The last blog that I posted mentioned that I was still waiting for BEER #2 to finish showing signs of fermentation (a.k.a. bubbles) before initiating the bottling process. Honestly, the beer was probably ready to bottle over the weekend, yet I was unable to make the time to do so. Fortunately, it allowed for me to one day be able to tell the poetic story of how I bottled my first batch of beer on St. Patrick's Day with a good friend, while simultaneously cooking corned beef and cabbage.
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| Beer to drink while we bottled more beer. |
Here is what happened...
Before heading to my friend's house in Barre, where we eventually bottled the beer, I needed to stop by the home brewing shop in Morrisville and pick up the supplies needed to bottle. I decided to buy bottles from the shop, although I felt shameful doing so. I figured that purchasing new bottles will eliminate any potential for residual beer that was left in an already used bottle. I also needed bottle caps, a capper, a bottling siphon, and priming sugar. After picking up these things I was off to Barre!
Although the bottling process was very time consuming, in comparison to the rest of the steps for brewing beer, it was quite simple. Essentially, the day consisted of four steps:
(1) washing & sanitizing the bottles, (2) measuring the final specific gravity of each batch, (3) adding the priming sugar to the beer, and (4) bottling & capping the beer.
Washing & Sanitizing
Although this process is very important to remember, it really requires very little intelligence to complete. Because I had just bought the bottles an hour earlier, I decided that I would clean them and then sanitize them in order to thoroughly attempt to rid them of any potential microbial presence. I filled up the sink with warm water and added about 2oz. of bleach. I then introduced the bottles to water and let them soak for about fifteen minutes. A more commonly practiced method of sanitizing bottles is boiling them. I did not have a pot large enough to do this, which is why I chose chemical sanitation instead. Once the bottles were done soaking, I rinsed them off, drained the sink, added new water and a powered no-rinse sanitizer, and reintroduced the bottles, allowing them to air dry without being rinsed.
Measuring the Final Specific Gravity (FG)
This task is important for a few reasons. First, everyone wants to know what the ABV is in the beer they are drinking, especially if you are the one that made it. Next, by comparing the OG, FG, and the specific gravity readings in between, it will be clear whether or not the sugars in the beer have fully fermented and to what degree. If you recall from an earlier post, the opening specific gravity for BEER #1 was not measured. However, BEER #2 had an OG of 1.050, which was at the high end of the expected OG (1.045-1.049), and an FG of 1.006.
Remember, specific gravity measures the liquids density in comparison to water. Water has a specific gravity of 1.000. Although beer consists significantly of water, the remaining ingredients are what causes it to be denser than water, namely the sugars. The basic formula explaining this methodology's logic is this: The greater the variance between OG and FG, the more that has been converted into alcohol. In other words, HIGHER ABV!!!
Now, in order to calculate what BEER #2's final ABV will be, we use a simple formula.
(OG - FG) x 131.25 = ABV%
(1.050 - 1.006) x 131.25 = 5.775%
For some reason, BEER #2 developed a significantly higher FG and ABV than anticipated. According to the instructions, the FG should have been 1.010 - 1.014, which would have produced an ABV of around 4.5% - 4.75%. I am not sure what caused this to happen.
Adding the Priming Sugar
The priming sugar is used in order to add carbonation to the beer, as we Americans have become accustomed to. This is done by boiling a simple sugar, frequently corn sugar, with a few cups of water and adding it to the beer moments before bottling take place. This introduces a new source of nutrients to the environment and causes the yeasts that have not yet sedimented at the bottom of the carboy to remain active and ferment the small amount of sugar into ethanol and CO2, creating carbonation due to the gas being trapped under the bottle cap.
I chose to use something called a bottling bucket, which is essentially a 5-gallon bucket with a faucet-like attachment. It functions as a holding container for the beer prior to bottling so that the sediment and solids that were part of the beer in the carboy can be filtered out and removed. Once the beer has been added to the bottling bucket, the priming sugar solution should be added and stirred.
Bottling & Capping
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| Starting the bottling siphon |
This is the moment of truth!! Bottling was actually much easier than I anticipated it being, largely due to the convenience of the bottling siphon that I bought earlier. this simple device consists of a long plastic straw-like tube, about 3/8" around, a 3' length of plastic tubing, and a 1' plastic tube with a valve at the end to prevent spillage.
I placed the bottling bucket on the counter and the box of bottles on the floor. I connected the two with the bottling siphon and simply started siphoning beer into the bottles until it was gone. It left about an inch of space in each bottle to allow for volume distribution after CO2 production. Finally, each bottle was capped and boxed, where they will remain for the following two weeks to allow for carbonation to occur.
From here, I returned the bottled beer to my closet for what I hope to only be two weeks. I am optimistic and eager for this batch to be finished!!
