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I’ve heard
that I should boil this kit anyway… what’s the truth?
There’s a lot of
misunderstanding about no-boil kits. Boiling is necessary for the
brewing process, but these kits have already been boiled! The
manufacturer brews the beer (including boiling) all the way up to
the point where they could add yeast and ferment it. But instead,
they concentrate and can it. So all you need to do is add water to
the concentrate, and then add yeast to ferment. The whole point of
no-boil kits is to let someone else (professionals) do the dirty
work!
You won’t “improve” a no-boil kit by
boiling it. Anyone who says you need to boil doesn’t know what
they’re talking about. Blind taste tests by different
manufacturers, using experienced brewers and trained tasters, have
proven that no-boil kits actually come out somewhat better without
re-boiling them. Re-boiling is over-boiling!
Should I
be adding sugar to my no-boil beer kit?
Table sugar is just a cheap substitute for malt extract, but doesn’t
create the best beer. For quality beer, add more plain malt extract
instead of sugar. Most high-quality no-boil kits contain plenty of
malt extract, so you don’t need to add any more. But others don’t
contain enough to brew an entire 5 gallon batch. They call for
sugar (not malt) because malt is heavily taxed in some places.
Check the weight of your kit. 3.3 -
4 lb. kits need additional malt extract. All necessary color &
flavor are already in there, so you can use light colored malt
extract even for a dark beers. Beer strength & body depend on the
total amount of malt extract used. 5 lb=light, 6-7lb=medium,
8+lb=strong. Also, every pound of malt leaves behind a bit of sweet
flavor in the finished beer (sugar doesn’t.) When adding malt
instead of sugar, you can keep the beer from becoming too sweet by
using hopped malt extract; it contains enough bittering hops to
balance the added sweetness.
Before
Brewing, Check Your Yeast: Important!
No-boil kits come with
dried yeast. However, many home brewers upgrade to superior live
yeast cultures. Live Yeast must be
prepared before brewing.
1.
If you’re using Dried Yeast, there’s no advanced
preparation. When the time comes, you can just sprinkle it in.
There are special
procedures for the ideal re-hydration and proofing of dried yeast.
You may read about them, but in order to get any significant
benefits you need to hit very precise targets of time, temperature,
nutrients, and pH. Without a whole lot of work, you aren’t likely
to gain much advantage from it. If you wish, you can do a simpler
re-hydration - there are some benefits. But don’t do it now! Wait
until it’s time to add yeast. Then, put about ½ cup of lukewarm
water (70-90ºF) in a sterile glass. Sprinkle dry yeast evenly on
the surface. Wait 5 to 15 minutes, no longer. Use a sterile spoon
to stir the yeast, and then pitch (pour) into the beer.
2.
You may have LIVE YEAST
in a standard 50ml Slap-Pack.
These must be activated at least 1 day before brewing,
usually more. First, look for the date stamp on the front of the
pouch; this is the day it was manufactured. You must activate it 1
day in advance for each month of age. For example, a 4 months old
pack should be activated 4 days before brewing. Slap packs are
guaranteed for 6 months, but in reality they’re good for a year in
the refrigerator. Older slap packs just take longer to swell; after
swelling they work fine.
Activating a 50ml slap-pack is fast
and easy. Take it out of the refrigerator and lay it on the
countertop. Feel around for the inner bulge. You must burst the
inner bulge by either squeezing the pack, or slapping it. Don’t
worry, the outer pouch is tough and won’t break open easily. When
activated properly, the inner bulge seems to disappear. Leave the
pouch at room temperature - don’t refrigerate after activation! The
pouch will eventually swell. As soon as you see swelling, it’s
ready to use. Left for long enough, it’ll swell up like a
football! Don’t worry; the pouch is too tough to pop open. Once
fully swelled, you must use it within 3 days or the yeast dies.
Purchase a fresh culture.
3.
