I can't say anything as to the strength of the swing tops. But they certainly look good and are perfect for bottling. However, you'll have to make/drink a lot of mocktails before you have enough bottles. I bought these on Amazon and they work great: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064ODUDK

Quicker way to the bottles. Unless you were going to buy a bunch of those mocktail things anyway. :-)

Before you pull the trigger on that, there's a groupon for a homebrew set:

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gx-midwest-hydroponic-atlanta

It's the basic kit plus brewing ingredients, PLUS a $25 coupon. The kit you linked also includes:

-Carboy, if you really want to get it. Honestly, for a first batch, you can get by without one and just do a single stage fermentation, but it's recommended to get a secondary. My first batch was an extract that spent ~2 weeks in a primary then straight to bottles. Came out great. There's a good deal at Amazon right now on a 6 gallon glass carboy. Also add a bung and Airlock

-Bottles. Drink some beer, keep some bottles. If you want to buy them, get 48 for a 5 gallon batch (about $25) or go cheap and get some plastic PET bottles. Also a good option. See: every argument of plastic vs. glass for a comparison.

-Large stock pot. For a first extract, you won't need more than a 2 gallon boil, so you can get by with as small as 12 qts. A cheap 12 qt pot can get you started.

I had been adding additional sugar to the bottles for the 3F (or 2F if I skipped the flavoring stage). But that has always been a pain, and is completely hit or miss depending on what kind of flavoring (fruit, ginger, etc.) was used, how much sugar it contributed, and what other yeasts and other bugs it brought with it (I always used organic, fresh/frozen ingredients before this test).

Ginger, for instance, has it's own native yeast that can stall your ferment by killing your kombucha yeast and slowing down the process until its yeast takes over.

What I was doing was transferring the kombucha after the 2F flavoring stage via siphon to my bottling bucket (https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Bottling-Bucket-Spigot-Beer/dp/B000E62H8I/ -- but these can be had at your local brew shop for about $12), straining out the solids along the way, and adding enough simple syrup (sugar dissolved in a very little bit of water) to the brew, and very gently stirring to mix -- but not enough to introduce too much oxygen (oxidation can stall / prevent your bottle ferment). I then transferred from the bottling bucket using a small hose attached to the spigot that went to the bottom of each bottle... again, as to not introduce additional oxygen.

So came out great, and others never carbed up at all, leaving me with overly sweet 'buch from all the added sugar -- and excessive sugar is something I was trying to avoid by drink kombucha in the first place.

I got sick of it all, and after reading a lot about force carbonation and how easy it is, I decided to not work about carbonation until I get my new kegerator and keg setup up and running. Every time I talk to someone who has done it with kombucha, or who homebrews beer, they immediately say force carbonation in kegs is the only way to go, and that I'll be so much happier not dealing with bottle carbing.

I'm not saying that you can't perfect the carbonation in bottles method... clearly many here have. But even when I didn't use a carboy in between for flavoring and flavored with fruit right in the bottles, the results were always inconsistent, and not worth all the time wasted on sub-par results.

Like all of what I've ever done in my kombucha brewing, I'm looking for the most efficient, cost-effective (not cheapest), and replicable processes, with the eventual goal of being able to make a quality, consistent brew every time. And frankly, I love figuring all this out and continually refining the process. It's a huge scientific puzzle with tons of variables, and it's a blast!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Your-British-Real-Camra/dp/1852492589 is excellent - gives clear simple advice, as well as having a good selection of British ales, milds, porters and stouts - if that's your thing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Herbal-Healing-Beers-Fermentation/dp/0937381667/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368899642&sr=1-1&keywords=sacred+herbal+beers is also a really interesting book - an anthropological of the history and mythology of brewing, complete with recipes! A lot of the recipes are a bit simple, or sugar-based, but it (like Radical Brewing) is a really good source of inspiration and historical knowledge.

Advice? Get a bottling wand and a vinator and bottle draining rack and shave tons of time off your bottling day.

My brother is getting married in October (which is good news by itself) and because he and his fiancée want more than the 6 people City Hall allows to attend, I GET TO MARRY THEM! I have been ordained through Universal Life Church (the real one, not the fake one) since March 2006 and I finally get to marry someone! I put in my minister profile that I'll only do same-sex weddings, but I made an exception because, well, it's my brother.

Hooray!

(if you're taking suggestions, I'd go for the beer savers, but I'm fine with a surprise!)

Thanks for the contest!

Had similar problems early on. Went from 7 day 1F to 10 day solved that for me. I also keep my house in the high 70's-low 80's which i know some people find unbearable (comfortable temp for me).

Also I don't add sugar to 2F, but usually just let them sit for 4 days before refrigerating (though i might go back to 3 since my latest batches have had too much carbonation).

Finally, i started to use these bottles instead and they're honestly amazing. Best seal of the 3 brands I've bought and I'll be sticking with them.

If you're interested in cider, here's an easy method that doesn't use the kit.

1. Go to Whole Foods, pick up 1 gallon of organic unfiltered apple juice. Costs $8.99, and it comes in a nice glass jar you can ferment in and use again.
   
   
2. Go to your LHBS and pick up a drilled rubber stopper (make sure it's sized for 1 gallon carboys), an airlock, an 8 oz bottle of StarSan (vital) and a package of dry yeast (Nottingham ale yeast or Safale US-04).
   
   
3. StarSan is what you'll use to sanitize your equipment and prevent you from making mold instead of cider. The standard StarSan dilution is 1 oz StarSan to 5 gallons distilled/purified water. This is way more than you need, so add 2 ml StarSan to 250 ml distilled/purified water in a spray bottle. (Remember: always add your acid [StarSan] to water and not vice versa.) Use this solution to lightly spritz your rubber stopper and airlock. Set them aside on some clean paper towels. Give them at least a minute for the StarSan to settle. StarSan is a food-safe sanitizer, so you don't need to rinse it off before using your equipment.
   
   
4. Pour off 1.5 cups of apple juice so you have some headroom. Drink it--you've earned it. Mm, that's good apple juice.
   
   
5. Pour in your packet of dry yeast. A full packet is overkill for 1 gallon, but it won't do any harm to use the whole thing. Reattach the lid and shake vigorously. After it settles, attach your stopper and airlock and fill the airlock halfway with either StarSan solution or cheap vodka. I prefer vodka in case the liquid gets sucked in.
   
