How to Bottle Beer at Home

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 How to Bottle Beer at Home

How to keep things clean, add the right amount of sugar, and bottle your beer successfully.

What You'll Need:

Preparation

You've learned how to make beer, and now it's time to bottle it. Remember, sanitation is crucial throughout the brewing process. Before bottling, make sure to sanitize everything that will come in contact with your beer. Here's what you'll need to sanitize:

  • Bottling bucket
  • Beer bottles
  • Bottle caps
  • Auto-siphon
  • Priming sugar

Racking

Your beer is probably sitting on a layer of sediment called trub. This consists of hops, dead yeast, and other brewing materials. While it's not harmful, it doesn't taste great. Racking is the process of carefully moving the beer off the trub. We rack beer from the primary to the secondary fermenter and then from the fermenter to the bottling bucket. Racking into a bottling bucket helps you mix the priming solution evenly with the beer, which allows the yeast to carbonate your beer in the bottle.

Tip: Use gravity to your advantage. When racking, make sure the container you're filling is lower than the one you're emptying.

Siphoning and Priming

Add your priming solution to the bottom of your empty bottling bucket and ensure the valve is closed. Insert the auto-siphon into your carboy, just deep enough to start siphoning but not so deep that it disturbs the trub. Begin with the siphon about 3 inches deep and slowly go deeper as the liquid transfers. Stop before you start pulling up sediment.

Move your carboy and siphon aside, and focus on your bottling bucket. You may need to reposition it to fill your bottles.

Free Tip: Ensure your tubing is long enough to rest within the bottling bucket to avoid splashing.

Another Free Tip: If you really want to geek out on the fine nuances of carbonation and priming sugar (which you don't have to), then check out our home beer making priming sugar calculator.

Filling and Capping

Fill your bottles using a bottle filler attached by a short length of tubing to the bottling bucket's spigot. Leave about 3/4 inch of headspace at the top of each bottle. Place a cap on the bottle and use the capper to secure it.

Conditioning and Storage

Why carbonate beer? Because flat beer doesn't taste as good. Carbonation enhances flavors and quenches your thirst. Different beer styles require different levels of carbonation. While some beers are force carbonated in kegs, most homebrews are bottle conditioned. This involves adding a measured amount of sugar to the beer, causing a small fermentation in the bottle. The CO2 from this fermentation carbonates the beer.

Use the right bottles: Only use pry-off style bottles, as screw tops aren't suitable. They lack the necessary lip for the capper and can break, ruining your beer.

Storing your beer: Store the bottles in a warm (65-75°F) and dark place for two weeks to let the yeast properly condition the beer. Once carbonated, keep the beer in a cool area until you're ready to enjoy it.

Time to Party!

You've put in weeks of effort, from brewing the wort to fermenting the beer. Now, you've bottled and primed your beer with sugar. After waiting for the perfect carbonation level, it's finally time. Chill your beer, open a bottle, and pour it into a glass. Inspect the color, carbonation, and aroma. Remember, homebrew might have a small amount of yeast sediment at the bottom. Pour carefully to avoid this sediment.

Ready for your next batch? Check out the brewing kits at Boomchugalug!