Bottling Day and a preview of things to come...

Well this weekend I did indeed bottle my first ever batch of beer! It was pretty successful, but in line with the rest of the process, it was also a mess. Just to get the lessons-learned out of the way: before you bottle MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH BOTTLES!!!! It's heart-wrenching to pour any of your beer down the drain...I'm sad to say that I ended up have to do this; I exhausted all resources - there's even some beer bottled in a rum bottle which I cleaned and sanitized at the last minute...we will see how that goes. Second, bottle somewhere you  can easily clean up the mess; my bottling bucket's spigot seal leaked and slowly created a sticky beer puddle on the floor which took endless passes of the swiffer wet-jet to clean up (a good suggestion is to bottle in the bathtub!). Now on the list of "things-that-worked-out-great!" the swingtop bottles I used were EXCELLENT! I highly suggest using swing-tops for bottling for a number of reasons: 1) it's easy; 2) it's much much faster; and 3) more beer per bottle.

Now, here's the general outline of the bottling process:
First I cleaned and sanitized all the bottles and bottling equipment, to include the bucket, racking cane, siphon tube, "bottling stick", and bottle caps/swing tops. The  bucket I sanitized with bleach, everything else I used B-brite on, except the actual bottle caps - those I sanitized in vodka, they were the oxygen absorbing type so I couldn't boil them. While everything was sanitizing I boiled my corn sugar and water to pitch into the beer just prior to bottling - this is what the yeast eats to create the carbonation in the beer.

A whole bunch (but still not enough) sanitized bottles.

After everything was sanitized and rinsed I poured the corn sugar solution into the bottling bucket then siphoned the beer out of the carboy into the bucket - called racking it over; an important part of the process is to remember not to splash the beer, you don't want to oxidize it - the mantra is "siphon smoothly and quietly". Once all the beer (not including the sediment!) is siphoned into the bucket you simply start bottling.

All the beer, ready for bottling!

The bottling process is simple - assuming you have the simple bottling "stick" I had which attaches to your spigot and is activated by pressure; in this case the bottom of the inside of the bottle, and fills from the bottom up - further minimizing oxidation again. After you fill up the bottle you cap it. Even with my basic two-handed capper this was a simple task; simpler still were the swing tops. When you're done bottling all (hopefully) of your beer just put it back in a dark corner and let it sit a couple of weeks. This story will continue when I get to that point: 31 April, 2011.

Close to half of the finished bottles - the cooler was full and then some!

Between now and the time I crack open the first homebrew however, I plan on starting one, maybe even two new brews! The first, by a unanimous poll, will be an American Amber, the second will be an Oktoberfest Brew, and my first attempt at both secondary fermentation as well as Lagering! Not to mention a TRUE test of patience as my intent is to wait until September to bottle it, if that's reasonable, and then enjoy it in true German style at the end of September and Early October! The Amber I hope to start this week - be on the lookout for a post on that brew!

Until then...

Jack

Myself, first-ever homebrew, and the red hue I received earlier that afternoon on the lake.