Bottling Debate - Lay them on their side or not?

[Gallinipper]

Another local producer and I are having a bottling debate and I would appreciate some of you that have been at it for a long while to weigh in on the topic. We both bottle around 190 degrees. I lay mine on their side to sterilize the cap and to prevent mode. He argues that it is not necessary to lay them on their side because the steam created and temperature inside the bottle sterilizes the bottle and cap. He indicates he has never had a mold problem and that I am wasting valuable time. Thoughts on the subject?

[therealtreehugger]

I tip mine on their sides. The steam is very hot, but per unit area, the liquid syrup has more heat energy, and will take longer to cool off, therefore heating up the cap all the way through, better/quicker than steam. Not to say steam doesn't work, just that liquid works better at holding the heat.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I think you'll find that the general rule of thumb and good practice is to put them on their side or upside down briefly. Maybe its not always necessary but it certainly doesn't hurt anything and you know its sterilized. I guess I would argue the "valuable time" being wasted. Doesn't really take that long to tip a bottle up??

[Kh7722]

I dont think it will hurt to lay them on their side, with that said i do not do it. I bottle every few weeks so not overly concerned just dont really have the room to lay them all down. Also if you watch the large packers who have bottling lines and such they dont lay them on side they just fill, cap, and off they go.
Kevin

[TapTapTap]

We lay them on side. I think it's good practice and it's hard to argue that it takes too much time as the next bottle under the spigot takes a minute or so to fill. There's also time to tip a few up that have had the side treatment for 10 or so minutes _ so space is hardly any issue. Since I'm a perfect bottler I never spill a drop! Ha ha. Always have a pan under the bottle to catch the spill.

[Brian]

We don't lay our jugs on there sides any more because we bottle 40 to 80 gallons at a time. It takes up to much room, so we put the covers on them and give them a shake. We leave room around each container so the syrup won't darken from over heating. We never had any problems yet. After they cool some we recheck the caps to make sure they are tight. They are easy to strip when hot. We bottle 190 to 180 then the canner is emty. Our canner holds 50 gallons.

[toquin]

It how you find leakers!

[Ed R]

I've had leakers too and that's the main reason I tip them on their side as well. Just think it's best practice and have been doing it that way over 50 yrs.

[ir3333]

just turn them upside down to coat the inside of the cap with syrup to seal them.
.then stand them up, they'll cool faster.

[berkshires]

I've had leakers too and that's the main reason I tip them on their side as well. Just think it's best practice and have been doing it that way over 50 yrs.

I've only been doing this for five years, but I'll lend my voice to the chorus. I've had a few leakers, and I have to think that if I hadn't found that out by laying them on their side, they would have wound up with a poor seal and (eventually) would have grown mold.

Gabe

[maple flats]

I've never bottled without laying the bottle (or jug) on it's side for 30 seconds to several minutes. I have a rolling rack right beside my bottling station. It has several shelves (big commercial baking sheets, about 18" x 28"). I use 2 or 3 shelves to stage onto. If working alone I then move them to set upright on the top of my 2 freezers. There they get labeled and priced. Once cooled some get boxed back up, others get set down into one of the freezers. I have 2 such freezers, one has 1/2 gal only and has shelves. As a row gets filled up, a new shelf is set right on the top of the jugs and a new row is started. The HG has 3 layers when full. The other freezer is qts, pints and half pints. Qts go in the deep end and everything else in over the raised compressor part. Qts have 4 layers, pints and half pints only 2 layers.
I bought those freezers at a yard sale about 10 years ago for $40 for the 2 of them. They are the type you used to see in mom & pop stores with ice cream novelties in them. Turned out to be a good investment. I shut them off mid- late October and turn them back on about May 1-15.

[TapTapTap]

The other thing i do during the bottling process is to mark them with the year and the boil number on the bottom of the bottle. For example - 20-9 would be the 9th boil in 2020. This inventory process allows me to better track production and provides a good record if a quality control check is necessary.

[Brian]

Never had one leak!! and we mark them with batch #, year, barrel, grade and name after they have cooled. We send syrup all over the U.S and even have shipped some to the Philippines. Our syrup has made it all the way to Hawaii and Alaska even England. PS my wife said tighten the cap up. If it's leaking, It's not hot packed.

[ennismaple]

We lay all our filled bottles on their sides for at least 30 seconds before standing them up. OMSPA recently did research on molds found in maple syrup and this was one of the recommended best practices, if my memory is correct.

[Big_Eddy]

Do be careful. I used to lay them all down until the batch was done, then stand them all up. Last spring I had some caps that would soften with the heat and after a few minutes on their sides, there would be a pop and the cap would fly off and syrup would start flowing out. So now I fill and cap a bottle, lay it down, then stand up the one done before it. Takes a minute or two to fill and cap each bottle, so the one prior had more than enough time on its side to sterilize the cap.

Resist the urge to re-tighten the cap after standing the bottle up. The softened cap can stretch and pop off the threads and you need to start over.

[Mille705]

We always lay ours on there side and there are times they sit like that for days. I understand the concern of space, it does become an issue.

[Mead Maple]

We lay them on their side as well. Does take up a bit more room but I don't leave them like that for longer than the bottling session. I've found the only issue I've had with leaking was self inflicted. Filling too high to the brim didn't allow much room for any changes which wouldn't allow the seal to hold. Now I'm diligent to leave just enough room at the top for expansion with the heat.

[steve J]

Years ago I took a maple class from Glen Goodrich. And what he was teaching was once you capped the jug to turn it upside down and than back and place it standing up. I have done that for 20 years never had an issue and I have open jugs that where 3 years old and never found mold. But its clear that one way or another you need to sterilize the air space.