The fermentation is complete, so now it's time for bottling.
Start with cleaning the bottles you're using.
To make it easier, I recommend rinsing the bottles with hot water immediately after you have drunk the beer.
This will save you a lot of time!
Put all the bottles in the dishwater, use the hottest program.
Then you need to sanitize the bottles. I have bought this handy bottle rinser, it sprays the sanitizing solution into the bottle. You only need to pump about 3 times and the bottle is sanitized completely.
Let them dry. The Starsan sanitizer is very handy, because you don't have to rinse after sanitizing. The remaining foam doesn't effect your beer at all.
Sugar. So why do you need sugar? You need it for carbonation and beer foam. For this beer I put about 6 g of sugar/ liter beer. It depends what kind of beer you're making. I use this site to figure this out: http://www.brewunited.com/priming_sugar_calculator.php
Remember! You have to boil the sugar with a small amount of water, just to make sure everything is clean.
Sanitize all your tools you're using that touches the beer. If you don't do that, there is a big risk for contamination.
Also the bottle caps!
As you can see, there is a lot of hop gunk in my fermenter bucket, because I dry hopped the beer. You don't want that in your final product, so put a filter cloth around the siphon. The fermenter bucket needs to be on a higher level and the pot/container (where you transfer the beer) on a lower level. Give it a few pumps, and then the beer will flow automatically.
Remember to put the sugar solution on the bottom of the pot/container before you start siphoning the beer. When you do it like this, the sugar solution will be mixed well and evenly.
After you have siphoned all the beer to another container. Lift it up to a higher level, and then you can start siphoning the beer into the bottles.
I use a bottle-filler tool that you attach at the end of the hose. When you put it to the bottom of a bottle, the beer starts to flow. When the bottle is full, you lift it up and the beer stops to flow.
The beer bottling is almost done! 14.5 liters in total! Mostly I use patent caps, saves a little bit time. The rest I cap with my bench capper.
Capping the beer bottles!
Lastly, you have to clean everything. This is the part I hate the most! But it's very important that you clean everything carefully.
When you're done with the cleaning, put the bottles in a room with a temperature over 20° Celsius. This is important for the bottle fermentation, which gives carbonation and a nice head to your beer.
In about 2 weeks the beer should be ready to drink. Usually, I test one bottle after one week, just for the sake of curiosity. It's interesting to see how the beer develops with time!
If you're wondering why I have put a plastic bag over the beer bottles. It's just for safety, it has never happened to me yet, but your beer bottles can actually explode. Especially, if you've overdone the priming sugar.
When the beer is ready, I will do a review! :)
Stay tuned!
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