   
6. Throw it in your closet and wait 2-3 weeks until the airlock stops bubbling. This signals that the yeast has stopped converting fermentable sugars into ethanal and CO2. Use this siphon to fill your bottles, and this capper to seal them.
   
   
7. Enjoy your dry English cider/apfelwine.
   
   Sweet ciders add another couple steps, but I can go into that too if you'd like. Once you depreciate the cost of the gear over several batches, it's quite cheap compared to commercial cider.

Anchor Hocking Heritage Hill Glass Beverage Dispenser with Spigot, 2 Gallon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BWC0E42/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f4uhAbF8X8STT

1 X Organic Kombucha Scoby - Live Culture by Scoby Kombucha https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZW8RP4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.5uhAb83TMN5D

Unbleached Cheesecloth 9 Sq ft 100% Cotton Reusable-Great Filter or Strainer for Cheese/Kombucha scoby/Glass jar/Wine making https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M612PJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_j7uhAbFHCHX7S

Adhesive Temperature Strip https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079JZLP4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i9uhAbJBGF75D

Red Baron Bottle Capper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D6KGTK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xbvhAbFY4CJN3

Beer Bottle Crown Caps - Oxygen Absorbing for Homebrew (Gold) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEH8VW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_YcvhAbCE0836F

Bottles Free: Just start saving old beer bottles (not the twist on style bottle) submerge them in hot water for 5 min, labels peel right off.

Sanitizer: White Vinegar, I prefer Star san.

Prince of Peace Tea, Black, 100 Count https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AP70BKC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_divhAbY9D73AP

With these products, you will be good to go and your volume is 2 gallons, so by the time your upgrading after your first batch. For me a 1 gallon container never cut it. With the capper you don’t have to worry about giving your friends a bottle of your Kombucha and never seeing your $4 swing cap bottle again. Just save old beer bottles or ask your friends for them.

To answer your question, the temps you listed are to low. For all brewing temperatures are very important. You want to keep your fermentation in the 70s. Here’s how you fix the problem without keeping your home heater on 24/7.

Round Kombucha Heater Kit for Continuous Brew Crocks & Dispensers. 10" Brewing & Fermentation Heat Mat, Works with any Ceramic, Glass, Stone or Porcelain Containers (10"-120VAC 7-Watts) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072S6XBQJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1tvhAb04PYXBK

Enjoy... In the long run you will spend less by starting off with the right equipment.

Okay, here's what you do.

Get a six-gallon, food-safe plastic bucket, with a lid with a small (like, quarter-inch) circular hole in it. You'll also need an s-shape airlock to put in the little hole. Get five gallons of apple juice from the grocery store, and a packet of wine yeast.

Clean the bucket with a 1% bleach solution (...the other 99% water) and rinse thoroughly. Add apple juice and yeast to the bucket, seal with the lid and airlock. Wait three to four weeks.

During this time, also get 48 empty beer bottles (you can use your own empties if you drink enough), and enough beer bottle caps. You'll also want a capper -- there are cheaper and harder-to-use options.

After the three to four weeks of fermentation, open the bucket and add about half a cup of sugar (corn sugar works best), and stir it in. Fill the bottles using either the spout on the bucket or a siphon hose, leaving a half- to three-quarters-inch of air at the top of each bottle.

Let the bottles sit a couple weeks to condition (carbonate), then refrigerate and enjoy. The dryness of the resulting cider will be based on which yeast you chose, so if you want a sweet cider use a white wine yeast, and if you want ultra-dry cider, use champagne yeast.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004NXUJ06/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1397145827&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

Yes, but also it's pretty easy to fold the strap into the case too cos the grolsh rings are flat

I've done it for the last 2 years. Really good. The link above is way more than you'll need, I'm still on my first pair!

I wouldn't call my self a home brewer, but I have a question about hand cappers. I need a bottle capper and was wondering if anyone knew whether or not a capper like this can have the metal plates switched around to cap martinelli sparkling cider bottles? I use to have red hand capper that worked like that, but it has been years and I can't remember if it had a model name or anything.

I bought a bunch of 16oz. glass swing-top bottles from a retail place called Chef's Emporium. I put pourer tops on them when in use and seal them with the swing top when it's time to put them in the fridge.

They're all over Amazon. Like this: Swing Top Grolsch Glass Bottles 16oz - CLEAR - For Brewing Kombucha Kefir Beer (6 Set) Bonus Gaskets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1862A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pG0Rzb1GQ3PJY

I would strongly caution against a 35 quart pot. The Bayou Classic 44 quart (11 gallon) pot is only a little more, and it's of dimensions more ameniable to brewing (tall, rather than squat). If you plan to migrate to BiaB, the version with the basket is quite useful; you'll be able to fire your heat source without worrying about scorching the bag.

For ingredients, I would recommend looking around for a LHBS (local homebrew shop). You'll likely not save much money ordering those online, due to their weight/cost ratio, and a LHBS is often the centre of your local community of homebrewers.

With regard to literature, my bible is John Palmer's How To Brew. You can also read the first edition online, but much has been learnt since that was published and the latest edition has current best practices.

That equipment kit is decent, but there are a lot of things in it you'll probably wish you hadn't bought.

You will want:

• 6 gallon primary fermenter carboy
  
• 5 gallon secondary carboy, for dry hopping (can't find any that ship with prime)
  
• A bench capper (wing/emily cappers are cheaper, but it's not worth it)
  
• An autosiphon
  
• A bottling bucket, with spigot
  
• A bottling wand
  
• Sanitizer (Starsan looks more expensive, but a bottle will last a long, long time. Especially if you pick up a spray bottle at the dollar store.)
  
• Two carboy caps and airlocks

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely try soda bottles. I've also seen easy cap bottles: https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CASE-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1523023099&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=easy+cap+beer+bottles&psc=1

I'd like to try these in the future, if these work how I think they're supposed to, it would save me the cost/hassle/space of keeping caps and a capper. Do you know of any downsides to this kind of bottle?

Amazon!