You may have LIVE YEAST in a
Ready-To-Pitch
XL "ACTIVATOR" Pack. These 125ml pouches are superior
to tube-style “Ready-To-Pitch” yeast. Your XL-Pack can be used as
soon as it warms to room temperature (just like tube-style yeast.)
However, it’s even better if you give it a head start. XL-packs can
be activated a few hours before use. It’s convenient to activate
whenever you decide to start brewing, then it’ll be ready by the
time you need it. It’s normal if an XL pack doesn’t swell; that
takes 4-6 hours or more. You don’t need to wait for swelling,
because there are great benefits with just 1-2 hours of activation
before use. Read the above paragraph about how to activate by
breaking the inner bulge. Shelf life is at least 6 months. Discard
packs if not used for 3 days after activation.
SECTION 1 - BREWING
Step 1:
Soak beer kit can (or cans) in hot water for 5-10 minutes. This
will make pouring easier.
Step 2: While
the beer kit is warming, sterilize/sanitize (for our purposes
we’ll use the terms interchangeably) your fermentor and a large
spoon or paddle with a brewing sanitizer.
Follow the instructions for the particular brand you’re using.
Don’t try to “improve” things! Some sterilizers don’t work if you
mix them too strong, and some no-rinse sanitizers don’t work as well
if you rinse them.
In a pinch, you can use unscented household bleach at a rate of ½
cup per 2 gallons, but it requires a long soak, lots of rinsing, and
often deposits nasty flavors. It’s much better to use a sanitizer
which is made for home brewing.
Avoid all other
household disinfectants and antibacterial products.
Step 3:
Pour about a gallon of your hottest tap water into your fermenting
bucket. If your fermentor is a glass carboy, you should use your
bottling bucket for this step. Just be sure to sanitize it first.
If your water is chlorinated, you should
use a faucet filter or buy spring water or distilled water.
Distilled water is OK to use because beer kit already contains
concentrated minerals from the original water used in manufacture.
You should not use water which has been processed through a
salt-type softening system, but Reverse-Osmosis water is great.
Step 4:
Open your beer kit can (or cans) and pour the contents into the hot
water. Also add in any additional malt extract, sugar, or other
ingredients (but not yeast!) Stir vigorously until everything has
dissolved completely.
Step 5: Add
cool water to the bucket, bringing the volume up to 5 gallons.
Adjust the temperature so that the batch ends up below 90ºF (ideally
at room temperature.)
In a perfect world,
you’d use only pre-boiled (sterile) cool water, but most modern
drinking water is clean enough to use without bothering. Again,
avoid chlorinated or salt-softened water. We recommend bringing the
volume up to slightly more than 5 gallons, since you’ll lose about ½
inch to sediment.
Stir well after adding
water to prevent the hot wort and cool water from separating into
layers.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Some no-boil kits are designed for a batch size different than 5
gallons. If you have one of these kits, just substitute the proper
number wherever you see “5 gallons” written here.
Step 6: Stir
the wort vigorously with a sterile spoon or paddle. This is more
important than you might think, and for a number of reasons.
Primarily, it adds
oxygen to the wort. Boiling removed all of the oxygen, which the
yeast needs to reproduce quickly and to grow healthy cells.
Stirring in a
bucket is easy, but in a small-mouthed glass fermentor it’s more
difficult. One recommended tool called a “Mixstir” which looks like
a collapsible propeller on a stick, and hooks to your cordless
drill. The absolute best oxygenating tool is an oxygen system made
for home brewers. These have become very affordable. They quickly
and easily deliver a fine mist of pure oxygen bubbles. A few
10-second shots of pure oxygen result in yeast that’s incredibly
healthy and vigorous - the beer ferments days faster and tastes
cleaner.
Mixing is also important to blend the cool, thin water with the
thick, hot wort. Without some vigorous stirring, these liquids of
varying thickness and temperature tend to separate into layers.
Step 6:
THIS STEP ONLY FOR GLASS FERMENTORS:
Up to this point, you’ve been mixing the ingredients and water in a
bucket. Now that the mixture is cool, you can siphon or pour
through a funnel into your sanitized glass fermentor.
