BOTTLING: THE FINAL TOUCHES
The most fun part of brewing beer, aside from drinking the beer you make, is the bottling process. The perfect label for your bottle and customized bottle caps will set your beer apart from others before anyone even tastes your product. The customization highlights you and your beer - whether it’s a bright red and orange label, a whacky and abstract drawing, or a sleek and simple design.
Equipment Listing
Bottling Bucket
Auto-Siphon
Beer Bottles
Bottle Caps
Bottle Capper
Carbonation Drops
THE FOUR STEPS TO BOTTLING BEER
Step 1: Sanitize everything
The beer now has alcohol, and is fairly protected from outside elements at this point. Nonetheless, we want to continue sanitizing all of our equipment to maintain the integrity of the beer’s taste and aroma. Sanitize everything: beer bottles, bottle caps, the auto-siphon, the bottling bucket, the bottling bucket spicket, and any utensil you use to insert the carbonation drops into your beer. If you sanitize your hands well, you should be able to quickly drop in the carbonation drops by hand.
The most common sanitizer is Star-San, a link to the product by clicking here.
Step 2: Siphon the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket
Place the fermenter on a higher surface than the bottling bucket, so the auto-siphon will work correctly. At this point, you can remove the lid from your fermenter and get a sense of the final aroma. Note, though, that from this point until you cap the beer bottles, the beer is exposed to the air and all the bacteria the air contains.
While I recommend carbonation tablets for a more consistent carbonation throughout your beer bottles, you are able to create your own priming sugar. There is a ton of science behind the amount of priming sugar as you expand your capabilities, but in general, use 3/4 cups of corn sugar (dextrose) or 2/3 cup of table sugar (sucrose) for every five gallons of beer. Begin this process by boiling water, about 2 cups or 16 oz. Then, stir in the sugar until dissolved. The boil sterilizes these ingredients. Remove the mixture from the heat. You will add this to the bottling bucket before siphoning the beer, so the beer will mix the sugar around. Once the beer is all within the bottling bucket, stir the beer to mix the sugar, or else you will end with uneven carbonation in your bottles.
Begin the siphon process, avoiding the bottom of the fermenter to avoid pulling in any of the solids that have settled during the fermentation process. Most of these solids are the yeast in its sedimentation phase, although some hop or grain particles may have made it to this point in the process. Plan on losing about 1/2 gallon of beer to avoid these solids unless you are very accurate with your siphon.
Step 3: Add the carbonation tablets, bottle your beer, and cap the bottle
Take a sanitized bottle and place carbonation drops in the bottle per the drop instructions. Then, fill the bottle from the spigot, leaving a small amount of room at the top of the beer bottle for the carbonation process to work correctly. Finally, cap the bottle, ensuring an air-tight seal.
Step 4: Wait 2-3 weeks
Carbonation alters the body of the beer, enhancing its taste and aroma. While most of the carbonation occurs in the first week, the best product will require 2 to 3 weeks or carbonation. Feel free to try your beer after the first week, and again after the second week, to see how the beer ages. If your beer appears fully carbonated and tastes fine after two weeks, then go ahead and enjoy! More time, though, should help head retention and give the beer a fuller feel.