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> Beer > Bottling Supplies
Bottling Homebrewed Beer
Bottling your beer is the one area where practice is absolutely necessary. Bottling is not hard but it will take time to do the job right. Don’t rush. You have invested a lot of time in effort to bring your brew to this point. Don’t spoil it now by taking untested short cuts. As you bottle the beer, exposing it to oxygen cannot be avoided without the use of very specialized equipment. The first time brewer should practice with plain water and the equipment in order to get the feel of how the bottling process will go.
Bottling FAQ's
Q: I bottled my beer and have no noticeable carbonation, what do I do now?
A: Assuming that fermentation occurred as expected in the primary, it may have something to do with the bottling procedure itself.
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Was priming sugar boiled and added before bottling? If carbonation drops were used, were the correct number used for the size bottle? 22 oz. bottles require 2 drops.
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There has to be enough headspace in the bottle for the CO2 to collect. We recommend using a bottle filling wand since it displaces a specific amount of beer when filling, leaving the correct amount of headspace when it is removed. If the bottle is overfilled, there is nowhere for the CO2 to go. Conversely, if underfilled, you will have too much CO2.
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Another possibility is that the filled bottles are being kept too cold or were refrigerated too soon after bottling. This will stop the yeast action and the beer will remain flat. If this is the case, store the beer at room temperature for at least 2 weeks and test a bottle for carbonation. If it has carbonated, it can now be chilled.