The ideal “standard”
home brew fermentor is a 6½ gallon glass carboy. The 5 gallon level
is about 12 inches above the floor, so we fill them to about 12½
inches. The extra headspace in the fermentor will allow room for
the yeast foam which rises during fermentation.
Some brewers use a 5 or 6 gallon fermentor with a blow-off tube. We
generally don’t recommend blow-off because what’s blowing out is
healthy yeast! This often causes a slow, weak fermentation, which
can also result in beer with more off-flavors.
Step 7:
Optional, but
recommended.
Use your hydrometer to test the Specific Gravity (SG) of the wort.
Don’t try to do this test in your fermentor. Take a sample out and
use a test jar or hydrometer thief. Take care that the hydrometer
is floating freely with no clinging bubbles, and then read the
printed scale where it lines up with the surface. This is your
Original Gravity (OG) reading, write it down.
We don’t give you a predicted SG reading for a good reason – it’s
easy to read a hydrometer wrong! We don’t want another phone call
or Email saying “You said it should be about 1.042, but I saw 1.045
so I dumped it out.” (What a waste!) Your OG is a direct result of
how much malt extract is in the batch. It’s not even possible to go
wrong without spilling lots of malt or missing the 5 gallon mark.
Gravity
starts with water at 1.000. In 5 gallons, every pound of malt
extract syrup adds about .007, and every pound of solid malt extract
adds about .008.
Step 8: Open
your yeast package and pitch (pour it in.)
There are different types of yeast, and different ways to use each
one. The procedures for preparing and using the different yeasts
are on the page 1 of these instructions.
A: If you’re
using dried yeast, you can just sprinkle it evenly onto the
surface. There is no need to stir. If you want to take a little
extra care with dried yeast, you can re-hydrate it as explained on
page 1.
B: If you’re
using a live yeast culture, it should have been prepared in
advance. Use something sanitary to cut open a corner, and then pour
the yeast into the wort. It isn’t necessary to stir after adding
the yeast.
Step 9:
If your fermentor is a
plastic bucket, attach the lid. Fill the airlock ½ full with clean
water and carefully insert it into the grommetted hole in the lid.
You don’t need to push the airlock all the way down, just make a
good seal without pushing the grommet through its hole.
If your fermentor is
a glass carboy, put the airlock into the stopper, fill it ½ full
with clean water, and then put the stopper onto the carboy.
Don’t put the stopper on the carboy first, or you may push it
through to the inside when inserting the airlock.
Step 10: You
should see visible signs of fermentation within 24 to 72 hours after
adding yeast. Fermentation produces lots of yeast foam and lots of
CO2 gas. The CO2 pushes its way out through the airlock, making
bubbles like an aquarium ornament. In a glass fermentor, these
signs are as obvious as a lava lamp. In an opaque plastic bucket,
you must be a little more observant.
This “lag time” before
visible fermentation is one of the biggest causes of unnecessary
worry. Bear in mind that Friday night to Monday morning isn’t 72
hours! More seriously, some yeast strains are just naturally faster
than others, and this isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. Cooler
temperatures will slow down the fermentation, and again this isn’t
necessarily good or bad. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the wort
also has a big influence on lag time.
Finally, if you’re using a plastic fermenting bucket, it’s very
common for the lid to leak - even when new. CO2 gas will take the
easy way out, so you might not see any action in the airlock even
though the fermentation is going strong. Open the lid and take a
look at what’s going on if you see no airlock action for 2 or 3
days. Don’t get
so worried about lag time that you pour in some old “emergency”
yeast the next day – that’s a great way to ruin a batch which was
probably doing just fine. We’ve sold tens of thousands of yeast
cultures, and true “duds” are exceedingly rare. 72 hours is only a
guideline, not a time to despair.
Step 11: Wait
for the beer to ferment. Shield the fermentor from ultraviolet
light, like sunlight or fluorescent lights.
