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Bottling Day

Posted by: Makebeer on 1/19/2012

Your home brew is done fermenting and it’s time to start bottling the culmination of your time and effort. Now for those of us who have a couple of brews under their belts this seems relatively easy. But for an inexperienced brewer bottling your first beer can be a little intimidating.  You might be wondering how full do I fill my bottles or how do I bottle without making a mess. Bellow are some tips for making sure the your first bottling day is a success. 

The Set Up: If you have a dishwasher place your fermenter above the dishwasher on the counter and open the dishwasher door making sure that it is fully extended. The dishwasher door will act as a drip tray and should catch any drips from the bottle filler. 

How Much Beer Per Bottle: A general guideline is to fill the bottle to the top. Due to displacement caused by the bottle filler roughly one inch of space will be left once the bottling device is removed leaving the perfect amount of space for carbonation to occur. 

After filling each bottle and adding the appropriate amount of sugar or carbonation drops proceed to tighten the cap as tight you can before turning the bottle upside down several times. Once your brew is bottled store in a dark place like a cupboard at room temperature.

Categories: Brewing Fundamentals
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4 Comments

Jan 20 2012, 7:44 PM Jim
Do you stir the beer in the fermenter before bottling or as bottling ?
Jan 24 2012, 3:11 PM Makebeer
@jim. If you are using the carbonation drops or adding sugar to each bottle, do not shake the beer until after you have the sugar/drops to each capped bottle.
Feb 18 2012, 12:05 AM Piers
Hi there. I have a similar question to Jim. If you are adding sugar to each bottle, should you stir the fermented beer prior to pouring it into the bottles, to evenly distribute any residue etc?
Feb 20 2012, 12:03 PM Makebeer
@Piers. There should be adequate amount of yeast in suspension (as long as you don't wait to long before bottling) so as not to shake the beer before bottling. The amount of final carbonation is determined by the sugar added to the bottle.

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Recent Comments

"This is my first Home brew batch, I got the kit for my B-day, I have been using bleach on everything so-far to sanitize everything. In about 4 of 5 days it will be time to bottle for my first time (I am excited) I think I will run the unused bottles in the dish washer without soap(to remove dust and such) then rinse with a bleach mixture to sanitize, one final rinse with water to get rid of the bleach, then bottle my first batch of beer. I hope my method will give me a good brew. If not please let me know, I am a new to home brew." Read more
By Makebeer on Bottling Day:
"@Piers. There should be adequate amount of yeast in suspension (as long as you don't wait to long before bottling) so as not to shake the beer before bottling. The amount of final carbonation is determined by the sugar added to the bottle." Read more
By Piers on Bottling Day:
"Hi there. I have a similar question to Jim. If you are adding sugar to each bottle, should you stir the fermented beer prior to pouring it into the bottles, to evenly distribute any residue etc?" Read more

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