Bottling Time

After driving through Sunday's Blizzard, Kate and I came home and got ready to bottle. The secondary fermentation had been conducted between 60-62 F. I left both carboys in with the space heater for a diacetyl rest at about 68 degrees. It was time for the fun to begin.

The instant foaming and fermentation kick upon adding priming sugar to the carboys surprised me, and inspired a bit of a panic. I figured that it would need to sit a little bit before the brews were ready to bottle, and I hadn't finished sanitizing much. Kate helped out, and we put together quite an assembly line sanitizing bottles, rinsing, and treeing them, then taking turns filling and capping.

One thing I read online recently suggested seating caps on bottles, and waiting 30-60 min so that the 02 in the neck is displaced before capping. Maybe we'll try that next time.

Kimble's scotch ale tastes pretty good. The extended secondary allowed the flavors to deepen, and gain complexity. Clark’s Manners still seems too hot and yeasty. I'll chock that up to learning experience.

Also, I tasted a bit of the brews after sugar had been added. They tasted vulgar, poorly textured, and over sweet. I'm glad that will ferment completely and disappear. It's also nice that I won't sugar prime any longer. It’s such a cheap shortcut.