Swing Top Glass Bottles - Flip Top Brewing Bottles For Kombucha, Kefir, Beer - Clear Color - 16oz Size - Set of 6 - Leak Proof Easy Caps, Bonus Gaskets, Chalkboard Labels and Pen - Fast Clean Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1862A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4J.MDbCKXHADR

The price seems pretty good. On Amazon, you can get a case of 12 for $24, so this guy is offering them for half of that.

If you do decide to go through with it, it's probably a good idea to replace the gaskets on every bottle. There's no way to know what condition they'll be in, or when they were last replaced. They're pretty cheap too. Here's what I found on Amazon.

I recently switched from using recycled GT bottles to swing tops. It made a world of difference! Honestly, the carbonation increased by 50%.

These are the ones I bought off of Amazon...Swing Top Bottles

1. find a sturdy flat rubber washer that’s inner diameter is JUST enough to stretch over your strap button. The red ones from a Grolsch swing type bottle can work. Or, really any washer whose inner diameter is smaller than the outer button flange that you can install on top of the strap, unscrewing the button if needed. Even a plastic bread clip can work in a pinch, but a sturdy plastic clip like the Dunlop Ergo Lok or StewMac Lokstrap is a more sturdy no-mod solution.
   
   
2. You could get a reverb pedal like the TC Electronics Hall of Fame, but you need to be aware of the mic/line level difference, phantom power, and adapting to/from XLR to 1/4”. Edit:links.

You might want to then go more long-term and get him some bottling tools. Depending on how he wants to bottle, or what kind of mead he's making, a wine corker, a case of empties, and handful of corks might be something nice for down the road. Especially if he has something already aging in a carboy.

If it's supposed to be sparkling then you might want to stick with the relative ease of a bottle capper and some campaign bottles. TIL that in North America at least most sparkling wine bottles actually take regular ol' beer caps - which is incredible to learn. Martinelli's apple cider is the only place I've ever seen it done, but I guess it's common. If he doesn't have a regular bottle capper, or has something that isn't as easy on the bottle as one of these then maybe a capper and caps would be good.

Hope this helps!

Relax, don't worry, you made alcohol! isn't it neat?

get yourself something like this, it will help a ton. (your local homebrew supply store is probably cheaper)

1st question: 2 weeks is fine. If you want to wait another week or two that's fine too.

2nd question: see the auto-siphon above. use it to siphon all of the liquid above the yeast cake that's settled on the bottom.

3rd question: For our purposes, I like to think of gravity as a measure of sugar content. Since yeast eat sugars and poop CO^2 + alchohol, the gravity will drop during fermentation. This allows us to measure our alcohol content.

Swing Top Glass Bottles - Flip Top Brewing Bottles For Kombucha, Kefir, Beer - Clear Color - 16oz Size - Set of 6 - Leak Proof Easy Caps, Bonus Gaskets, Chalkboard Labels and Pen - Fast Clean Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1862A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_P6dxDb9CYMEXP

Swing Top Glass Bottles - Flip Top Brewing Bottles For Kombucha, Kefir, Beer - Clear Color - 16oz Size - Set of 6 - Leak Proof Easy Caps, Bonus Gaskets, Chalkboard Labels and Pen - Fast Clean Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1862A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_d6N7Cb4D5PVHC

> Proteins are what you're feeling in a 'full' beer, and taking care to ensure they stay in the beer will get you the body/mouthfeel/head retention you're looking for

What would you recommend to do in order to achieve this?

I haven't taken the pH of my water, I've just been using it from the tap. My neighbor brews some of the same exact recipes I did (same LHBS) using his faucet water as well. He does partial mash, but I don't believe he's treating his water/adjusting his pH.

My cleaning process has been pretty light, as far as I can tell. I bought everything new, but I did a PBW clean of my kettle and fermeters before I used any of them. I fill the fermeter with StarSan on brew day and dump that into the bottling bucket just before I transfer from the kettle. I have never used dish soap or anything aside from PBW and StarSan (and then a rinse with water after cleaning) on my equipment.

I've been using the standard red bottle capper, but the thing is really kind of junk (I have two actually). It's always slipping, sometimes takes a few tries to get it right, technique needs to be spot on etc.

I am using (what appears to be )https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TFVXUC0//ref=as_li_ss_tl?creativeASIN=B00TFVXUC0&imprToken=tPx24TDfjZE4TvrGDKk5Rg&slotNum=4&ie=UTF8&linkCode=w61&tag=villaegbakery-20&linkId=9e883a23a0cbb04c0ca1726a5999b954 Looks like the exact same one here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001D6KGTK//ref=as_li_ss_tl?creativeASIN=B001D6KGTK&imprToken=tPx24TDfjZE4TvrGDKk5Rg&slotNum=1&ie=UTF8&linkCode=w61&tag=villaegbakery-20&linkId=137e7f2db4bc77fc4b1a6d281597aa42

Any recommendations for a better capper that doesn't suck?

Plastic or metal? Usually it's a good idea to have a spare handy, anyway, whether it's yours or just another local brewers. Nothing worse than getting halfway through and realizing you cant bottle. If you want a big jump in quality, get a bench capper. That way you can even do wine bottles if you want. Otherwise, I would recommend an all metal handheld like this

I had one of those "black beauty" cappers, and I never broke a bottle. However, it only lasted about 300 caps before it seemed to have gotten too loose to properly cap.

I got a metal version, link below. It's lasted a long time, and has nylon where it grabs the bottle neck, rather than metal like on the black beauty.

http://www.amazon.com/Rigamonti-FMT_BC_M-Rigamonti-Universal-Capper/dp/B007CZI6BG

I use clear flip top bottles like these. Add a speed pourer for precision, and you're good to go. Of course the later is optional.

http://www.amazon.com/CASE-OF-12-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B0064ODUDK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412296599&sr=8-2&keywords=flip+top+bottles

or for larger batches
http://www.amazon.com/Bormioli-Rocco-Giara-Bottle-Stopper/dp/B003QZPY6Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1412296599&sr=8-3&keywords=flip+top+bottles

Thanks for your detailed reply! By the way, what do you consider a "carbonation safe bottle"? My first inclination was to use the flip-top style that I use for beer like these. Would these be appropriate for carbonating and storing for a month or two?

