Last night Cath and I bottled the homebrew we started with Eric a couple weeks ago. It was a messy process and took us maybe 3-4 hours including cleanup, but it’s kinda fun filling all those bottles. And it’s a pretty laid-back process.
A quick review of the brewing process: Previously we created the sugar mixture for the yeast to munch on, then left it in a tub for two weeks. The yeast did their thing, eating the sugars and producing CO2 and alcohol. Once fermentation is done (about 2 weeks), you basically have uncarbonated beer. Most real brewers force CO2 through this, bottle it, and sell it right away, but as a homebrewer we don’t have access to that kind of equipment. So instead we use natural carbonation. We add a bit more sugar to the uncarbonated beer, then bottle it. The yeast now have more sugar to eat, so they produce CO2 in the closed bottle, which carbonates the beer. This takes 2-4 weeks, and then you can drink your finished beer. So our stuff should be ready toward the middle of July.
We tasted a bit of the uncarbonated beer as we were bottling, and it was actually darn tasty. I’m not sure I would call it a Belgian Dubbel, but whatever it is, it’s pretty good. We’re taking a 6 pack home to my parents, and we’re also giving a 6 pack to Eric. Can’t wait to try the finished product!
