alternatives for bottling via spigot

[Zambi]

I have a couple of fermenters without spigot and only one with and that one is small and gets used for small batch fermentation.
I can drill a hole and make more bottling buckets, but I rather not.
Now I was thinking (yes, dangerous, I know)
What if I attach my bottling wand to my auto- syphon? Put the fermenter high, and bottle low? Would that work?
Or any other suggestions?

 

[GFHomebrew]

I don't see why not sounds like a perfect solution.

 

[Minbari]

Have done it that way in the past. Just secure the racking arm or sure as you are born it will fall out and make a mess

 

[Sunfire96]

Yep that'll work. A clip for your auto siphon would make the job slightly easier

 

[Zambi]

I think I got a clip on my standard syphon
I'm sure that will fit.
The hole for the airlock in my 30 litre fermenter is quite big and will fit the syphon pipe.
That would als be an option for my other fermenters as I got a couple of corks with an airlock hole in them and I don't mind drilling in the lid...

 

[The Brew Mentor]

I have a couple of fermenters without spigot and only one with and that one is small and gets used for small batch fermentation.
I can drill a hole and make more bottling buckets, but I rather not.
Now I was thinking (yes, dangerous, I know)
What if I attach my bottling wand to my auto- syphon? Put the fermenter high, and bottle low? Would that work?
Or any other suggestions?

That'll work fine.
The auto siphon clamp is an extra set of hands and works well to help keep the siphon in place.
Also, when I used to bottle like this, I'd just put a measure of priming sugar into the bottle after it was filled with a small funnel and then cap.
Cheers!

 

[Zambi]

I put priming sugar per bottle as well.
I use a 1/8 measuring teaspoon and I can get it OK in 500 and 1000 ml pet bottles and if I am careful, I can do glas beer bottles as well.
3 spoons for a 500 ml bottle

 

[Daniel Parshley]

I put priming sugar per bottle as well.
I use a 1/8 measuring teaspoon and I can get it OK in 500 and 1000 ml pet bottles and if I am careful, I can do glas beer bottles as well.
3 spoons for a 500 ml bottle

I mixed 5.5 oz of corn sugar in 550 ml of water, boiled and cooled, and used a folly flush (unused!) with ml markings to put 10 ml in 12 oz and 20 ml in 22 oz. bottles. It worked okay but slowed the carbonation time by around a week. Interesting but I'm back to the bottling bucket.

 

[Nosybear]

I have a couple of fermenters without spigot and only one with and that one is small and gets used for small batch fermentation.
I can drill a hole and make more bottling buckets, but I rather not.
Now I was thinking (yes, dangerous, I know)
What if I attach my bottling wand to my auto- syphon? Put the fermenter high, and bottle low? Would that work?
Or any other suggestions?

That should work just fine!

 

[Zambi]

Thanks all!
I may just try this out on the (no longer so) primitive cider I got on the go

 

[Ward Chillington]

Siphoning and a wand but get you priming fluid into the bucket and get better uniformity in your batch!

 

[Zambi]

Siphoning and a wand but get you priming fluid into the bucket and get better uniformity in your batch!

In theory: yes
In practice: It's how I started, but I got very uneven results. Hence the change to priming sugar per bottle

 

[philjohnwilliams]

Bottling wand on my autosiphon is the only way I bottle. I have thought about adding a spigot, but decided against it due to how easy the autosiphon is to use/clean.

 

[Ward Chillington]

In theory: yes
In practice: It's how I started, but I got very uneven results. Hence the change to priming sugar per bottle

Wow really! That's really weird, I would think a couple of gentle stirs with as big old stainless steel spoon and you are homogenized!

 

[Zambi]

Maybe I didn't wait long enough?
May try again, but putting sugar per bottle is real easy. Plus no/less chance of oxidation. I think

 

[Herm brews]

I have 2 ported fermenters with spigots and a ported bottling “bucket” of sorts, because using an auto siphon quickly went out of favor in my brew house. Batches are always primed with a priming solution and bottles filled using a bottling wand. Until recently, I had only ever bottled from the bucket. Dry hopped beers continue to be bottled from the bucket, with priming solution mixed in the bucket with the beer. For beers that are not dry hopped, I have switched to bottling directly from the fermenter. In this case, I prime the bottles individually with solution delivered via syringe. This individual priming method has not been perfect, but I like that I don’t have a bucket to clean.
If you can make an auto siphon work with a bottling wand without extra sets of hands, more power to you. Brew on!

 

[Minbari]

Wow really! That's really weird, I would think a couple of gentle stirs with as big old stainless steel spoon and you are homogenized!

Same here. Bottled for 7 years (kegging FTW) and always batch primed with good results.

 

[Herm brews]

Wow really! That's really weird, I would think a couple of gentle stirs with as big old stainless steel spoon and you are homogenized!

Are you suggesting priming in the fermenter? I won’t do that for fear of disturbing the trub.

 

[Herm brews]

Same here. Bottled for 7 years (kegging FTW) and always batch primed with good results.

As I replied to Ward, did you batch prime the fermenter or use a bottling bucket?

 

[Minbari]

As I replied to Ward, did you batch prime the fermenter or use a bottling bucket?

Bottling bucket. Tried it in the fermentor once, had 2" of goo in the bottles