Saturday, December 10th, I bottled the Crazy 8 Amber Ale. In the past, with this particular beer, I have fermented one week in the pail then one week in the carboy. This time it remained in the carboy for two full weeks. It may just be my fuzzy memory but this beer seemed exceptionally clear compared to previous versions. The amber ale is usually best when young and fresh so I plan to drink a few at Christmas. I bottled 12 x 22 oz. bottles and 27 x 12 oz. bottles. The number of bottles is only incedental to the time involved. Botting and capping itself does not take very long and can I usually get help with this part of the process. As anybody who has done this before knows, there are a several other steps involved besides bottling. Bottles, the bottling bucket, and the racking cane all need to be sterilized. The priming sugar has to be boiled and cooled. And, since I now add dry yeast each time I bottle, the yeast has to be measured and rehydrated. I have been experimenting with the amount of yeast to add. I want to minimize sediment but want enough for good carbonation. I know that the additional yeast may not be required in all cases but is good insurance. In the past, before I started adding yeast at bottling, I had a couple of under-carbonated beers. Of course after the bottling is done everything has to be cleaned.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The Crazy 8 is bottled
Saturday, December 10th, I bottled the Crazy 8 Amber Ale. In the past, with this particular beer, I have fermented one week in the pail then one week in the carboy. This time it remained in the carboy for two full weeks. It may just be my fuzzy memory but this beer seemed exceptionally clear compared to previous versions. The amber ale is usually best when young and fresh so I plan to drink a few at Christmas. I bottled 12 x 22 oz. bottles and 27 x 12 oz. bottles. The number of bottles is only incedental to the time involved. Botting and capping itself does not take very long and can I usually get help with this part of the process. As anybody who has done this before knows, there are a several other steps involved besides bottling. Bottles, the bottling bucket, and the racking cane all need to be sterilized. The priming sugar has to be boiled and cooled. And, since I now add dry yeast each time I bottle, the yeast has to be measured and rehydrated. I have been experimenting with the amount of yeast to add. I want to minimize sediment but want enough for good carbonation. I know that the additional yeast may not be required in all cases but is good insurance. In the past, before I started adding yeast at bottling, I had a couple of under-carbonated beers. Of course after the bottling is done everything has to be cleaned.
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