Beer Making At Home Part II

This morning I completed bottling two new brew recipes - a Canadian Draft and a recipe entitled Whispering Wheat, a very light, mild tasting brew that is one of my very favorites. All told I bottled some three dozen 12 oz. brews, plus two liter bottles, using bottling materials purchased previously from the manufacturer.

This is the fun part; testing for potential alcohol content (about 4%), sterilizing, pouring and sealing the bottles for the conditioning period, which will take 7 to 10 days. After that period of time they may be refrigerated and will ready to serve. There is no rushing this process!

(Note: The glass you see in the picture is from a previous batch that produced a nice, semi-dark Viennese ale).

What causes the carbonation in a bottle of home-brewed beer? Sugar. The yeast in the brew is still active. Sugar feeds the yeast, which releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. This action gives the beer its "head". Of course commercial manufacturers can carbonate artificially (many do) but there is something to be said for the natural method. I'll update you on that moment of truth when I pop my first bottle to "test" the process before packaging these bottles as Christmas gifts!