Bottling, Storing, and Drinking Your Homebrew
Bottling the Beer
Bottling is not a hard part of the home brew process, but is important that you take your time and not contaminate the beer or the bottles during the procedure. Things to consider when choosing beer bottles:
1. Made of glass
2. Colored glass (brown and green) is favored over clear bottles. Light damages beer and the colored glass helps in protecting your brew.
3. Do not use twist off bottles. The caps will not seal along the threads.
Bottles can be bought at a local beer-brewing retailer, or to save money you can reuse bottles that you have consumed in the past. I prefer to reuse bottles because it saves money and either way, you will still have to sanitize the bottles.
Equipment Needed:
• Bottles
• Caps
• Siphon
• Tubing (usually part of siphon)
• Bucket
You may notice that your beer (before bottling) is still flat. It will remain flat if you do not add supplementary sugar to the beer right before bottling. Although your beer seems to be inactive, there is still a little amount of yeast left in the brew. Adding sugar gives the yeast something to consume and create the CO2 needed for carbonation. Like many stages in the brewing process, it is important that you get the proportions correct.
Storing the Beer
Sunlight and florescent light will cause beer to become skunky, so when storing your beer, try to minimize exposure to any light. Bottling your beer in brown bottles helps minimize this effect too.
Your beer should sit for at least a week before you drink it. During this first week, you should try not to move your bottles too much because there will still be some reactions taking place. It is also important to store your beer at a temperature that will let your yeast continue to react. If you are using yeast for an ale beer, store your bottles at room temperature (65-75 degrees.) If you store them in the fridge, the cold temperature will prevent the yeast from creating CO2 and your beer will remain flat.
Don’t store your beer for too long. The longer your bottles sit, the greater chance your beer will become oxidized. It is my recommendation that you drink your beer within a year of when you brew it. Beyond this point and there is a good chance that your seal has leaked and effected the taste of your beer. However, don’t rush. A year is a long time.
Drinking the Beer
You may notice that there is a thin yeast layer at the bottom of your homebrew. This has to do with the final yeast reactions that take place after your beer is bottled. When drinking from the bottle, the extra yeast will not bother you until then end of the bottle when it is stirred up. There is no way to avoid this layer, so I recommend pouring all your homebrews into a glass before you consume them. If done slowly, the yeast layer will not be transferred to the glass or mug and you will have a perfect brew to enjoy.
Pat McLoughlin is a avid homebrewer and enjoys writing about it on his website homebrewhints.com. Home Brew Hints gives step by step instructions on how to brew beer at home as well as a collection of helpful hints that can assist you in your homebrewing process. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/wines-and-spirits-articles/bottling-storing-and-drinking-your-homebrew-1701823.html
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