Ale Yeasts ferment well
at or just below room temperature, 62-72ºF is ideal. Lager Yeasts
ferment well at cooler “basement” temperature, around 55-65ºF. Some
lager yeasts are tolerant of higher temperatures, and we favor these
in our recipes. Wheat Beer Yeasts act like ale yeasts, but for lots
of fruity-ester flavors, choose a warm area (up to 80ºF.)
Keep the fermentor
somewhere where the temperature is steady, not a porch or unheated
garage where the temperature always changes. In a basement, the
fermentor will be coolest sitting directly on the foundation slab,
and perhaps several degrees warmer if you put it on a table. If all
convenient areas are too cold, you can get an electric “heat belt”
for your fermentor. If your home is too warm, find a small or cheap
refrigerator and outfit it with an override thermostat. This will
allow you to select the exact temperature you desire.
Step 12:
Fermentation usually takes 5 to 10 days, but it may be faster or
slower. The only honest statement is “Fermentation is finished when
it’s finished!” There’s no real way to predict how many days it’ll
take, because every brewer has different conditions, and some
recipes ferment faster than others. Experience will teach you what
to expect.
Fermentation is usually complete when you don’t see any more
activity. In rare cases it can stop prematurely, usually due
to lack of oxygen in the beginning or low fermentation temperature.
The only way to be absolutely sure it’s complete is to take another
hydrometer reading. The SG should have dropped approximately 75%
(don’t count the 1 before the decimal) compared to the original
reading. In other words, a beer that started at 1.048 should finish
at about 1.012. If you suspect that your fermentation stopped
early, move the fermentor to a warmer area, wait a day, then stir it
to reinvigorate the yeast.
No activity means absolutely no activity - if your fermentor is
still slowly producing CO2, it’s not finished yet. Also - even
after it’s finished it might bubble if you shake, squeeze, or tap
the fermentor. This is caused by the disturbance; it’s not a sign
of renewed fermentation!
OPTIONAL – SECONDARY FERMENTATION
Most beers can benefit
from a secondary fermentor. Beers which ferment slowly, such as
lagers and high-alcohol ales will benefit the most. The term
“secondary fermentor” is somewhat misleading, because most of the
actual fermenting happens in the first (primary) fermentor. The
“secondary fermentor” is more appropriately described as an aging
and clarifying vessel. Ideally, there’s little or no actual
fermentation in the secondary vessel.
The best container to
use for a secondary fermentor is a 5 gallon glass carboy. This is
important for a few reasons:
First,
you don’t want any air headspace in a secondary fermentor, because
oxygen in that air can contaminate the beer.
Although oxygen is
necessary before fermentation, after fermentation it will rapidly
spoil the beer.
This wasn’t a
concern in the primary fermentor because so much CO2 is produced
there that it blows out all of the air in the headspace. However,
now that your beer is in secondary, there’s little or no CO2 being
produced, so you can’t count on the air being driven out before it
does damage to the beer.
Second,
you shouldn’t use a bucket because of the risk of a leaky lid.
It’s common for
buckets to “breathe” a little bit. During primary fermentation,
this isn’t a problem because so much CO2 is being produced that any
leak is flowing outward. Since there’s little or no CO2 being
produced in secondary, a leak can be much more harmful.
Third,
a glass carboy is superior to a plastic bucket.
The obvious advantage
is that you can glance right into a glass carboy to observe how the
beer is settling and clarifying. Additionally, beer in a bucket has
a large surface area where it might absorb oxygen. A glass carboy
can be filled to the narrow neck, where the beer has only a tiny
amount of surface area – another protection against oxidation.
Using your secondary
fermentor is easy. Wait until fermentation is complete or nearly
complete, and then gently siphon the beer from primary to
secondary. Leave as much of the sediment behind as possible. You
definitely want the secondary fermentor filled to the narrow part of
the neck, so top up with pre-boiled cool water if necessary. Don’t
worry about “watering down” the beer, because you’re supposed to
have 5 gallons at this point. Now let the beer sit in the secondary
fermentor until it’s clear.
