2.28.2012

Beer Week

The week before last was beer week in The City and I actually just missed it (in case you were wondering, February is still strong beer month. There is still time!)  However, lucky for me, my brother likes to brew up beers of many colors. So I went to visit him last week and together with my broski, we bottled some brewski.

I have never bottled beer before so to me, it was fascinating and fun. Another fun fact is that the beer we were bottling was my favorite kind, Stout. So let's begin shall we? But first, a warning.



Maybe you can't read it. Maybe I had too much beer before taking that picture. But it says: "Drinking may cause memory loss, or worse, memory loss".

Also, the broski schooled me on the rules for bottling. {#1 Rule} When bottling, one must have a beer. One does not drink the beer one is bottling. However, one cannot bottle without a beer in one's hand. {#2 Rule} There is no number two rule.


Before getting started, we went to the beer store. I don't think that is what the actual name of it is, but to me, it is The Beer Store. They had hops, barley, bottles and much, much more. I could have looked around in there for a long time. But broski was in a hurry, so we got our bottles and caps and got out.

Three of many different types of bottles.
Barley and stuff. Isn't it fun!? It's like Whole Foods for beer lovers.
Then we went home, poured ourselves a beer and got started. To bottle, first you move the beer from the keg to a handy 5 gallon bucket. Or two. Before the beer transfer begins, you have to add a little bit of sugar water to the bottom of the bucket in order to get the carbonation process going. Notice the broski hiding behind the bottles? He's shy. Also, note the plastic cup of beer next to the buckets? See? I told you it was a rule.


Bottles at the ready, you siphon the beer into them one by one. I did this, and I managed to get a lot of beer on the floor in the process. After I filled up the bottles, broski put the caps on. To put the caps on, you get to use a cap thingy. That is the actual name of the device: the cap thingy. Go ahead, ask a brewer if you don't believe me.


After being capped with the cap thingy, the bottles were done! We labeled them and now they are ready for drinking.

This growler is mine!
Have you ever made your own beer or bottled beer? What is your favorite kind of beer? Have you ever seen or used the cap thingy before?

5 comments:

  1. Fun! I've never bottled beer, although growing up we took an annual summer trip to Milwaukee WI for a brewery tour. Classy!

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  2. That's so cool! I guess I didn't realize that you could do that without like a factory or something!

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  3. I've always wanted to brew my own stuff but have never actually tried it. I'm more into the dark stuff like porters, stouts, and nut beers.

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  4. Interesting! I do not drink beer (and didn't even before I knew about my gluten intolerance) so I do not have a favorite. My brother's brother-in-law is very into brewing his own beer, but I have never seen him do it!

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  5. Fun...that looks awesome...my husband would love it!

    xoxo from Trinidad

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