Bottling
Procedures
Now
that you've made your homebrew, it's time for bottling the
beer. The bottling procedures are really easy, although they
can be a bit tedious.
Here's
What You'll Need:
(60)
Reusable grade 12 oz. bottles or (32) 22 oz. bottles
(70)
Bottle Caps (or enough to cap all the bottles and a few extra)
(1)
Bottle capper
(1)
5 gallon, food grade plastic bucket (preferably with a spigot)
(5-6
feet) 3/8" inside diameter clear plastic hose
(1)
Bottle of unscented bleach for sanitizing all equipment
(1)
Racking cane
(1)
Bottling Tube
(1)
Bottle Washer (optional, but highly recommended)
(2)
Small sauce pans
(3/4
Cup) Dextrose (corn sugar)
(1)
5 gallon batch of your homemade brew!
Let's
Begin
It's
important to make sure the beer is finished fermenting before
bottling. If it is not, you run the risk of exploding bottles
due to excess carbon dioxide production.
Step
1 - Sanitize Everything!
Just as when you brewed the beer, everything must once
again be sanitized. This step is extremely important because
there is a big difference between clean and sanitized. You
can't see bacteria, but it can ruin an entire batch of beer
(and your valuable time).
In
a large tub, or your kitchen sink, make a mixture of about
2 ounces of unscented bleach per 5 gallons of cold water.
The bottling bucket, hose, racking cane and bottling tube
need to soak in the solution for about 10 minutes and then
rinse thoroughly. The bottles on the other hand, need to soak
for at least 30 minutes.
Do
not soak the caps in the bleach solution, we will boil them
later to get them sanitized.
After
sanitizing rinse thoroughly with plain water to remove all
traces of bleach.
Tip
- It's much faster to submerge the bottles in the bleach solution
if you place a drinking straw into the bottle before submerging.
This lets the air displace out of the bottle faster than bubbling.
Important
- The bottles must be completely cleaned of any visible contaminants
before soaking in bleach solution.
Step
2 - Boil the Bottle Caps
While
the bottles are sanitizing, take one of the sauce pans and
boil the bottle caps in enough water to completely cover all
the caps for at least 5 minutes.
Cover,
drain, and then re-cover until needed.
Step
3 - Prepare the Priming Sugar
Next
take the other sauce pan and bring 3/4 CUP of dextrose (careful
not to go over 3/4 CUP for danger of over-carbonation) and
about 16 ounces of water to a boil and let boil for about
5 minutes.
Cover
and remove from heat.
Step
4 - Transfer the Beer
The
next step is to transfer the beer from the fermenter to the
plastic bottling bucket.
Place
fermenter on a table. Remove the airlock and insert the racking
cane to just about an inch above the yeast sediment (you won't
to leave about an inch of beer in the fermenter).
Next,
attach the bottling tube to the plastic hose and fill the
hose with water.
Now
attach the water-filled hose to the racking cane and set aside.
Place the sanitized bottling bucket on the floor under the
fermenter and pour in the boiled dextrose. This will give
the yeast a little more food to create the carbonation.
Finally,
take the bottling tube and push down on the bottom of the
bottling bucket to start the siphoning process. Transfer the
beer with as little splashing as possible.
Step
5 - Bottling the Beer
Now
place the bottling bucket on the table and move the near empty
fermenter aside. Remove the hose from the racking cane and
attach to the spigot on the bottling bucket. If you do
not have a spigot, you must use the racking cane and create
another siphon.
Now
take a bottle and set it on the floor under the bottling bucket.
Open the spigot on the bottling bucket and insert the bottling
tube into the bottle. Press down on the bottling tube to start
the flow.
Fill
the bottle until it is completely full (carefully because
the level rises quickly once it reaches the neck of the bottle).
When beer is level with the top of the bottle, remove the
bottling tube. The beer will now drop down about an inch or
so to the proper level.
Repeat
for all of the bottles.
Step
6 - Capping the Bottles
Now
that you've bottled the beer, the next step is to cap the
bottles. Find a steady surface (I prefer to remain on the
floor).
Grab
your bottle capper and a cap and place the cap on the bottle.
Now with even pressure, slowly pull down the levers being
careful not the let the cap become tilted.
After
fully crimping, check the cap for a proper seal. If in doubt
about the seal, remove the cap and try again. This is the
purpose for the extra caps.
Repeat
until all of the bottles are capped.
Step
7 Clean Up and Storage
Congratulations!
You've just accomplished brewing and bottling your very own
homebew!
Now
it's time to clean up. Clean up all of the equipment and place
in a mildew free place.
Now
store your beer bottles somewhere where the temperature is
consistent and cool, but not cold (preferably around 65 to
70 degrees). You will need to let the beer condition for at
least 2 weeks.
After
2 weeks have past, put some of the beer in the refrigerator
and when it is cold, enjoy the fruits of your labor!
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