Batch 17 in the Bottle

American Wheat. 4.45% ABV. 1.048 OG, 30.77 IBU, 3.8 SRM. Classic American Wheat beer.

I spent part of this afternoon bottling the first 10-gallon batch: #17, American Wheat. Gone is the 6-gallon "Ale Pail" for bottling; in is the 15-gallon keggle (see below) with a custom dip tube. We netted more than 100 bottles and split them evenly between my brewing buddy, Jim, and me. The process took two hours including clean-up time.


I experimented with a new spring-tip bottle filler, which worked  better than the previous one I have been using for more than a year. I bought it after my previous filler kept clogging when bottling the coffee stout. The spring-tip design seemed to have less aeration at the beginning of each fill and dripped less when going from bottle to bottle. Northern Brewer claims my previous one is easier to clean; we will see.

Tomorrow is brew day with a Pitchfork Tripel.