Since you're ER averse as well, I thought you might be interested in these, they're at a great price point right now at only 14.99 & prime eligible: http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Beer-Deluxe-Brewing-Bottling/dp/B0085F3PTU/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1415197409&sr=8-9&keywords=mr+beer

Firstly, once oxygen has entered the bottle, the countdown is on until it goes stale. You can try to reduce the time exposed to oxygen, but short of recarbonating the bottle with more sugar and yeast, you're never getting the oxygen out.

Secondly, you're battling against losing CO2. The best bet to keep CO2 in solution is to keep the beer cold. Beer loses CO2 as it warms up. So pour your first glass, and then get the bottle back in the fridge ASAP.

Thirdly, and I have no science to back this up, I like to use a rubber cap to seal my bottle in the fridge. I figure this will physically block some of the CO2 from escaping, and reduce the oxygen getting in, but I honestly don't know if it works or it's just placebo. I've left half full bombers sit in my fridge for 3-4 days with a rubber cap with some solid success though.

Beer Saver Cap I'm talking about : https://www.amazon.ca/Beer-Savers-Silicone-Rubber-Bottle/dp/B003Z5GW0O

I bought a kit initially just to get past any worry that I would miss something....it got me started anyways. If I would do it over I would just buy a gallon glass jar (wide mouth), some black tea, a starter scoby with liquid, some sugar, a flexy funnel (for bottling), and some flip top bottles. The kit added about 15 extra bucks to the cost if I had bought everything by itself. I also bought a few large glass pyrex jars for scoby hotels and/or to hold the scoby if I don't re-make a fresh batch that day. I also bought fresh cutting boards, saucepan and wooden spoons so I can keep that separate and really clean away from any other cooking I do.
Kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LW7OR4A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bottles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011SGS8U8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For the cover I have been using a coffee filter with a rubber band and it's been working super.

I've had no issue with mold or worrisome stuff happening to my kombucha. Each time it works perfectly and forms a nice healthy pellicle/scoby for the next batch. I think a few things you can do to make sure it doesn't 'go bad' is to remember to get all liquids to room temperature before dumping it in, don't use metal on it, wash your hands well before touching, don't use antibacterial cleaning products near it, and clean utensils with white vinegar before using. That being said, it appears to be sort of hard to kill it so it's a pretty beginner-friendly hobby.

I like to use Amber bottles. I just think they look super cool. But they also keep UV light away from the chemicals.

32-Ounce Amber Kombucha Growler Bottles (4-Pack); 1 Quart Boston Round Glass Bottles w/ 6 Polycone Phenolic Lids for Home Brewing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0749ZWF1C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gXFTDbK31SN6T

I use amber bottles, like this one.

Amber beer bottles, like this one, or amber wine bottles, like this one, also work great and might look a little nicer but are harder to label.

You can probably find these bottles cheaper on non-amazon websites too, just do a google search for "amber bottles" and look around. They come in different shapes and sizes too.

I have a set of fastracks and a set of [these bottles] (http://www.amazon.com/CASE-OF-12-Bottles-AMBER/dp/B005CIFIDO) and they work resonably well together. Every now and then one of the caps gets in the way, otherwise they fit well and are 10 times easier for storage than a bottle tree.

Not sure if you have found these yet. They are about $1.60 a piece... The best way to overcome the fewer bottles is to brew more beer =)

http://www.amazon.com/CASE-OF-12-Bottles-AMBER/dp/B005CIFIDO/ref=pd_sim_indust_1

It's a gift, what can I say... I used these (Home Brew Beer Label for 12 oz Bottles https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008703U5W/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_pF2mub1C15JD4) to secure the label to the bottle which is just printer paper. It's honestly not worth the effort though. In the future I plan on just sticking to glue sticks.

Yes, ideally you would attach a syphon tube to a bottling wand like this and use that to fill your bottles.

I ordered mine yesterday....I also assumed they were Italian, since I couldn't find where they were made. I also checked out the reviews before I made the purchase. They seemed pretty favorable for the most part.
http://www.amazon.com/Paklab-Glass-Carboy-Liter-1-9-Pound/product-reviews/B002VFXW5W/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_pop_hist_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I'd like to do 5 gallon batches. I don't think the quantity from the Mr Beer keg is worth it.

How's this look? Total is around $80.

Fermentation bucket

Bung/airlock

Stock pot

Autosiphon

Star San or Idophor (What's the difference?)

Is there any advantage to having a carboy as well? How long would I leave the beer in the fermentation bucket?

So if I wanted to do sours, I'd basically have to get 2 of everything?

Edit - actually, wouldn't this kit be about the same, but with an extra bucket but no stock pot?

Edit 2 - another pot, 36qt is good price, leaving this here so I can find it again.

So, an alternative to kegging if you aren't ready for the expense is the buy those flip top brown bottles like these.

I have those, as well as a keg (which I only use for special occasions/parties right now as I don't have a kegerator) - the flip top bottles remove a lot of the hassle involved in bottling as you don't need to cap them. They are also larger than standard 12 oz bottles, so it takes less time.

Use the auto siphon that came from the homebrewing kit - it's absolutely worth it. Bonus points if you have a bottle filler attached to the other end of the hose.

If you intend to have a sparkling product, you can try flip-top bottles. I have a bunch that originally held beer that I've successfully used for bottling carbonated things.

As others have said, champagne yeast doesn't guarantee a sparkling end product.

1. Don't skim on a hydrometer. Do you want exploding glass bottles? $10 saves you a lot of work even if it's just cleaning up a guzzling bottle.
   
   
2. When your cider hits 1.000 or lower (this is why you need a hydrometer), add some decent apple juice as bottling sugar. It can be store-bought and pasteurized, as long as you can calculate how much sugar is in the juice. Target 6-8 grams/liter for a petillant cider.
   
   
3. You can re-use your 1-gallon plastic jugs, Seltzer bottles, or better yet, these plastic bottles that I've re-used a few times. Add your new apple juice in the carboy, mix well, then transfer back to the bottles. Tighten cap then store at room temperature. Feel the bottles tighten up within 3-4 days. Wait another 2 weeks then it's ready to drink.
   
