Hobo's Delight, recipe v1.01 (III)

It is time to finish up out batch of beer. In previous steps, we cooked the wort and set up the fermenter, we followed the wort through fermentation, and turned the green beer once for better clearing of the still suspended yeast. As I mentioned in the last post, it took this batch just two days to clear. However, there is no harm in waiting a little longer: I have heard from people in the past who would leave their beer a couple of weeks in second fermentation, until they finally found time for bottling.

I am not that kind of patient, in particular since it takes the beer another ten days in the bottle to fully mature. So just two days after the start of second fermentation I was ready to bottle. And here is what it took:

Equipment:

• Brew bucket, six gallon capacity (and a marker where the six gallons are), ideally with a spigot near the bottom.
• The piece of plastic hose already used for siphoning the beer into second fermentation.
• A bottle filler; this is a nifty little piece of equipment that makes bottling a little easier.
• Enough beer bottles to hold six gallons of beer; in my case that was 63 12 oz bottles. There was still beer left over after filling those but I drank that leftover on the spot. Make sure it's not screw off bottles but the kind that needs a bottle opener. Screw off bottles will not hold a good seal.
• Bottle capper and bottle caps.

Note that it is entirely possible to go without the bottle filler. Without the bottle filler the brew bucket will not need a spigot either. Instead you would use a small funnel to fit on top of the bottles and a pitcher to pour the beer from the bucket into the bottles. It is slower that way and a little bit more messy but works otherwise just fine.

Ingredients:

• Ordinary table sugar, one cup.
• Extra water.

That's it: Except for aging the beer is essentially ready. The extra sugar is just for a little bit of extra fermentation in the bottle so the beer will not be all flat when poured. And last not least, that's how you do it:

• As always, disinfect all equipment before using it on the beer. This is not as critical now than it was before fermentation, but still.
• Siphon the beer from the carboy into the brew bucket much like when you moved the beer into second fermentation. Again, move the bucket onto an elevated position. 
• Dissolve the table sugar in about a quart of water and add it to the beer.
• Add additional water to the beer up to the six gallon mark. Mix well.
• Give the (hopefully clean!) bottles a last rinse- with water, not bleach!
• Fill the bottles. If using a bottle filler, follow the instructions that came with it. Be careful not to overfill when using funnel and pitcher. Actually, you are almost bound to overfill a few bottles at first but you will get the hang of it. I actually put each bottle into a big bowl before filling it to cut down on the mess I was making.
• Put the bottle caps on. I cannot be more specific than that because the exact procedure depends on the type of capper (which hopefully came with instructions). If doing it for the first time it might help to first test cap a bottle of water and turn it over, just to make sure there is a good seal.
• Move the bottled beer out of the way- it needs to age for at least ten days before it is at its best. In the meantime? That's why we made 63 bottles: Ten six packs, and one bottle to try after three, six, and eight days.
• Don't forget to drink what's left over at the bottom of the brew bucket while cleaning everything up. It will definitely still taste very green and unbalanced- but it's your very very own, and for that you will like it!

By the way, I did take a gravity reading of the beer before I bottled it, just as I did before fermentation and it came out at 1.010 kg/l. This indicates there were enough unfermented sugars left for about 1.1% alcohol. Meaning the the beer came out at just over 5%.