Yesterday, we showed you how beer is brewed in the casa here. We actually have a batch in our closet as I write; Matt likes to keep it rolling. It takes two weeks from the first brewing and primary fermenter until you move the beer into the secondary fermenter. Then, the beer does a week or two in the secondary fermenter (usually more on the two side). After bottling, the beer does another two weeks of aging in the bottle before it's ready to go. It's a pretty long process, so, as I mentioned before, patience is key.
Today, pics of the bottling process!
The secondary fermenter, and our crowded closet. We don't have room in the bedroom for dresses or camping gear or shoes, so they go in here.
Yup, there's alcohol in there! You can test to see the approximate alcohol content. Nice to confirm that everything worked.
After we poured the beer back into the bottling bucket (it's got a spigot on it -- you'll see soon), we're left with the gunky carboy. Luckily, Matt washes all his beer stuff, so I don't have to mess with this. Thank goodness. Also, in the background, you see part of our lovely living room. One of these days, I'll post pics of the apartment.
Sanitizing bottles. We re-use old beer bottles that had normal caps. Our capper machine can't deal with twist off caps.
Oh, maybe I don't have a pic of the bottling bucket! In any case, this is the process of filling the bottles. We've since moved that carpet out of the kitchen (easier cleanup). Basically, we put the bottles on a towel and use a siphon/spigot system to fill up the bottles. That tube Matt is holding has a little nobber on the end. When the nobber-dealy is pushed against the bottom of the bottle, it lets beer flow out the tube.
Capping the beer is surprisingly easier than it looks.
And, finally, racking up all the bottles we've now filled with homebrew.
Now to wait a few weeks, chill, and enjoy! Each batch of beer produces approximately 50-55 bottles (5 gallons of beer), so it's a good thing Matt and his friends enjoy responsible consumption.