   Don't skim on a hydrometer. RDWHAHB!

Mason jars are made to withstand vacuum, not internal pressure. so you're more likely to have an explosion with those than a bottle made to have internal pressure. The Grolsh style beer bottles work great. I also like using 1/2 gallon growlers (get the ploy caps).

Wow, I must be lucky. I have one of these, and used it to bottle two 5 gallon batches to far in recycled bottles (mostly Guinness, Magic Hat, Sam Adams, Samuel Smith), and haven't broken a bottle, and haven't had a leaky cap. It isn't the fastest thing, but it does the job.

edit:

Here is the Amazon product page with reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Red-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

These.

https://www.amazon.ca/Beer-Savers-Silicone-Rubber-Bottle/dp/B003Z5GW0O

Don't have these exact ones cause I got some for free at an event but they actually seal really well and hold a fair bit of pressure! Beer always tastes fine the next day when bottle was half empty or less.

Hopefully you're filling with a wand. If not, you should be filling with a wand. When you do, fill to the apparent top of the bottle. The headspace you create when you remove the wand will be a) the correct amount, and b) the same for all your bottles.

Listen to this guy OP, he's the only one that actually answered your question. Those canning jars can't take too much pressure and are not usually perfectly cylindrical, this puts even more pressure on the corners.

They would probably work if you did a short 2F but then you'd have the same problem as you did with the growler, not enough carbonation, plus the added risk of a glassy, liquidy mess.

I'd just order a pack or dedicated swingtop bottles from amazon. If you wanted you buy a couple of 4-packs or Grolsh lager for the same price, and get the added bonus of 2 exta bottles and all of that delicious beery goodness.

Carboy. It’s the same shape as a bucket and doesn’t have a handle. It’s a glass container that’s super heavy when filled with wort/beer. Usually slippery after you brew which makes it even more useful to be able to carry it like this. There’s a LOT of stories on the homebrew sub where people have broken their foot, sliced their tendons, sliced their nerves, etc not to mention had tons of broken glass and like 5 gallons of beer spill onto their floor.

These are the bottles I use for second fermentation.

This is the heating pad I use. It's pricey but you have complete control over the exact temperature you want and if it's a hobby you plan on continuing, it's well worth it.

There are generally two different crown cap sizes - 26mm (American) and 29mm (European). There are plenty of American cideries using 29mm bottles - I always throw those away and keep only the 26mm ones to avoid having that problem (most of the cideries near me are using the same Saint Gobain/Verallia 750mL bottles (example in brown: https://buyourbottles.com/amber-glass-bottles/glass-750ml-celebration ).

Also, this is my favorite crown capper - https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Capper-OJ-NDV7-41ZH-Rigamonti/dp/B007CZI6BG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482204885&sr=8-1&keywords=italian+crown+capper

It works well on the 750 bottles and leaves a pleasant circular indent in the top.

I've never heard of a wooden capper can you link me a picture? The cheapeast option is something like this but bench capper works way better imo.

I use an auto siphon and one of these guys but it's impossible to set down without making a mess. The clamp would help with that.

The David Grolsch signature starp locks are the best:

https://www.amazon.com/Naruekrit-OT-EVP0-QWCJ-Grolsch-Gaskets-Count/dp/B0064OE7SC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1505248012&sr=8-3&keywords=grolsch+gaskets

Those beer washers work very good, amazon prime for $5 gets you 100 of them.

Edit: it's $8 for 100

[ LINk ] ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NXUJ06/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_F0bmzbEQQ71QS )

I have a Balcones barrel as well, bought from the same place. I ended up having to buy a siphon with a smaller diameter that barely fit in the top opening. This one worked: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064ODL1G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mini auto siphon. Great for decanting yeast starters without kicking much yeast up into suspension.

I use these. Sanitize your bottles, print some fancy labels on your home printer, slip on the sleeve, slip label between sleeve and bottle, and hit it with a blow dryer set to high. They're great for if you brew the same stuff a lot, and the labels won't peel off due to condensation or cooler water.

Holy crap, i didnt even think of those as a washer. Ive got like 200 of them. And theyre super cheap online. Woooooo, sorbo alternative!

Grolsch Bottle Replacement Washers (Pack of 100) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NXUJ06/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RO5lzb59739Q4

Get one of those 2-3 gallon jar/beverage dispensers with a spigot (make sure spigot is not metal, many look metal but aren't). It makes bottling so much easier. Also, a funnel. And some type of bottle with lid like this

$14 and free shipping for 100 gaskets on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Brewcraft-Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers/dp/B004NXUJ06

Fermtech Mini Auto-Siphon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pmjzDbV80QZA9

This will fit a 1 gallon growler jug. Haven't seen anything smaller. That looks to be bigger than a gallon so check measurements to make sure it can reach bottom.

You can either keep filtering (I’d use coffee filters at that point) or what I was suggesting above: siphon off the clear punch and leave the particulate and a little punch. Use something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Kombucha-Brooklyn-J7-GKD1-Q2O5-Bottling-Siphon/dp/B00CIXXM8O/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?keywords=brewing+siphon&qid=1574186921&sprefix=brewing+siphon&sr=8-9

It is a huge pain and if you have a bottle capper like that one get a second one, they can break. I went with the 16 OZ. EZ cap beer bottles.

With standard bottle caps they say the brew remains true for about 6 mo. after bottling. They have oxygen absorbing bottle caps that are supposed to keep beer for over a year. I've also read that you can wax the top of your bottles to prevent oxygen from seeping in. I'm thinking about doing this for my most recent bourbon vanilla porter brew.

NOTE: I've never tried aging beer for more than 3 or so months so I cannot attest to either wax or oxygen absorbing caps methods.

Does anyone know if the standard red bottle capper like this one can be used or modified to work on 29mm champagne bottles with crown seals?

I used to use straplocks but I switched to rubber washers and I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

I used to use Schaller ones, I liked them the most because of the design.

https://www.amazon.com/Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers-Pack/dp/B004NXUJ06/ref=pd_sbs_79_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004NXUJ06&pd_rd_r=AY1NG5P021DCM7448X9N&pd_rd_w=S18uq&pd_rd_wg=DFktd&psc=1&refRID=AY1NG5P021DCM7448X9N

Oh yes, and it is quite simple to get the stuff together without buying a kit. Do you have a local home brew store?

