Bottling Time!

Today was a great day! It was the first day since Thanksgiving that I didn't have Thanksgiving leftovers. Notice I didn't say "we"? Bill is so hard core. He had his 7th day in a row of a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce.

That's me (or someone like me) praising Bill for his fortitude in eating leftovers. True, I didn't have to cook for a week. But now I'm ruined. I will never be able to eat turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, gravy and cranberries ever again. Bill even took today's leftovers and made cute little TV dinners that he put in the freezer for a day when I'm far away..... far, far away.

Hey, I hate to change the subject, but we need to bottle the festive winter ale for 2 reasons:

1. It's ready.
2. I found the lollies (carbonation drops/priming sugar).

I misplaced my lollies sometime during my Thanksgiving cleaning flurry and today just in the nick of time I found them. The ale does not lie when it's ready for bottling, and today it was finally ready. Ever since Natalie's birthday, November 20th, I've been checking it with my trusty hydrometer.

The beer may not lie but it sure takes it time. Every day I have filled the tube with enough beer to make the hydrometer float. Then I have read on the scale where it cuts the level of the fluid. Today after 18 days it showed it was ready. According to Cooper's (Brain Dead Brew) instructions it should only take 4-7 days. I will keep you posted on how this turns out. Oh, step back non-believers! This is going to be exceptional. I just know it.

So, Bill asked me how I knew it. He asked me if I tasted it before bottling. He thinks there's merit to tasting the green beer because, in theory, if I do this enough times I should be able to identify bad beer before the bottling process. For the record, I went by smell but perhaps a swish in the mouth might merit some data? Adding to the record, it smelled like roasted malt with a hint of chocolate.

This measurement was taken the hectic morning of Thanksgiving, and the beer was not ready. Thank you, baby Jesus. (No, the table's not leaning. It's the tube.)

This morning I had a reading of 1010, so I was ready. Almost...

As you can see, I now have my lollies, and everything is going brewmeister perfect. Each bottle needs 2 lollies to prime it for secondary fermentation.

I've attached the little bottler to the plastic tap. Wow, this so easy. I could be brain dead and still make this brew!

Now just screw on the cap, and invert the bottle 4 times to mix the priming sugar and beer. I'm going to keep the bottled beer in the little bathroom with the wall heater to keep the temperature between 70 and 80 degrees for 7 days, then I'll move the bottles into the pantry to keep them at room temperature. In 14 days we'll be able to open one and try it.

Since Milan can't be here, Bill has generously offered to be chief taster. In fact, his mug is in the freezer getting frosty as I blog this.