Yesterday afternoon we went back and bottled our beer. We had a taste of it directly from the fermenter, not chilled and not carbonated, and even like that it was fabulous! They drew off one bottle worth and charged just that bottle with their CO2 system and chilled it while we were bottling. When we tasted it that way it was even more amazing. Maybe one of the best beers I have had.

We started out by disinfecting our bottles. They had a little basin that held an iodine solution with a little push activated squirter in the center. You put the bottle on top of the squirter and push down three or four times. With each push it squirts the iodine solution into the bottle. They have a special rack that holds the bottles upside down so the excess solution and drain out. In the picture below you can see Amy using the disinfector. The red thing with all the bottles hanging off it is obviously the drip dry rack.



The picture below is 5 gallons of our beloved beer in a 6 or 6.5 gallon carboy. There is flexible plastic hose already inserted to use as a siphon for bottling. There is a stiff plastic tube attached to the hose with a little valve at the very bottom. You stick the tube all the way into the bottle. When the little valve hits the bottom of the bottle the beer starts flowing. Lift up the tube and the beer stops. Very clever! You fill it up right to the very top. When you pull the tube out of the bottle the level of beer falls and leaves the perfect amount of head space in the bottle. I think I like bottling that way better than opening and closing a spigot on a bottling bucket.



In the lower left corner of the picture you can see a little plastic bag with white stuff inside. That is priming sugar used. We took a couple cups of beer and microwaved it and then stirred the sugar in and then added it back to the carboy. Warming the beer just makes it easier to dissolve the sugar. This sugar will be totally consumed by the still-living yeast and converted to CO2 to carbonate the beer and will not add sweetness to it.

We took home 50 bottles. We would have had 52 but we drank one there and broke one while bottling. Right now they are sitting in my basement at about 69 degrees and should be ready to drink in about two weeks.

From what I've read online as the beer ages after the two week period the bubbles will get finer and finer and the flavors will improve and mesh even more. They recommended, especially for beginners. To have one beer a week and pay attention to how it changes over time.

The beer was so good, and it is kind of fun and cool to do, I think I am going to buy some gear and try making some myself.