This subreddit's wiki which includes a beginner section: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/index
There are several videos on youtube that have good instructions.

Here is a basic list of gear to brew beer in a bag. You can get all of this stuff on amazon if you don't have it already. This is not the best list, but it works.
http://homebrewmanual.com/home-brewing-equipment/


Some of the stuff you won't likely have at home:

• Starsan: http://amzn.com/B01467UGN8
  
  
• Hydrometer: http://amzn.com/B013S1VAM4
  
  
• Grain bag for Brew in a Bag: http://amzn.com/B00CA5PH4W
  
  
• Bottle Capper: http://amzn.com/B001D6KGTK
  
  
• siphon: http://amzn.com/B0064ODELI
  
  
• airlock: http://amzn.com/B00A6TRKO4
  
  
• bottle caps: http://amzn.com/B000Q64T8M
  
  Beer recipes: http://beerrecipes.org/
  
  To get grains from amazon, type in the grain type and it will provide you options. If you don't have the ability to mill it yourself, you can order it crushed. Its not ideal, but if you don't have a homebrew store near you and don't have your own mill....it will work. You will have to measure out the correct amounts for each grain that you add on your own from the bulk that you ordered. If you want to brew with extracts, you can also order those on amazon as well.
  
  You can order hops on amazon the same way as grains or extracts.
  
  
  

OR (8 US cents each) http://www.amazon.com/Brewcraft-Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers/dp/B004NXUJ06

Do you think I'm better off spending $20 more for 2 6-Gallon carboys? Such as the ones on today's homebrew find?

Another one today. Looking at getting some new bottles. Saw these for a good price on Amazon, plastic bottles with screw caps. Would these work presuming you're doing some bottle fermenting? Or will they not seal well enough?

https://www.amazon.ca/Mr-Beer-Homebrewing-Bottling-0-5-Liter/dp/B0085F3PTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500919383&sr=8-1&keywords=beer+bottles

No, just regular metal ones like the ones below.

I am wondering if my capper failed on me. It seemed like it sealed everything fine but it also seems like that's the only possible explanation.

https://smile.amazon.com/Silver-Oxygen-Barrier-Crown-Count/dp/B000Q64T8M/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=bottle+caps+for+homebrew&qid=1572026207&sprefix=bottle+caps+&sr=8-4

$22 for 4 of these! Here is the link :)

32-Ounce Amber Kombucha Growler... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0749ZWF1C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thanks for the input. Is this the one you have?

I can't find the specific ones I bought, but anything like these should work:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0749ZWF1C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8

You might be able to find them for cheaper on Ebay/Craigslist or random stores in-person if you have any nearby.

Ha. :)

I was thinking more about one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U.

It seals when you no longer press down, keeping beer in the line.

These look pretty similar as well...

https://www.amazon.com/Naruekrit-OT-EVP0-QWCJ-Grolsch-Gaskets-Count/dp/B0064OE7SC/

You can probably by them one at a time at the beer store.

These have worked well for me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ZGtEAbFW4725R

I also found something similar at IKEA that would work just as well

I use this -- a bench capper would be nice if I lived in a big enough place that I were willing to semi-permanently dedicate table space to it, but that particular item works just fine for me for now.

I think the reason champagne uses different corks than wine is due to the carbonation. The champagne type are more secure I imagine due to higher pressure inside. The issue with mason jar lids is that in canning, the contents are at a negative pressure and actually pulls the seals tighter. If you put carbonation in the jar then you have positive pressure pushing the seal apart and therefore the CO2 tends to escape. I would try small plastic bottles or someone here was going to try beer bottles with caps. You can get caps and a crimper and reuse old bottles. Not sure how it will work, the jury is out ;-)

If you did this a lot maybe one of these would be better:

https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-1170-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK

Just crimp the cap on.

I just made a post about this.
If cost is the only reason for the switch to better bottles check out this $24 glass carboy:

http://www.amazon.com/Paklab-Glass-Carboy-Liter-1-9-Pound/dp/B002VFXW5W/ref=sr_1_cc_1?t=slickdeals&tag=slickdeals&ie=UTF8&qid=1291137175&sr=1-1-catcorr

Amazon has grolsch type bottles for homebrewing.

This is an example. If you search "homebrewing bottles" you should find several different types.

http://www.amazon.com/CASE-12-Beer-Bottles-AMBER/dp/B005CIFIDO/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1449637437&sr=8-7&keywords=homebrewing+bottles

If there is a homebrewing supply store near you they probably have them as well.

Thanks everybody, sounds easier than I thought. Can you please look at these products and let me know if I'm missing anything

Glass jar
https://www.amazon.com/1-gallon-USDA-Fermentation-Glass-Jar/dp/B006ZRBGSC/ref=sr_1_3_m?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1481986875&sr=1-3&keywords=gallon+glass+jar

Scoby
https://www.amazon.com/Poseymom-Kombucha-Scoby-Cup-Starter/dp/B00J3U9RMK/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1481988107&sr=8-4&keywords=kombucha+scoby

Some bottles for transport https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CASE-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=pd_sim_79_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8GX2CTXPKCQN47F3H629

Is it really this easy, I've brewed beer before and the materials and process were significantly more difficult. Anything I'm missing?

otherwise known as amber bottles I can buy at my local Sprouts, Natural Food Grocers, or any other place that sells patchouli.
Also available on Amazon if you don't feel like venturing out. https://www.amazon.com/32-Ounce-Kombucha-Growler-Polycone-Phenolic/dp/B0749ZWF1C?ref=ast_p_pc_rc

If you have a homebrew shop near you, you can buy a bottle capper for like $20 and recap, or tighten the caps. Hell, you could probably just bring your bottles there and they'll let you recap it for free. Or if you know someone who homebrews, or if there's a brewery near you that caps their beer, etc.

The most common caper is called the "Red Baron Bottle Capper." Here's what it looks like:

https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-1170-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK

Were you talking about this guy?

I also use it for 1 gallon batches and it's a pain, but worth the $10 you pay. I think it's problem is that their 5 gallon version is great (still using mine 6 years later), but they couldn't scale it down properly.

