This weekend was bottling weekend for my first batch of home brew. Last Thursday I made my way out to the home brew store to get some bottling supplies. I really only knew the basics for what I needed when I walked in there so instead of making it a terrible experience from forgetting things or buying the wrong things, I asked the guy at the counter for some advice. He actually took the time to bring me into the back to show me a few things about bottling. If you are in Buffalo, NY and want to get into home brewing, I highly suggest going to Niagara Tradition Home Brew Supply. After watching him show me a few things, I was introduced to a few cool gadgets that make things easier, one being this:
This thing is awesome. You basically fill the bowl portion with about an inch of sanitizer, place the bottle on the thing in the center, and push down. It projects a forceful spray of sanitizer inside the bottle. This made it very easy to sanitize 2 cases of bottles in minutes.
I used the auto-siphon which was recommended to me over using a bottling bucket. Its a lot better for the beer. Starting the siphon was a bit of a challenge for me because I had never used one before. I ended up blowing the tip off my filler wand and sprayed beer all over, but hey, you live and learn. Once I got the siphon going it was super easy.
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| Ignore my pants, It’s Sunday, a day where normally we have things to do but this particular Sunday was a total day off so I was in no hurry to get dressed. |
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| After a while, I got the hang of it and set up a little bottle stand. This allowed me to cap while the siphon slowly filled the bottles. |
The bottle capping device was fairly easy to use. Again, I’m no expert so the first 5 minutes I looked like a cave man.
Overall my beer had a nice color and smelled good. I now have to keep the bottles in a 65-70 degree environment for 6-7 more days before moving them to the basement where they will be in a 50-60 degree environment. I hope its good. The guy at the brew store said that if he knew this was my first brew he would have advised against me trying to brew a beer this complicated, but its the type of beer I love, so its the one I want to be good at making!
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| In a little over a month, I find out if I’m any good! |
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That guy was quite accommodating to have brought you out back and teach some useful stuff. You know bottling liquids and beverages is a complex procedure, so actually seeing some of the practices does help a lot. Was that your first time? I hope you didn’t forget to sanitize EVERYTHING that comes in contact with the beer. 😉 Call me once they are ready, and let’s have a taste of that. Ha-ha!
Rob Feckler
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Yeah the batch came out with really good flavor, honestly better than I imagined however the carbonation was not enough. So next time I'll have to use a bit more sugar I think. Just waiting to finish a few more bottles and then I'll start another batch. Fun stuff, thanks for reading!
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