subject: Bottling Your Home Brew Beer [print this page] Bottling Your Home Brew Beer Bottling Your Home Brew Beer
So you have made your first Home Brew, here is a short article about bottling that beer. This is just a quick primer to get you started
First of all you will want to know fermentation has stopped so there should be no activity from the airlock. If you have a hydrometer use it, check the hydrometer reading on consecutive days it should be low between 1.010 - 1.018 and not of changed at all between those 2 readings.
Now this is the part of brewing that most people agree is a chore. You are going to obviously need some bottles to put your beer in, all these bottles need to be sterilised.You can get various equipment like drying racks for your bottles and brushes. If you find this makes it easier then go for it, either way they all need doing. Another thing is to do more than you think you need it's always a pain to have to stop because you haven't got enough bottles. The best bottles are brown glass ones as this stop light from effecting the beer. Just save the ones from the beer you buy from the shops.
Carbonation with Priming Sugar
At this point the beer is flat we want to give it some fizz. To do this we need to prepare some priming sugar. All that is needed is to boil roughly 115 grams of sugar in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes or so to sanitise then allow to cool to room temperature. Its always a good idea to rack the beer on to another vessel before bottling if you can because this will decrease the chances of sediment making it into the bottle. If you are racking put the priming sugar in the new vessel and syphon the beer on top of this without splashing it. If you can't do this don't worry just take it easy and try not to disturb the sediment too much and mix the priming sugar in by stirring gently to avoid splashing with a sanitised spoon.
Bottling
Right, now we now need to get the beer from the fermentation vessel into the bottles. You will need a syphon tube for this (sterilised of course). Usually you will have a length of tube with a sediment trap on and a cane so you can push the tube to the bottom of the vessel. On the other end you can have a clamp type device to control the flow. One thing I would recommend is something called a bottling wand, instead of the clamp type thing you have a rod that when you push against the bottom of the bottle allows the syphon to work and when pulled away shut the syphon off. This device will make the whole process so much easier and smoother. If you haven't syphoned before then have a practice with some water. I will out something up here that talks about it in more depth.
Capping
Finally we need to seal the bottles. You will need a device called a crown capper (these come in various shapes and sizes so ask at your home brew store) and of course some caps. Soak the caps in a sanitising solution before beginning. Make sure the beer is roughly an inch and a half from the top of the bottle we don't want to much head space at the top and not full to the brim. Now seal the bottles using your capper and store for two weeks for carbonation to take effect.
If you haven't yet started home brewing why not take a look at this article to see if it is right for you.
