Alright guys, I have bottled my beer! It’s been over 5 days where my beer has been sitting in the fermenter producing alcohol and waiting to be drunk. I have been checking the airlock on the fermenter and it didn’t bubble for quite sometime. This would mean that there is very little sugar left for the yeast to create alcohol and so, it’s time to get it out of the fermenter. The reason why I am getting the beer out of the fermenter so early is to prevent the yeast from dying inside the fermenter and creating weird off-flavours. Brewers should not keep their beer in the fermenter too long. Or if you would like it to continue in the fermenter, I would suggest brewers to rack (transfer) to a secondary fermenter. This way, you will get less yeast in your beer.

Anyway, this is what I did. I removed the fermenter from the cool box and let it sit on a table for about 1 hour. I did this to ensure that the yeast or any sediment would rest on the bottom of the fermenter because I did not want them to be in the bottles. During that hour, I sanitize my beer bottles and caps and my “little” bottler. I also cleaned the fermenter tap, this is the place where bacteria and all sorts of spores and fungus will hide with some no-rinse sanitizer. Next, I added the carbonation drops to my bottles. Since my bottles are the 740ml type, I added 2 carbonation drops per bottle. The carbonation drops are actually sugar which the yeast will then consume and produce both alcohol and carbon dioxide. Since the bottle is sealed, there is no way for the carbon dioxide to escape, it will then carbonate the beer for you. Cool, ain’t it? You don’t need to keg it or use all the complicated process to get gas into your beer!

Oh, one thing, I had added some gelatin into my beer one day before. This is a kind of finings which help to “clear” the beer. It helps to trap the yeast and sediment on the bottom of the fermenter.

The actual bottling process is just filling your bottles with beer. The bottler really helps me to fill in the bottles. All you have to do is to push the bottle with the bottler inside and let it rest at the bottom of the bottle. It will then start to fill. When the liquid reaches the top, you just “release” it and the bottler will stop flowing. If you use the bottler, it will leave you with the necessary “headspace” at the top of the bottler for the carbonation.

I am already half way through for my bottling when I took this photo. I am always too eager to do stuff and forgot to take shots. The shirt/cloth is to prevent the moisture from cooled fermenter from damaging my precious but rusted table.

Check out the bottler. Pretty nifty stuff, it makes bottling easier and less messy. Oh yes, that’s my nephew’s bath tub which I borrowed for this bottling exercise. Of course I washed it after use with hot water, detergent and later rinse with Straight ‘A’ sanitizer. Don’t want my nephew to get drunk by the alcohol smell. Ahh….yes, the bottler looks a bit straight and stiff, doesn’t it?

All you have to do is to push the bottle up and letting the bottler release the beer into the bottle. Easy. Very easy. It would be better if they have a flexible long hose, then I don’t need to hold the bottles. All I have to do is to put the bottler into the bottles and the beer will flow, don’t need to hold it. Can be tiring after a while (that’s 30 bottles). I am not getting any younger, you know.

Yes, it’s bottled. Check out the headspace for the beer. And the beer looks rather clear. You probably can’t see much from this photo, but I am really glad that it is not too cloudy.

That’s the beer bottle which I hope to enjoy in a few weeks time. Doesn’t look cloudy at all eh? Looks like the gelatin really helps clear a beer. Now the problem would be the chill haze. Since I did not do a proper cold break, I wonder what kind of chill haze will there be.

Woohooo! That’s a hell lot of beer! I will have to keep it anyway from direct sunlight, so I am putting them in the cool box and covering it. I would recommend using amber bottles. This is to prevent sunlight from damaging the beer. Sunlight has adverse effects on the hops, breaking them down and creating terrible flavours in your beer. If you would like to see how much skunk will be produced, check out this website.

Anyways, it’s time to wait for a few weeks and then I will break open a bottle and enjoy. I have already tasted the beer (from the fermenter) and it taste a bit too bitter. Not to worry, I am sure that if I condition the beer longer, then it will become mellower in time. Hopefully.

<Made a fatal mistake during the bottling process - forgot to rinse the bottles after sanitizing them! Had to throw away the entire batch after I have finished bottling>