Although most or all
visible yeast will settle in the secondary fermentor, there will
still be enough invisible suspended yeast cells to carbonate the
beer in the bottles. However, if your beer sits for a long time in
secondary you may want to add more yeast when bottling, or be
prepared to wait longer for carbonation.
Beers, especially
lagers, can be cold aged in a secondary fermentor. This can knock
out all of the yeast, so you may need to add a fresh culture when
you bottle or risk having no carbonation.
OPTIONAL – CLARIFICATION
Finings and other
clarifying agents can help the beer clear more quickly and
completely, and reduce the chill haze which will form later. You
don’t need a secondary fermentor to use finings or other clarifying
agents. They’re cheap and easy to use, and won’t have a bad effect
on the beer.
Most finings are made from natural materials. You don’t need to add
preservatives to your beer unless you want to.
The best way to clarify is a three-part approach:
First,
use Irish moss (or a refined Irish moss product like Whirlfloc)
during the boil. Brewers should do this with every batch because
there’s no drawback to the use of Irish mss.
Just add a teaspoon of
Irish moss or drop in a Whirlfloc tablet during the last 10-15
minutes of the boil. Irish moss causes more protein to separate and
settle out of the wort, reducing one of the main causes of haziness
in the finished beer.
Second,
add finings after fermentation is complete. Finings include
brewer’s gelatin, isinglass, SuperKleer, etc. Their job is to make
particles stick together and settle more effectively.
In a single fermentor, add finings a few days before bottling. If
you’re using a secondary fermentor, you have the alternative of
adding finings when you transfer the beer.
Follow the directions on
your finings.
Stirring
makes finings work, even though it seems to be a step backwards.
Stirring up the settled yeast looks bad, but don’t worry because
this heavy stuff will settle again in a day or two. But now the
finings cause lighter suspended particles to stick to the heavy
ones. In a few days the beer will settle again, and it will be much
clearer than before you stirred it up.
Third, PVPP-type clarifiers (Polyclar, Divergan, etc.) can be
added at the same time as finings. They’re plastic powders which
don’t dissolve in the beer. You stir them in, and after a day or
two they settle to the bottom. On the way down, they absorb tannins
which contribute to chill haze later.
Stirring is very
important because the PVPP must be completely dispersed for maximum
effectiveness. It’s a good idea to add these powders slowly,
because there’s plenty of CO2 dissolved in the beer. This dissolved
CO2 can foam up when the powder goes in.
SECTION 2 – BOTTLING
Correct Bottles:
Glass bottles with pry-off caps are best. Home brew cappers aren’t
made for bottles with twist-off caps. American-made brown longneck
bottles, such as Samuel Adams, are ideal. Clear bottles, like
Corona, are OK, but keep them away from ultraviolet light sources
(sunlight and fluorescent light.) Flip-top Grolsch-style bottles
are great. Some bottles from Britain and Canada, such as Bass and
Molson, are harder to cap with a handheld capper due to slight
differences in mouth design. A bench-type capper is better for
these.
How Many Bottles:
Don’t be worried if you have a few bottles more or less, but you’ll
need approximately:
53 – 12oz. bottles
40 – 16oz. (500ml) Bottles
29 – 22oz. Bottles
19 – 32oz. (1 liter) Bottles
Alternatives:
Instead of bottling, many brewers choose to use kegs. Converted 5
gallon soda kegs are popular, because they make filtration & forced
carbonation possible for very professional results. Soda keg
systems generally require a dedicated refrigerator. Mini-Kegs &
Party-Pigs are also popular. They’re smaller, so a batch can be
split between kegs & bottles, plus they fit into your existing
refrigerator. Read more about kegs on our website.
Step 1: Before
you start bottling, make sure fermentation is complete. Complete
means no more activity. “Very slow” doesn’t count!
In a glass fermentor it’s easily see fermentation slow down and
stop. Plastic fermentors are trickier – don’t rely on watching the
airlock because lids often leak. It may be necessary to remove the
lid. Inside, there’s usually a tell-tale ring of crud that shows
where yeast foam rose to the surface during fermentation.
