Well our first brew is ready to be bottled! The first brew was the Kolsch. The whole process went quite smooth. We really didn't have any mishaps. However, I can definitely say we need a bottle tree! It would make the process that much simpler. We ended up with 46 bottles. We'll wait at least a week, and give one a try to see if it has carbed up. If not, we'll wait another week, and so on. From what I've read, a lot of brewers follow the 1-2-3 rule. 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, and 3 weeks in the bottles. This obviously is just a guideline, and every brew will be unique. The guys at work have been harassing me as to when they get their beer, so it feels good to finally be getting a final product to show to people.
Capped and Ready to Go!
Brewing is definitely fun....but I found the biggest drawback.... THERE AREN'T ENOUGH BOTTLES! Even with the empties from the local bar, we're definitely not going to have enough to produce all the alcohol we would like. At least once we get a good stockpile, we shouldn't have to worry about it anymore. But, I'm definitely excited to try to keg this stuff. That will take a lot of work out the process.
Prost!
Jeremy
