Hembryggning: Buteljera din öl

When you’re certain that the homebrewed beer you’ve lovingly crafted is fully fermented, retrieve the bottling equipment and get ready to start the bottling procedures.

Setup starts with sanitizing all the necessary bottling equipment, which includes bottles, a bottling bucket, a bottling tube, and a plastic hose. In addition to the items to be sanitized and a sanitizing agent, you need a bottle brush, a bottle capper, bottle caps, a bottle washer, 3/4 cup dextrose, and two small saucepans.

You’ll also need your hydrometer and cylinder to measure your beer’s gravity, but those items don’t need to be sanitized.

Follow these steps to bottle your beer:

Fill your utility tub or other designated sanitizing basin about three-quarters full of cold water. Add bleach or another sanitizing agent, as directed on the package, and submerge all the bottles needed to contain the full 5-gallon batch of beer.

Medan flaskorna blötläggs, häll 3/4 kopp dextros i en av kastrullerna, lös upp druvsockret i en halv liter vatten, täck över och ställ pannan på spisen på låg värme.

Lägg i den andra kastrullen tillräckligt med kapsyler för det antal flaskor du har blötläggning plus några extra. Fyll pannan med tillräckligt med vatten för att täcka alla lock och ställ pannan på spisen på låg värme.

Låt innehållet i båda kastrullerna koka upp. Stäng sedan av värmen och låt båda svalna.

När en halvtimme har gått, rengör flaskorna.

Töm ut flaskrengöringsvattnet ur badkaret och placera tappningshinken i karet. Fyll hinken med vatten och det desinfektionsmedel du väljer. Placera sedan tappningsslangen och tappningsröret i tappningshinken och låt dem dra.

While the bottling equipment is soaking, retrieve the still-covered fermenter from its resting place and put it on a sturdy table, countertop, or work surface about 3 or 4 feet off the ground.

Set up your bottling station, making sure you have the priming sugar (dextrose) and bottle caps — still in their respective saucepans — as well as the bottle capper and bottles.

If you’re taking gravity readings, have your hydrometer and cylinder ready to use, too.

After half an hour, drain the sanitizing solution from the bottling bucket through the spigot on the bottom. Then thoroughly rinse the remaining pieces of equipment, along with the bottles, and bring them to your bottling station.

Place the bottling bucket on the floor directly below the fermenter and connect the plastic hose to the spigot on the fermenter, allowing the other end of the hose to hang inside the bottling bucket. Pour the dextrose-and-water mixture from one saucepan into the bottling bucket.

Open the spigot on the fermenter and allow all the beer to run into the bottling bucket.

Prepare to take a gravity reading.

After the last of the beer is drained, close the spigot, remove the hose, and put all the equipment aside to be cleaned after you’re done bottling.

Carefully place the bottling bucket up where the fermenter was. Connect the rinsed hose to the spigot on the bottling bucket and attach the bottling tube to the other end. Arrange all your bottles on the floor directly below the bottling bucket.

Open the spigot on the bottling bucket and fill the bottles.

After draining the bottling bucket, close the spigot, remove the hose, toss the hose inside the bottling bucket, and set everything aside to be cleaned later.

Place all the bottles on your table top or work surface, place a cap on each bottle (as insurance against everything that can go wrong), and cap one bottle at a time. Pull down on the capper lever slowly and evenly.

Store your liquid lucre in a cool, dark location (such as the place where you kept the fermenter) for two weeks.

Your homebrew needs to undergo a two-week conditioning phase, during which the remaining yeast cells chow down on the dextrose and carbonate your beer.

Putting your brew in the fridge isn’t a good idea (at least for the first two weeks) because overly cold temperatures stunt the yeast’s activity.

Skölj din bryggutrustning noggrant i varmt vatten och förvara den på en plats som är relativt fri från damm och mögel.

När två veckor har gått, kontrollera om flaskorna har klarnat; den jästiga grumligheten borde ha lagt sig. Kyl en flaska eller två för smakprovning.