Joe Murphy wrote:[color=blue]
> Another noob question. I've taken hydrometer readings on three successive
> days and they are all giving me a gravity of 1.017. The airlock bubbles once
> every 3-4 minutes. It appears to be bottling time.
>
> Trouble is, I haven't the time to do it right during the week so it looks
> like my beer will have been in the fermenter for two weeks once I finally
> get to it on Friday night.[/color]
no prob, especially if it is a glass carboy.
[color=blue]
> Also, any downside to using an empty dishwasher to air dry (but *not* using
> the heating element in the dishwasher itself) sanitized bottles?[/color]

so that is where you are going to leave them to drip dry after you've
sanited them? If you mean, spray 'em with iodophore or let em sit in
bleach water for a longish period of time (or some other sanitation
method) and use the dishwasher as a bottle drying rack, sure sounds
great. If you mean washing them in the dishwasher and letting them
airdry to sanitise them.. no that is not satifactory.

sometimes i just put my bottles upside-down in boxes with paper-towel to
catch the excess sanitiser (i use no rinse sanitisers for bottling). My
bottle rack is at my gf's right now so that was my quick solution, the
dishwasher would have been better when i was bottling in the kitchen
though, some people are just a little more creative i guess :D.