Remember: disturbing
the fermentor may make bubbles to rise, but this isn’t a sign of
fermentation.
Step 2:
Optional, but
recommended.
Test the Specific Gravity (SG) with a hydrometer. Don’t try to test
in your fermentor - use a test jar or hydrometer thief. Ensure that
the hydrometer is free-floating with no clinging bubbles. Read the
scale where it lines up with the surface. This is your
Finishing/Final Gravity (FG) reading.
Why check? Although
fermentation is usually complete when activity stops, in rare
cases it can stop prematurely. The only way to be absolutely sure
is to check the SG. The SG should have dropped (not counting the
1 before the decimal) approximately 75% during fermentation. In
other words, a beer that started at 1.048 should end at about
1.012. If you suspect that fermentation stopped early, move it to a
warmer area, wait a day, then stir to reinvigorate the yeast.
Step 3: Mix up
at least 2 gallons of cleansing/sterilizing solution in your
bottling bucket.
If the bottles are visibly soiled, soak them in warm water first to
soften the deposits, and then scrub them out.
Run some solution into each bottle, shake, and then pour the
solution back into the bucket. Don’t rinse unless the sterilizer’s
instructions require it. There are lots of gadgets to make
cleaning, sterilizing, and draining bottles faster and easier.
Step 4: Allow
bottles to drain and dry upside down.
If you don’t have a
bottle drying tree, you can use the pins on the top rack of your
dishwasher. Trying to sterilize with the dishwasher is a bad idea;
dishwashers can’t get much water up inside the bottles. Caps don’t
need to be sterilized unless they’ve gotten dirty.
Never boil caps!
Step 5: While
the bottles are drying, use the sanitizing solution to sterilize
your racking cane, siphon hose, and bottle filler. You’ll also need
to sterilize a big spoon or paddle and a glass measuring cup.
A racking
cane is a clear, rigid plastic tube with a curved end and a
black (or colored) anti-sediment tip on the other end. Flexible
hose hooks to the curved end. Your bottle filler is a 12-15”
clear tube with a black (or colored) valve on one end.
Step 6: Attach
the bottle filler to the bottling bucket spigot.
Rotate the spigot until it points upwards. Next, cut off a 1” long
piece of flexible siphon hose, and use it to splice the bottle
filler onto the spigot.
Move your fermentor to a countertop or table. Place the bottling
bucket on the floor beneath it.
Soon you will siphon
the beer from the fermentor into the bottling bucket, so be gentle
when moving the fermentor to avoid stirring up the sediment.
Step 7: If you
haven’t done so already, assemble your siphon by attaching the
flexible siphon hose to the curved end of the racking cane. You can
use hot water to soften the hose if it’s difficult to push on.
Siphon the beer from the fermentor to the bottling bucket.
You can start
a siphon easily, and without unsanitary “sucking.” Hold the entire
hose-and-racking-cane siphon assembly upside-down by the ends, so it
forms a big “U”. Fill the whole thing with clean tap water. Hold
your thumb over the hose end, and then put the rigid end down into
the fermentor. Aim the hose end down low into the bottling bucket,
and remove your thumb. The water in the tube and gravity will start
the siphon. If this seems like a hassle, there are nice automatic
siphon starters available for less than $10.00.
Step 8:
Don’t worry about the
water used to start the siphon; it’s not enough to have any effect
on the beer.
You should be able to let the racking cane rest on the bottom of the
fermentor, because the special tip will prevent it from picking up
sediment. Just
try not to let the racking cane move around too much or it might
stir up the sediment.
Step 9: As the
beer siphons into the bottling bucket, try to make the transfer as
gentle as possible.
Beer that is splashing
or running down the side of the bucket picks up more oxygen, which
reduces shelf life. Ideally, the siphon tube should reach all the
way down to the bottom of the bottling bucket. The anti-sediment
tip of the racking cane will stop siphoning with about ½-inch of
sediment and beer left behind in the fermentor.
