Bottling and Kegging

Bottling is a fairly straightforward process, but it should be taken seriously in order to avoid the last-minute introduction of problems to an otherwise fine fermentation. Accumulate enough bottles for at least a couple of batches of beer ahead of time. Longneck bottles make a reasonably good choice and are readily available at pubs. Because they need to be capped, avoid the screw-top variety. Some brewers prefer 22 ounce capacity bottles or “bombers”. Those are good and they remind me of drinking beer in Japan. Another option is the Grolsch bottle or Grolsch-type bottle that has a permanent, resealable ceramic cap with a rubber seal. One drawback of the traditional Grolsch bottle is the use of green glass, which does allow sunlight to penetrate and does not protect beer from becoming sunstruck or spoiled. It is probably best to stay away from clear glass altogether. Brown glass is a much more effective protector of your beer, although in recent years, brown Grolsch bottles have become relatively hard to find. Brewers and beer marketers have evidently not yet had the Vulcan mind-meld. With Grolsch bottles, the rubber seals may require replacement every few years but they are cheap and available. Grolsch bottles also fit comfortably at twenty to a banker’s box that is being used as a case. A decent number of European beers come in ceramic-capped bottles including some exotic containers that could be described as opaque, stoneware-looking crocks, and these are easy to use and they make a very nice presentation. Incidentally, I have seen some empty Grolsch bottles for sale on Ebay at starting bids of more than they cost new and full. Draining beer bottles for profit—now, there is a business plan that is worthy of endorsement.

Priming the finished beer for bottling provides carbonation and gives you some options. Corn sugar is commonly used as a primer, and the sweetened beer will undergo a final, carbonating conversion of glucose to ETOH + CO2 in the bottles. Once activated, the suspended yeasts will absorb and use any oxygen that is present, which helps reduce the likelihood of flavor problems due to oxidation. Measure the priming sugar carefully, since too much or too little will lead to improper carbonation; I use ¾ cup corn sugar for 5 gallons of beer. Light DME is another option for priming, with both advantages and disadvantages. Dry Malt Extract is more expensive than corn sugar and takes up to a month to ferment in bottles, but it adds a little malt flavor and the bubbles that it produces tend to be smaller and hence preferable to corn sugar bubbles. I have used one cup light DME that has been boiled in 2 cups of water per 5 gallons of beer, but some recipes call for a little more DME.

 

 

Figure 5. Home made labels convey a sense of elegance and refinement to your brewski.

Whenever you use recycled bottles be sure to wash out any residues that may be present in them after use, and remove all traces of the labels. Paper and glue can easily become infected with various organisms, and the best bet is to eliminate the possibility of contamination. Besides, commercial labels are tacky. Also, removing them also allows you to make your own labels (as shown in Figure 5).

Whenever you bottle beer, be sure to sterilize the bottles first. Some automatic dishwashers do a good job sterilizing bottles, and some high-end models have a very hot wash setting that is designed specifically for sterilization. You can also prepare bottles for use by scrubbing them out with a chemical sterilizing solution or by immersing them in boiling water. Filling the sterile beer bottles is best done with a siphon tube with about a 3/8” diameter, and the empty bottles in a sink. That allows you to fill them quickly while siphoning from the fermenter or the kettle, if you use that for priming the beer. Some brewing kettles are available with an outlet valve at the bottom, which simplifies bottling. The use of the sink reduces the likelihood of creating a sticky mess.

If you are not using bottles with resealable ceramic caps, capping the full bottles can be done with several different kinds of cappers. These range from simplistic metal cups on a handle, which are set atop the cap and tapped with a hammer, to adjustable cappers with levered handles. Rinse and/or wipe the full bottles down if any beer may have gotten on the surface of the glass. Personally I prefer those ceramic-capped bottles that do not need to be sealed with a capper.

Frequent brewers often get themselves set up with a simple kegging apparatus, and the most commonly available one is the Cornelius Keg system. This is a popular kegging system that is an adaptation of a popular commercial soft drink dispensing apparatus. These require some initial investment but they save time and allow you to move into the rarified atmospheres of draft beers.

Used kegs are often available and they last forever, although you should watch for worn rubber o-rings and broken pressure relief valves. Clean them thoroughly; some people who sell them are not as meticulous as they should be. Be careful also when buying used Cornelius kegs; many used kegs that are for sale are labeled “property of the Coca Cola Company” or Pepsi Cola, so be sure there are no ownership hassles when scoring used kegs. New kegs cost quite a lot more but ownership is presumably indisputable.

Cornelius kegs come in 3, 5, and 10 gallon sizes and beer is normally force-carbonated in them. The five gallon kegs are most readily available; 3-gallon kegs are hard to find used and tend to be pricey, but they are quite convenient. You will need one or more carbon dioxide bottles and a beverage supplier or other gas provider to fill them. In order to use the bottled CO2, a regulator is required for pressurizing the space above the beer, and there goes another hundred bucks. Gas input and beer output valves and tubes are available for both configurations of Cornelius kegs; the Coke type uses pin-lock valves and the Pepsi type uses ball locks. See your beverage distributor for components of this sort, or perhaps an online brewing supply outfit. One of the advantages of the establishment of a Cornelius kegging system is that it is easy to adapt it for the use of pressurized nitrogen in place of carbon dioxide for certain stouts and ales, if you choose. It is your call whether the hassle and cost of more hardware and supplies is offset by the availability of pressurized nitrogen. For some of us it clearly is.

The home kegging system also enables brewers to introduce a simple but effective filtration system. Beer can be transferred from one keg to another through a filter cartridge. Home Depot sells filter cartridge holders and cartridges that can be used inline for this purpose, and filtering out particles ranging down to 1.0 microns is a fast and effective way to clarify the finished beer. You can transport the unfiltered brew through a filter and into another keg easily enough, this way. You will need to use a refrigerator or an ice-bath to serve beer from one of these kegs, or you can install a beer dispensing tower on a small refrigerator for a fraction of the cost of a finished beer dispenser.