The boys and I racked a batch of Hefeweizen into bottles for the last stage of fermentation and carbonation. It has a beautiful color and tasted surprisingly sweet. I was recently inspired to rest more on Sunday and slow down, but since this is beer, it can’t count as work right (?). This was the first batch from an extract kit I have brewed since our littlest one was born. I will address the many benefits to homebrewing (cost, ownership over the product, and health) later.

Clean all the equipment and bottles with a sanitizing solution

I use Star San for the cleaning and bottle mostly into 24 oz bottles with some 12 oz. The smaller ones are mostly to give away to friends and clients.

Rack over into a bucket with a spigot

I use an auto-siphon for this. I was skeptical whether this was necessary since the alternative is free (starting as siphon with your mouth) but it is totally worth the reduction in contamination risk.

You don’t want to use a bucket with a spigot as the fermentor since the area around the spigot is a source of build-up of caked yeast, hops, etc.

Add priming sugar to the beer

I added just under 2/3 a cup of table sugar. If you want to get fancy, add corn sugar but I didn’t have any. I boil this in a cup of water and then let it cool to room temperature before adding. Don’t forget this. I have, er, sampled the batch by this point and came close to leaving it out.

Bottle and cap

Takes a long time but I had help with my boys setting up the empty bottles and putting up the full ones.

We bless it as a family. Put in the closet for a week and it will be ready to drink. Orange caps for Halloween and hunting season.

Not going to make it until then I fear.