So, you’re ready to bottle your beer. What to do, what to do?You made the jump to making 10 gallon batches and now you have a lot of beer from that big batch you made.
There are so many options: 12 ounce crown-cap bottles, 16 ounce flip-top bottles, 22 ounce crown-cap bottles (bombers), 32 ounce flip-top bottles, and half-gallon growlers. What is the right solution?
Well, like everybody on the Internet, I’ll give the standard answer: “It depends.” What are you trying to accomplish? How much of this beer do you want to have to drink in one sitting? How much beer do you usually drink in one sitting? Are you in a perpetual time crunch(I know I am most of the time)?
If you’re like me and you’re time-poor, just buying a case of growlers seems like the easy solution. The problem is then you have to drink a half-gallon of beer every time you want to have a beer. I mean, I’m all for an excuse to have a beer, but a half-gallon at a time is little more than I want every time.
On the flip-side, filling twelve ounce bottles takes a while. It’s not quite twice as many as if you go with 22 ounce bombers, but it’s pretty close. But 12 ouncers are nice if you’re going to share your beer with others. Some of the guys who help me drink my homebrew don’t like more than 12 ounces at a time.
I’ve found a mix of bombers and 12 ounce bottles is a nice compromise. I enjoy the size of a bomber, rather than needing to open two bottles. But having half the batch in 12 ounce bottles is nice for sharing. I can grab a six pack when I’m heading out the door, where bombers can be a bit more awkward to carry.
I usually end up filling my five gallon bottling bucket twice when I bottle. If my growler is empty, I’ll fill that first, then I fill as many bombers as I have available. It takes about 24 to bottle five gallons, depending on your fill level, etc. Hopefully that will get me through the first five gallons, which goes pretty quick. Then I bottle the rest in regular 12 ounce, crown cap bottles.
I haven’t used the flip-top bottles, but there are lots of guys who love them. Experiment to find out what works for you.
Eventually, I hope to upgrade to a kegging system. There is still a lot of work making sure your keg is totally clean before you rack your finished beer into it, but then you only have a couple big bottles to fill.
When it comes time for bottling your big batch of beer, it doesn’t have to take all night. Once you figure out a system that works for you, bottling becomes less of a headache.
What is your preferred size of bottle or container?
