Tank Lanning
Righto, so the Front Row Grunt lager was mixed and put into the fermenter, and these were the next set of instructions on the Copper Tun pack:
FERMENTATION:
Leave to ferment for 5-7 days.
Monitor temperature and maintain at 18-30°C (64-86°F).
Bottle when Specific Gravity is stable below 1.008.
Add Beer Finings just before bottling for best results. Stir well.
BOTTLING:
Bottle your beer.
Prime with Carbonation Drops.
Store in a warm place for 7 days then move to a cool, dark place to mature.
Ready to drink after 2 weeks
Simple, hey?
Firstly – no one tells you that the SAB screw top bottles do not work with the capper you get with your home brew kit. This I only found out AFTER having washed, de-labeled, and sterilized over 30 of the little suckers and started trying to cap the bottle with my beer and primer in it!
So after sourcing proper bottles from my mates at Keg King, and going through the bottling process, I got sent this video, and took a look at a few home brew forums. Golden rules: Do not use Sunlight liquid to wash bottles, and wait 48 hours after putting in the finings before bottling!
I did neither … Oops!
I do have about 4 litres of beer left in the fermenter, though, and will be using the 6 or so bottles I get out of that as my entry to the 2012 blogger brewer contest at this year’s Cape Town Festival of Beer. One can only hope at this stage …
A few pics of the process thus far …
