Bottled Beer

I just finished bottling the first batch. Specific gravity was 1.010 to 1.012, giving a final alcohol of at least (1.060-1.012)/1.060 = 4.5%. I chose to follow R's advice and the Brewcraft directions, and go straight from the secondary fermenter to the bottles. I made up a dextrose solution with 2 cups of hot water and the pre-measured dextrose from Brewcraft. I poured that in to the carboy, trying to get it to cascade down the side. Then I used the auto-siphon to gently stir the beer, doing my best to not stir up the sediment on the bottom. After a few minutes of that, I primed the auto-siphon, which was a bit of a trick. The bottle filler has a push valve on the bottom, so you have to simultaneously hold down the tip of the filler while pumping the auto siphon. Easy if there were two people, but for one it is a little bit of a trick.

I was able to fill just about 14 of the 32oz bottles from IKEA, or roughly 3.5 gallons of beer. I did sample what was left in the auto-siphon tube when I was done, and it tasted like beer, though slightly sweet from the dextrose solution. In a couple weeks we'll have beer.