Beer Bottling Setup

 

I use several handy items to assist me in my beer bottling task that have proven to be extremely handy.  You know what they say: Frank Zappa is the Mothers of Invention.

A ‘milk crate’ for supporting the bottling bucket.

One of my bench vices with a short piece of 1x1 lumber clamped in it with a large paper clip type of deal clamped upon the end to hold the Bottling Wand;

And of course the capper.  Notice that the capper is mounted upon a piece of 1x4 lumber that is C-Clamped to the bench.  I love C-Clamps. They make life so much easier.  Hats off to Mr. C for the wondrous invention!

Not shown are the re-tasked Typewriter table that weighs too much and has plastical wheels that aren’t nearly sturdy enough, but was too good an item to toss.  I place plastic shopping bags with two six-packs of bottles on that little darlin’ for transporting to the finishing area, whether it is the freezer for Lagers or the other side of the basement where the temperature seems to be more consistent on the floor than anywhere else in the basement.  I do a half case at a time, placing a new bottle under the tube as I place the filled bottle on the bench, placing the cap lightly upon it for capping.  It is the way of my people, you see.

The plastic shopping bags are handy in case something spills and, as happened one time in my old freezer, a preventative to having to clean up moldy crap where the oft-used cardboard sixpacks take on a life of their own.  Boy, was that a mess to clean up….

 

Cheers~!

CyberDave

OK. Back to beer.

Oktöberfest is in bottles at 60°F in the freezer unit and the ESB is finally in the Secondary.  I did the two tasks the same day, one after the other.  I DID however, neglect to pour the sanitizer into the carboy before racking to the Secondary but I suspect that the hot water will have undone any nasties that might have been in it and since beer was in it just before, there won’t be a problem anyway.  Hopefully.

Next beer won’t be a beer at all, next brewing session will be MEAD!  About time that I made more mead.  Huzzahs all ‘round!

Bwa-haha! Back on line with this blog…

As it seems, my problem was security.  I set up security thingys that caused Live Writer to tilt.  Having undone that, I can now post to my brewing thingy again.

Cheers!

OktöberFest is bottled. Now we wait...

Despite forgetting the recipe when I brewed this at Microbe Festus, this looks like it is going to be pretty good and it is within style guidelines, which is what I wanted to do this time rather than another over the top version. It should be ready to drink in.. Oktöber. I got 52 12-oz. bottles with a little left over to sample. Wasn't bad at all. If I have an op to go to Bramwell this year, I'll enter it into the contest. My brethren will probably judge again this year so they will probably know that it's mine. None of them are the types to dis a beer so that their beer will get better scores, nor give mine better scores than it deserves. They are honest. Don't know about the other judges from elsewhere... ya never know.

I'll wait to share this with my fellow brewers til after that contest. They will have to make do with yet another batch of my ESB and some of my over the top Oktöberfest from earlier in the year as those are the only styles that I've made in 2011. Fine tuning.

Cheers!

Pooches!

Somehow or another I broke the link betwixt this and Live Writer. Looking at the Help thigy I am supposed to make an entry from my blog before adding the account to Live Writer. Let's give it a shot....
Cheers!

Oktöberfest has been in primary for a week

There is still krauzen on the top of the beer, I’ve been dropping the temp 1° per day to 52°F for the primary.  Smells like Lager fermenting when I open the freezer door. This batch might just be ready for Oktöberfest this year.  If I go to Bramwell this year, I’ll enter it into the homebrew contest and see how it does.

The second batch of this style has been met with rave reviews from my peeps with whom I’ve shared it.  One guy at work asked if he could buy a sixpack for his camping outing this weekend, but I told him that was illegal.  I could give it to him, however.  And so I did.  He had previously given me his old steel toed work shoes when he got a new pair and I gave him a tasteful selection of Oktöberfest and ESB and he & his wife loved them both.  I probably give away about half of the beer that I brew; it is a labour of love.

After this batch gets thru, I may start another ESB, and also will put together a batch of Mead.  Might make it with an addition of strawberries of something tasty like that.  Maybe get some Damson Plumbs from my barber who doesn’t do anything with them and make a plumb mead.  That would be interesting.  Use a sweet champagne yeast rather than the dry that I used last time.  And hope that I live another 5 years to enjoy it.  For the sake of the mead….. We’ll see…

More on Microbe Festus….

As I was saying in our last exciting episode, I got my cargo cleaned up around 5:30, and the beer stopped being served at 6:00 PM… and so I had a whirlwind tour of the vendors that had beer left.  I went to a vendor’s tent and got a glass of IPA…

and a good time was had by me, CyberDave!  Also ran into my sister Boon who was pouring beer:

… and her preacher & his wifemate.  Names? I dunno.  I was drinking that day… She knows ‘em, and that’s the important part. 

Ah, it was a wondrous day.  Beers, Female earthlings sporting their best Summer Breasteses…

Who could ask for more?  Bwa-hahaha….