First go at Bottling – Christmas Ale

500D_1775So, the instructions say that Christmas Ale should site in a cold place a for a couple of weeks and be a SG of 1020 when you bottle.  I am pretty pleased that I got it spot on, though I have been very careful about following the instructions to the letter.

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500D_1773Bottling was OK.  I did do it a little early though because I needed another demijohn for cider/quince wine.  I was very careful to wash and rinse each bottle and lid, then allowed the beer to dribble down the side of the bottle to stop too much oxygen getting in.  (That has got to be better than letting it waterfall in.)  My tube has a little tap at the end, so it was easy to move the tube between bottles.  The main issue was trying to avoid picking up the must at the bottom – I didn’t want too much yeast to make the trip.  Since I just use a bare tube I had to be very careful and keep an eye on where it was.500D_1774  In the end, to get the last bottle to a reasonable height, I gently tipped the demijohn.  My bottles are PET ones with screw tops.  They should cope with massive pressure should the fizzing up work, but the screw tops have anti-tamper rings and were a right pain to get on straight.  I didn’t find a way that worked every time and had to keep checking.

So, the beer looks right, tastes right and has the right SG. I am optimistic that there will be some nice Christmas Ale in a few weeks.  The instructions say leave it in a warm place for a week to get the fizz going, then off to the cellar it goes.   (No sugar needs to be added for this Christmas beer – I am a bit nervous about that but them’s the instructions.)