How to Bottle Your Homebrew | Bottle Capper
We all know, at least we should, that sanitization is number one when it comes to bottling your homebrewed beer. After everything is sanitized and dried, you’ll begin the bottling process by mixing the priming sugar. When your priming sugar is ready, you’ll siphon your beer on top of it and make sure everything is mixed evenly. The next step is to grab your bottle filler, attach it to your siphon, and start filling the bottles. The final step to bottling your beer is capping the bottles, this is when you’ll use your bottle capper. Simply raise the bottle capper’s arm all the way up and you will be able to adjust the height of the capper to fit different size bottles. Read detailed instructions from The Kitchn’s How To Bottle Beer at Home below.
What to Do: How to Bottle Your Homebrew
You’ll get 9 to 10 bottles of beer from your 1-gallon batch of homebrew.
What You Need
1-gallon batch of beer, ready to be bottled
.80 ounces (22 grams) corn sugar, or equivalentYour fermentation bucket or stockpot
Measuring cups
Autosiphon
Tubing
Hose clamp
Bottle filler
10 12-ounce bottles
10 bottle caps
Bottle capper
- Sanitize all your equipment: Sanitize everything that the beer will touch, including the fermentation bucket or stockpot and the bottle caps. As the bottles are sanitized, you can turn them upside-down in a dish drainer or on the shelf in your dishwasher to drain.
- Prepare the priming sugar: Bring 1/4 cup of water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Pour the sugar water into the sanitized bucket or stockpot and let it cool to room temperature (this should only take a few minutes).
- Mix the beer with the priming sugar: Siphon the beer from the jug into the bucket or stockpot with the priming sugar. Avoid stirring up the sediment at the bottom of the jug as much as possible. (Get detailed siphoning instructions: How To Transfer and Siphon Beer.)
- Take a hydrometer reading: As you’re siphoning, siphon a little beer into a sanitized measuring cup and take a hydrometer reading. This reading will be your final gravity. Use this and the original gravity to calculate the alcohol in your beer. Pour the beer back into the pot — or drink it!
- Prepare for bottling: Move the primed beer to the counter and arrange the sanitized bottles on the chair below. To keep the bottles steady, place them on a baking sheet.
- Assemble the bottle filler and begin siphoning: Place the auto-siphon in the bucket of primed beer and insert the open end of the tube in the first bottle. Pump the auto-siphon to begin siphoning. As soon as beer is flowing, use the hose clamp to tightly close the tube. Fit the bottle filler into the open end of the tube. Insert the bottle filler back in the bottle so the tip presses against the bottom and release the hose clamp. The flow of beer should start again; pump the siphon if needed to help it along.
- Fill the bottles: Fill the bottle until the beer reaches the lip of the bottle. Lift the bottle filler to stop the beer from flowing and move the filler to the next empty bottle. This will leave behind the correct amount of headroom in the bottle. Press the tip of the bottle filler against the bottom of the empty bottle to start the beer flowing again.
- Cap the bottles: Move the bottles to the counter. Place a sanitized cap over the top of the first bottle. Position the bottle capper over the cap and press down on the “butterfly” sides of the bottle — this presses the crown of the cap down around the lip of the bottle, creating a seal. You don’t need to use much force to do this. Once the cap is crimped, the bottle is capped. Continue capping the remaining bottles.
- Label and store the bottles: Label the bottles with the name of your beer and the date it was bottled. Store the beer in an enclosed cupboard, cardboard box, or plastic bin for 2 weeks or up to 1 year. Refrigerate the bottles before drinking.
If you’re ready to start bottling your brew, visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to get your: Bottle Capper.
SRC: Learn more about bottling beer at: www.thekitchn.com/how-to-bottle-beer-the-kitchns-beer-school-2015-217267
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