We’ve done it. Yesterday afternoon was spent bottling the brown liquid that has been sitting in the corner of the kitchen quietly turning itself into best bitter.
And although it was a very messy process, filling 29 of the traditionally-shaped burnt gold glass bottles wasn’t nearly as difficult as we’d imagined.
The hardest part was trying to get the hydrometer to tell us if the beer was ready to disturbed from its drum resting place and poured into its new glass homes, and just how potent it is.
We were particularly intrigued by the latter, but unfortunately had no makeshift testing jar large enough for the weighted hydrometer to float in. By floating and settling, the gauge tells you how much sugar and how much alcohol content is present by the level reached by the top of the liquid.
Testing the beer with the hydrometer
Having no vial tall enough for the gauge to be totally submerged was nothing to be concerned with, though. The instructions that came with the home brewing kit stated that after 4 to 6 days the beer would be good enough to be bottled, and so going on that premise, that’s exactly what we did.
As a syphoning tube and a 40-pint drum of sticky, smelly, and fermented malt extract are a home brewing double act, lots of mess can be anticipated.
Covering the kitchen floor with old towels and tea towels, and standing as many bottles as we could into a washing up bowl, we attached the siphoning tube and sediment trap halfway inside the brewing drum, and the bottling process began.
You have to be quick. After sucking the tube to start the flow of the beer going, the brown liquid flows faster than you can swap bottles over. While one of us filled the spilled over bottles, the other swapped filled one for empty ones.
Once a hand-filling production line has been started it’s much easier, and after the quantity of beer in the drum had almost reached the 5-litre mark we stopped, as we didn’t want any sediment to end up in our finished bottles.
Following the instructions with the beer buddy kit, we put half a teaspoon of sugar inside each bottle, in the hope that the beer will be more drinkable. Messy mouthfuls of liquid from the syphoning tube did taste like beer, but with a very bitter aftertaste.
Let’s hope the sugar does something. We plan to leave for a month too, to further ferment and mix together.
Pouring the sediment down the sink was nasty, as it’s a good description of what you’re left with. A sludgy beige and brown thick goo, it’s a bit like the thick syrup that Starbucks uses in the bottom of its flavoured coffees.
So, onto the capping, which is possibly the most fulfilling bit (for now), as the finished, eventually drinkable product is in your hands. The capper works very much like a mechanical wine opener.
Placing the metal cap in the magnetic cap holder and offering it up with the top of the bottle, you push down the levers on each side, which crimps the cap in place. Release the handles upwards, and you’re done.
With our 29 capped bottles taking over the worktop, we were done, too. Our first batch of home brew home brewed, all that remains is possible labelling, and tasting. We’ll know the outcome of the latter in one month’s time…
[...] In April, we did it the tried and tested way, following the instructions to, quite literally, the letter. That means connecting the drainage tube with the filter on, and siphoning out the contents by way of an airflow into the bottles. Once it starts, it goes very fast and there has to be two of you; one to direct the siphon into the bottles, and one to have another bottle ready to swap when the previous one is full. [...]
I entirely delight in brewing beer at home! It has been such a neat hobby. My family has been behind me, but most especially once it’s time to try my latest concoction. I was startled to learn that it is actually the stout brews that I prefer. Just wanted to say thank you for the info you’ve shared along the way, its been helpful.