Bottling your Homebrewed Beer: Team Effort

Oh, what a beautiful Sunday morning here in South Florida.  The birds were chirping, the eggs were frying, and I was boiling priming sugar and bottlecaps to rack up our latest brew.  My usual bottling buddy was on the road, so I had intended to fly this one solo. 

But here's a little secret -- Bottling sucks.  By yourself, bottling is a nightmare and you end up tracking around sticky footprints from spilled beer, you sweat your butt off making sure that everything stays relatively sanitized, and it's going to take you HOURS... ugh.  The last time I bottled a 5-gallon batch, I was working with my friend Justin.  Let me tell you, one extra person on the job makes it so much easier.  I think that day we saved about an hour and a half compared to how long it takes me by myself.  Maybe I'm inefficient, or maybe I'm frigging right.  Get a buddy when you bottle.  Or be that buddy.  The world will be a better place.

So, this morning, besides being another great moment to interact with a finely crafted homebrew, I thought, "Well, I just so happen to have my family all here with me, so that means I have slaves... I mean "assistants" that can help me cap this last batch!"  My parents were more than happy to help and just then my brother showed up... of course, ready to lend a hand.

With my mom rinsing the bottles, my dad filling them, my brother capping, and me checking and racking, we bottled every beer in less than a half hour.  In total, I spent 20 minutes prepping the priming solution, 30 minutes bottling, and 10 minutes cleaning up, so I just shaved another 30 minutes off a job that used to break my back for 3, sometimes 4 hours.

I can say that having somebody there to help you is a valuable time-saver for sure, but I'll also offer that sharing what could be a very uninteresting and painstaking job with your friends and family can turn all you hated about bottling into something you'd look forward to the next time you're ready to do it.