finished brew

topic posted Tue, April 15, 2008 - 7:37 PM by  Maruti
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so i usually make wine, i have never tried making beer mainly because i dont know what the best way would be to finish it... do you bottle it or do you keg it?
posted by:
Maruti
Philadelphia
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  • Tim
    Tim
    offline 5

    Re: finished brew

    Tue, April 15, 2008 - 8:19 PM
    If you have the equipment to keg and you want to drink it all in one place. Then, Kegging is probably the most efficient. However, I, like to share my brew with others at various locations. Therefore, I am currently using bottles to make the travel and sharing more convenient.

    Part of the process is the final fermentation process that requires recarbonation of the beer. The bottle process either needs to be re-sugared or captured to bottle at the proper "specific gravity." Otherwise, it can be kegged and then later "charged" with CO2 for delivery and carbonation.

    Sorry if this sounds vague, but after reading some instructions or guides you may understand what I'm trying to convey.
    • Re: finished brew

      Wed, April 16, 2008 - 12:07 PM
      na it wasnt vague.. i guess i was wondering what is less work... i guess with bottles you could use old bottles and just get new lids for them
      • Unsu...
         

        Re: finished brew

        Wed, April 16, 2008 - 12:36 PM
        you can just never forget the every bottle and cap MUST be as sterile as you can get them... a few cases of brown bottles can be used over and over again….
        When I started out I found that some Champagne and all apple cider bottles were easier than 2-3 times as many beer bottles… Any Sunday Brunch would be a great place to hit up for a case or two of empties then you scrape the labels off and clean them up…
        Just make sure your caps will fit before you need them (Found that out the hard way)
  • Re: finished brew

    Thu, May 29, 2008 - 9:36 AM
    It is a bit expensive (over 200 USD ) to keg and you have to mess with the CO2 and all that. Buddies of mine swear by it.
    Bottling is a hassle but doesn't take all that much time and can be a lot of fun if you have a partner.

    Sanitized Bottling Bucket with spigot at bottom.
    Sanitized Plastic Hose
    Sanitized Bottling Wand
    Bottle Capper
    Sufficient number (54+- for 5 gal) of SANITIZED bottles and caps.
    Use BROWN, NOT CLEAR OR GREEN. CAPPED NOT SCREW ON.

    For 5 gallon batch:

    How To:
    Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
    Add 1.25 cups of dry malt or 3/4 cups of priming sugar *I use dry malt exclusively*.
    Stir until well mixed allow to boil for a couple minutes remove and cover to cool.

    Add wort to the SANITIZED bottling bucket.
    Carefully siphon contents of secondary fermenter to bottling bucket without sloshing or aerating the beer.

    OPTIONAL: Obtain a hydrometer reading to compare to the one you took before you pitched your yeast.

    While wort is siphoning get 50 bottle caps into some boiling water and cover.

    After wort is done siphoning:
    Gently stir so new malt is uniformly distributed in the beer.

    Attach one end of SANITIZED plastic hose to the spigot of bottling bucket, the other to the bottling wand.
    Have your bottles arranged in 6 packs and fill them by putting the bottling wand to the very bottom of the bottle.
    Watch carefully until the bottle fills to the top.
    Lift the bottling wand and the flow will stop (there is a little bead which drops and closes the valve).
    The area displacement of the bottling wand is an ideal amount of room to be left in the bottle in my experience.

    Put a cap on the bottle using a bottle capper.
    I have got my system down pretty tight so can bottle a
    5 gallon batch with my brewing partner in about 40 minutes.
    (including rinsing bottles, sanitizing the bucket and hoses/wand)
    Rinsing bottles is a PAIN IN THE ASS ... Unless you have a bottle rinser.
    Feel free to PM me if you have additional questions.


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