beer bottling time

If you remember my previous post a couple weeks ago, Brett and I used a brew kit to brew our own beer. It's now been a couple weeks and the beer has been fermenting in a glass jug. {not going to lie, it smells pretty bad}

Now it's time to take the fermenting liquid and transfer it into bottles in order for it to carbonate for a couple more weeks.

The process is a little trickier than it sounds. First you have to sterilize all the bottles and let them air dry. Next, dissolve 3 tablespoons honey with 1/2 cup water in a sanitized pot. {It will vary from sugar to honey to maple syrup; depends on the beer you are making} Then, take the jug filled with beer and funnel the liquid into the pot. Make sure the sediment at the bottom of the jug does not get sucked up into the pot. Once everything is in the pot, it must be siphoned into each bottle.

Once you have transferred all the liquid into the bottles, you must put it in a dark place again where it will not be disturbed. The bottles will stay here for a couple more weeks until it has carbonated. Once you are sure it's ready to go, the bottles can be transferred into the refrigerator. Allow it to chill for 24 hours before you drink it.


Don't forget to come back and check in for the final post - drinking time!

X x

Brooklyn Brew Shop Beer Making Kit

For Christmas I gave Brett a beer making kit, not knowing what kind of work was ahead of us.

One Saturday, inspiration stuck and we decided today was the day to begin the beer brewing process. There were a few items that we needed to purchase before we could begin any brewing. After spending most of the day of running from Target to BevMo, to grocery stores, we were ready. Of course by this time it's 9 o'clock and we have a several hours of brewing ahead of us.

Here is a quick rundown of the steps it took to brew 1 gallon of beer:

The first and most important step that needs to be done is sanitizing everything. Otherwise bacteria can grow and kill the yeast and the beer will not be made. We definitely made sure to keep everything sanitized and re-sanitized as often as possible.

The first step of making beer is to boil the grains and make sure to keep them boiling for a entire hour, stirring every so often. After the sixty minutes is up it's time to "mash it out." First, take the mash that you just boiled and put it into a strainer and sit it on top of a new pot. You are then going to pour boiling hot water through the mash several times until you have gone through 4 liters of water.

Once that is finished, you are going to boil the liquid again for another hour, making sure that it is constantly boiling. Every 15 minutes you must stir in a small amount of the hopps. {they looks like rabbit pellets!} 

Once the hour has passed, it's time for an ice bath. Quickly take the boiling pot full of liquid and surround it with ice cold water. You will see we filled up the sink with ice and cold water. You want to get the temperature way down until it reaches the desired temperature, about 70°F.

Once it is ready, take the liquid and pour it through a strainer into your gallon jug. This will prevent any sediment from getting into the jug.

 

Now, you wait! Put the glass jug into a dark corner where it will not be disturbed for a couple weeks. Once all the bubbling and gasses have been released it is time to bottle. Be sure to check back soon to see how the bottling process is done!

X x