Thrifty
brewers sometimes gently tip the fermentor to siphon out the last of
the beer, especially in a secondary fermentor where there’s less
sediment. You shouldn’t worry about a few ounces of beer at the
risk of siphoning a lot of sediment, though.
Step 10: When
the siphon is complete, lift the bottling bucket up to the
countertop or table, placing it so that the spigot hangs a couple
inches over the side.
Don’t put a lid on the
bottling bucket. If you suspect the presence of lots of dust or
other airborne contaminants, drape a clean cloth over the top of the
bucket. Rotate
the bottling spigot so that the filler points down.
You may want to put
something on the floor beneath it, because there will be a tendency
to drip while you work.
Step 11: Put
about a cup of hot tap water into your sterile measuring cup. Pour
the bottling sugar into this and stir to dissolve. Pour this sugar
solution into the beer. Stir gently but completely with a sterile
spoon or paddle.
Some instructions tell
you to put the sugar in earlier, and let the siphon action stir it.
This is a bad idea because it’s very important that the sugar be
mixed evenly, and siphoning should be too gentle to do it right.
You can boil
the sugar solution on a stove or in a microwave if you’re worried
about contamination, but it’s probably not necessary.
Step 12: Turn
the bottling spigot on. This lets beer flow into the bottle filler,
but it should stop at the valve in the tip. When you slide a bottle
up onto the filler, the bottom of the bottle pushes the valve to
make beer flow.
Let your bottle fill to the very top, because withdrawing it from
the filler drops the level about an inch.
Now the bottle is filled to the perfect height, so you can cap it.
Keep bottling until you’re out of beer!
Partially filled
bottles won’t carbonate, so don’t try to scrounge the last few
ounces of beer.
CONDITIONING:
Store your bottles upright at fermentation temperature for at least
a week. During this time, live yeast in the beer will ferment the
bottling sugar. The CO2 produced during this time is the source of
carbonation.
Some beers will take longer to carbonate, so make sure that your
beer is carbonated before you move the bottles to a cold storage or
refrigerator, or else you may stop the carbonation (conditioning)
process prematurely.
STORAGE: After
the beer has conditioned (developed its carbonation), you may want
to move it to a cooler storage area. Steady, cool storage
temperature will keep your beer fresh for the longest time.
You may have heard or
read something like “this beer was lagered at 35 degrees.” The term
“lagering” refers to cold storage after fermentation, which improves
the flavor of lagers. Ales do well when stored at room temperature
or basement temperature, but cold lagering can have a good influence
on some ales, especially with high alcohol recipes.
MATURING:
Almost all beers will improve in flavor and aroma as they age. Most
beers show the best improvement after 6 to 8 weeks in the bottle.
Storage
conditions have a big influence on this, as well as the strength and
flavor characteristics of the beer. Generally, stronger beers age
slowly, and light beers reach their peak quickly.
SHELF LIFE:
Storage conditions have a big influence on shelf life. Try to keep
your beer at a steady temperature, and away from sources of
ultraviolet light.
Alcohol and hops are
natural preservatives, so high-alcohol and /or high-hop beers last
longer. Even the lightest beers should be good for 4 months in
reasonable conditions.
To extend
shelf life, you can add preservatives (some are mild and flavorless;
others are stronger chemicals.)
SEDIMENT AND CLARITY:
Naturally conditioned beer has two characteristics – yeast sediment
and chill haze. Yeast sediment is a byproduct of the carbonating
process, it settles on the bottom of the bottles when carbonation is
complete. It’s
healthy to drink - full of B vitamins.
Even crystal-clear beer forms haze when chilled, that’s why the ads
talk about cold-filtering! Chill haze is flavorless, and will
settle out after refrigerating bottles for a week or two.
To serve crystal clear
beer, refrigerate bottles upright, and uncap them gently to avoid
raising the sediment. Pour the beer into a clean glass in one
smooth motion, and stop pouring when you reach the sediment.
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