Collecting the bottles could have been more efficient, and I could have made better choices of bottle. The first mistake was not rinsing out the bottles immediately after drinking the original contents.
- It only takes a day for mould to start growing in the bottom of the bottle. I had to throw away too many bottles due to lazyness (into the recycling bin).
- When it came to bottling (more on this later), I had a long and tedious job removing the labels. This would have been better and easier if I'd soaked them off as I collected the bottles.
- A number of the bottles had a short neck; especially the distance between the top and the "collar" which sticks out. This made using the capper much harder work on these bottles.
For the brew itself, the kit consisted of a tin of wort and a sachet of yeast. I had to add the sugar (bought previously: see Starter Kit). I was pleasantly surprised that this really only needs room temperature. In fact, it can easily be too warm from the reading I've done. The fermentation was really quick and much less dramatic than the wine. After 6 days it had all calmed down. I should have tested the OG (the kit came with a hydrometer) - but I didn't have a tall container and was short of time. I may live to regret this...
The bottling was done last night. I realised way too late that the labels needed to be removed from the bottles. I also hadn't really thought through the sterilization process. In the end I ran them all through the dishwasher. I figured this runs hot enough (particularly when drying). The proof will come in the drinking...
The kit instructions called for a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle for secondary fermentation. I had used all the sugar in the main brew, so used caster sugar for this. Thinking back, the spoon wasn't sterilized. Time will tell if this is a problem. The bottles are all now sat where the brewing was done. The instructions said "a warm place" - but I don't know how warm is needed. A bit of reading suggests it should be about the same temperature. I've used a couple of collapsible crates I had to make handling the bottles easier.
Capping the bottles was pretty simple for most of the bottles. The capper was easy to use. It did need a bot of a steady hand for some of the bottles so as to get the crown cap crimped straight. Some of the bottles were hard to cap due to the shape of the neck, however. More careful selection of bottles will make this easier next time.
In a day or two, the bottles will need to be moved to somewhere cool for a couple of weeks. According to what I've read on Lagering, this should be as close to freezing as practical to ensure a clean taste and clear finish. I might resort to leaving them outdoors as it's Winter: it's not freezing temperatures, yet.
The additional kit for this brew:
- 40 pint (5 gallon) brewing bucket (which came with the kit)
- 1kg brewing sugar (bought previously)
- A bag of crown caps (£2ish) - enough for about two lots
- A capper (£13?) - reusable, obviously
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UPDATE:
The Lagering appears to have worked - though not as well as it might have. I opened one of the bottles experimentally last weekend and there was an audible hiss. The beer hadn't fully cleared, but I tried a half pint and it has a slight fizz on the tongue. It's not as gassy as I'd expect a Lager to be (but I prefer that to be honest as I'm an Ale man really). Very pleased with the taste, though: beery enough for me and Lagery enough for the wife. I have no idea about the strength as I didn't measure the gravity ... subjectively OK: it's got alcohol in :^).
My thoughts on what might have affected the Lagering:
- We used a small spoon when measuring the sugar; perhaps more sugar should have been added.
- We added normal golden caster sugar rather than brewing sugar. From stuff I've read, this shouldn't have an adverse affect, but it's a difference...
- The temperature was not stable during the Lagering as it was whatever the room temperature was in the kitchen (which would have dipped at night and gone up a lot while we were cooking).