This is what I've been using. Weird, though, because it sounds like what you recommended.

You need something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-1170-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK

And a bag of caps. They are single use.

What I do is bottle at least one bottle of Kombucha in a plastic 20 oz soda bottle, and the rest in glass. Once the soda bottle is very firm to the squeeze, I put them all in the fridge.

For the 2F I am using the glass swing top bottles that I've purchased from amazon.


https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CASE-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1487950546&sr=8-6&keywords=glass+swing+top+bottles

I was wondering if printing on nice paper and using these was an option. But I'm not exactly sure what they are. I'm imagining them to be some sort of thin laminate type. But I really don't know

I have one of these with a hose attachment: https://www.amazon.com/Kombucha-Brooklyn-J7-GKD1-Q2O5-Bottling-Siphon/dp/B00CIXXM8O/ref=asc_df_B00CIXXM8O/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309813767497&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11292205006310301995&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016153&hvtargid=pla-569156780561&psc=1

But I feel it’s still guesswork and practice on when to pull the siphon out of the carboy.

If it's a 1 gallon batch get the mini siphon:
https://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-Mini-Auto-Siphon-3-8-inch/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1498080342&sr=8-2&keywords=brew+siphon

if its 3-6 gallons get the big one:
https://www.amazon.com/Regular-Auto-Siphon-feet-Tubing/dp/B00AYHS7ZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498080342&sr=8-1&keywords=brew+siphon

They all work fine.

the instructions for the unicolor develop kit requires 1000ml and the amber bottles i purchased limit at 950ml, should i be fine or purchase bigger bottles?

Amazon! They came with the bottles.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB1862A?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I used one of these back when I made my own soda. Capping them goes remarkably quickly. (Not great if you need any sort of pressure release, of course.)

Amazon has it, and it'll be delivered by tomorrow: http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Bottle-Caps-Absorbing-Homebrew/dp/B000Q64T8M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410318689&sr=8-1&keywords=homebrew+bottle+caps

Brian May even uses them: http://i.imgur.com/r42kJne.jpg and you can get them on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers-Pack/dp/B004NXUJ06.

You can just buy the washers, Amazon has them for $10 here

Have a look at 1 gallon extract kits Buy a 1 gallon jug of wine (about $8) then dump out the wine or drink it and use that as your fermenter. You have a pot,spoon and save up some bottles or buy https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CASE-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_328_bs_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=THND89S8R7NBS9W8Y5SV.

Ah, then they probably AREN'T oxygen resistant caps. You'll want something along the lines of https://www.amazon.com/Beer-Bottle-Caps-Absorbing-Homebrew/dp/B000Q64T8M

And let us know if it's an anomaly!

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Beer-Homebrewing-Bottling-0-5-Liter/dp/B0085F3PTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519763137&sr=8-1&keywords=mr.+beer+bottles

These are fine, you just fill them up, and screw on the cap.

That's the kit I started with in September. The beer turned out great, even though I forgot to aerate it before pitching the yeast. I think it was around 4% ABV. The kit has everything you need to get started and you can upgrade from there. The bottle filler sucked, so I would recommend a spring tip one like this. Since then, I have upgraded to a bigger kettle and purchased a glass carboy.

Side note: Northern Brewer was recently acquired by InBev, and /r/homebrewing is not happy about it. I've started ordering from www.love2brew.com instead.

Chill it in your... dorm fridge or an ice bath. That will encourage yeast and other trub to drop out. Then you can use a racking cane and tubing or something like this to transfer it to bottles. If those are no goes, you can do a careful "still pour" - slowly pour it trying to leave trub behind. PET soda bottles will do the trick for bottles.

I'm not advocating such silliness, but here's an example: http://amzn.com/B003Z5GW0O

https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Bottling-Bucket-Spigot-Beer/dp/B000E62H8I

Do you have one of these?

You would like to know about a bottle wand.

It has a spring loaded stop. You press it against the bottom of the bottle - the bottle fills all the way to the rim - stop pressing and remove the bottle wand - perfect fill level every time - when you stop pressing on the wand, it stops releasing mead/beer/wine/etc.

$5 on prime, if that's your thing https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U

I use this. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539095622&sr=8-1&keywords=bottling+wand

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-To-Brew-Auto-Siphon-3/dp/B000E60JF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377796614&sr=8-1&keywords=autosiphon

http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1377796614&sr=8-6&keywords=autosiphon

For less than $20 you won't have to deal with this in the future.

A bottle capper.

It's actually for putting bottle caps on, not removing them.

That is a bottle capper. It is used in homebrewing.

$17 with prime shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Red-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK/

Usable desktop link for the same product.

(this should be a bot)

Beer Savers! I use them, they work. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003Z5GW0O?pc_redir=1413281083&robot_redir=1#

You can also buy the washers by themselves...

http://www.amazon.com/Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers-Pack/dp/B004NXUJ06/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462308922&sr=8-2&keywords=grolsch

The working man's strap lock.

https://www.amazon.ca/Grolsch-Bottle-Replacement-Washers-Pack/dp/B004NXUJ06?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duc12-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B004NXUJ06

Way cheaper. Although, you probably don’t need 100 of them. 🤷‍♂️

Cheapest straplocks

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004NXUJ06?pc_redir=1398414039&robot_redir=1

Pack of 100

Most of the online retailers carry them. For example. Northern Brewer has them for $29.99/dozen (amber, 16 oz.) Amazon has them too.

Is there some other facet of this search that I'm not getting?

This?

There's the Mini Auto Siphon, made purposely for 1-2 gallon jugs.

This one will work
https://smile.amazon.com/Fermtech-Mini-Auto-Siphon-3-8-inch/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1494300266&sr=8-3&keywords=auto+siphon

Fermtech Mini Auto-Siphon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_O18IBbH9HNE3C

Local brew shop. They're ez-cap bottles: https://www.amazon.com/CASE-12-Beer-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B0064ODUDK

Get some EZ-Cap bottles from your local homebrew supply or Amazon and print your own labels.

