First batch/bottling

After the wort has sat in the secondary fermentor for about 10 days I can tell that it has cleared up considerably and the valve in the air lock is resting on the stem no fermentation activity going on what so ever. Now it is time to bottle.

Before I go off to work for the day I take the carboy out of the cool dark room and set it on the counter in my kitchen at room temperature to get the yeast active again. It is important for the yeast to become active and to get yeast into the wort again because we are going to carbonate the beer through a process called bottle conditioning.

Bottle conditioning is a process that most home brewers and some micro brewers use to carbonate their beer. Basically what bottle conditioning is adding a small amount of sugar or sugar product like; honey, malt extract, syrup, ect to the wort stirring it completely and then putting it into the bottles and capping them. When the yeast in the wort eats the small amount of sugar it ferments giving off CO2 and sense there is a cap on the bottles the CO2 has no where to go except back into the beer therefore carbonating it.

Once home I get the appropriate amount of bottle caps out, in this case since I am using 22oz bottles I figured about 30 caps should do the trick and a few more just in case. I put the caps in a pot with tap water and begin to boil them to kill any germs or bacteria that may be on the caps. At the same time in another pot I put 4oz of corn sugar and about a cup of distilled water and begin to boil it.

At this time I get my 6.5gl bottling bucket out put it on the floor and begin to siphon the wort from the secondary fermentor to the bucket, once again keeping the cane off the bottom of the fermentor so I don’t pick up any of the trub. When all of the wort has been transferred to the bucket I can tell by the markings on the bucket if I have 5gls if not then I can add a little distilled water to bring it up to the appropriate mark.

By the time the wort has been transferred to the bottling bucket the caps have boiled long enough to kill any damaging germs so I can turn off the stove and remove and dry the caps. Also the sugar water has been boiling and is almost syrup just a few minutes more and it will be ready. The sugar water you want to be at a syrup texture to assure the sugar has been dissolved and that you are not adding any extra water to the wort.

Once the syrup has cooled you can add it to the wort, the sryup must be cool because in the wort there are living organisms ie the yeast and the heat would kill them. After adding the syrup you must stir the wort to assure equal distribution of sugar through out the wort. I find about fifteen minutes of constant stirring will do the trick.

Now its time to bottle. I pick up the bottling bucket and put it on the counter and put the bottles on the floor directly underneath the bucket. I put the cane in the wort connect the tubing to the cane and at the other end of the tubing I connect a bottle filler. A bottle filler is a hard clear plastic device with a pressure valve on the end. How it works is you start the siphon and then connect the bottle filler and when the wort flows to the end of the filler it pushes closed the valve and the wort cannot flow out unless you physically push open the valve. Now you put the filler into a bottle and push it down on the bottom of the bottle and the wort begins to flow into the bottle. When the wort reaches the very top of the bottle you remove the filler and the flow of wort stops. When you remove the filler and tubing the level of wort in the bottle drops to about 1” below the top, perfect amount of beer for 1 bottle. Repeat this process until you have run out of wort, I have found that 5gls of wort takes about 28 22oz bottles, now its time to cap.

I put a cap on every bottle of beer then go around with my capper and crimp the caps on tightly. After capping I put the bottles back into their boxes and put the boxes in a dark closet at room temperature and wait for 10 to 14 days before trying…..