These are the bottles - found them on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Swing-Top-Glass-Bottles-Chalkboard/dp/B01LB1862A/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=kombucha+bottles&qid=1567886502&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Isn't this a brewing bottle though? The bottle cap is supposed to go off before the bottle explodes. You can check this as example.

I got mine at my local brewery supply store! These seem similar.

I used Amazon Prime

I bought these and they've worked out well so far. I've only used the for 3 batches. No explosions and my strawberry second ferment was on the verge of being too carbonated.

https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CASE-Bottles-CLEAR/dp/B011SGS8U8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_79_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51vunCRbh9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=ZYCKXHCPJPRABD169RBJ

From what I hear, the rubber gaskets degrade over time. You should be able to find replacement gaskets, i'm not sure if these will fit those particular bottles but you could pull them off and measure:

https://smile.amazon.com/Naruekrit-OT-EVP0-QWCJ-Grolsch-Gaskets-Count/dp/B0064OE7SC?sa-no-redirect=1

Or you could get them for a fraction of the price if you buy them from somebody not selling them to guitarists. (Seriously, do you think those brewers pay $1+ per gasket?)

Grolsch Gaskets- 100 Count https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064OE7SC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_OmQFzb02ZS9SD

I ordered one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U after my first batch.

Also started with the NB kit.

This wand is great. Sometimes I get a very slow drip from it but unless you're gonna wait several minutes between bottles it isn't an issue. Even if you let it drip for five minutes you'd lose less than half a bottle.

I recommend bottles that are rounded. I've had a couple bottles explode in the past, but they were the type pictured, the ones with corners. I think those create weak points, perhaps? My kombucha is extrememly bubbly, but it never breaks the rounded bottles!

http://www.amazon.com/CASE-12-Beer-Bottles-AMBER/dp/B005CIFIDO?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

I recently got one of these, no foam from pouring into bottles
Spring Loaded Beer Bottle Filler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E66A4U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_DNWb6NyYyNjOT

1. Basically, yes. Typically people use a bucket with a spigot on it -- siphon into the bucket with some sugar to prime the beer, then use the spigot with a bottling wand to fill the bottles. You can, however, add a small amount of sugar to the bottles and siphon directly from the fermenter into bottles.
   
2. Sure. You can't reuse caps, though.
   
3. I haven't found a great source for plastic bottles. What you're looking for is amber (or brown) PET bottles. Clear or green will skunk your beer quickly.
   
4. You have to clean and sanitize each bottle, so bottling day can be a bit of a chore. You've got to store them, which can be a pain in the butt. There will be a little bit of yeast sediment in every bottle, so you want to pour very carefully and leave the last 1/4" or so at the bottom of the bottle. My least favorite thing about bottles is probably the opposite of your pressure barrel problem -- I don't have a dedicated beer fridge, so I'd only have 2 or 3 bottles at a time.

Don't do your 2F in plastic bottles! The plastic will leech into your brew, leaving a nasty after-taste. Instead, try reusing kombucha bottles you buy in-store, they're rated to hold carbonation and won't leech anything into your brew.

I'd recommend buying some swing-top bottles if you're planning on brewing into the future - they make a big difference!

Problem solved, $30 shipped

So I’m not sure where I pulled this recipe from, it was probably inspired from another webpage but with my own twist and I’m still changing it as I go. So I originally tried 150g peeled ginger in a ninja single serve blender, filled to max line with water which was ~310ml and blended to hell. Then I put in pot, heated to ~65°C (150°F) and added 53g turbinado sugar (~4Tbsp) and 43g (~3 Tbsp) table sugar. I stirred for a few minutes to dissolve, covered and let sit about 30 min. Then I strained out the ginger muck, topped up with cold water to the 1L mark and chilled in fridge to room temp. Once it’s about room temp I put in the GBP grains to prevent any thermal shock. I also only use bottled (preferably Poland spring) water. Now the most recent batch was roughly quadruple of that but not topped up to 4L, instead closer to 3.5L making it a bit more concentrated. I let mine ferment fully dry and then force carbonate in a tiny 1.75 gal keg. If you wanna do swing tops I have one conditioning now with 3g of sugar added to the ~400ml that was in the bottle (I got them on amazon I think they’re 16oz bottles and this one was slightly under filled) I actually used 6ml from my cocktail simple syrup (1:1) and just put it in the bottle the other day.

Edit: sorry I wrote my recipes in real units and have to convert because... well Murica

Second edit: don’t forget to feed the grains! Even if you’re not gonna make another batch to drink, make a small 1L batch and give it a few hours on a vented container (I like using mason jars with these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H7G1NF0?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share )

before putting in the fridge! Once in fridge their metabolic rate will come to a crawl and they’ll be in a solution of food and won’t starve (not for a good long while at least)

Third edit! Lol: the 5”? OXO strainer is ideal for harvesting grains and I also use one of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064ODL1G?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share to remove the bulk of the gingerbeer into another container before harvesting the grains out. It leaves all the muck leftover at the bottom and out of finished product. Also, most recent batch was neglected while heating and hit a boil so I’ll let you know how that changed it. I made one batch with fresh squeezed blackberry juice pressed and filtered as not to contaminate the grains and while it was wonderful it was a PITA. I plan to repeat but with some sacrificial amount of grains so I can just add mashed blackberry and let the culture extract the bulk of flavor then toss those grains with the vegetative waste at the bottom

When I brew in bulk, I do like the beer homebrew folk do and use an auto-siphon with a bottle filler attachment. The siphon goes into the bucket, held just above the bottom to avoid the dead yeast, and stays far enough below the surface to (mostly) avoid the yeast strands, everything staying still and not mixed around. When a strand does sneak through, it gets caught in the bottle filler tip and can be easily wiggled out if problematic. It makes filling bottles extremely clean and simple. But unless you're brewing 3+ gallons in a single container, it's probably not worth the effort and I end up just using strainer + funnel.

Has anyone ever used one of the cheap red cappers? I'm on a budget, so I went with this. I'm planning on reusing Samuel Adams bottles from a variety pack I bought. I've got a Brooklyn Brewshop kit (afternoon wheat), a mini siphon {here}, and strainer, but no bottling bucket (I was told I can use a pot and siphon for just a gallon). Also got caps. Anything else I really need to get? I'm looking to start the process next week.