How to Bottle Your Beer

To bottle/condition your beer:

 

1. It is just as important at this stage to remember that brewing beer is a lot of cleaning and sanitation, and this continues into the bottling stage. Make up another batch of your StarSan, if you have a 5 gallon bucket handy this works well, or just use the stockpot you brewed in if you don’t have anything else. Make enough StarSan so that you can fully submerge a bottle.
2. Thoroughly sanitize the bottles before use. If you are using old bottles, visually confirm there are no dirt or mold deposits. They may need to be scrubbed with a bottle brush to get them really clean. Always clean first, then sanitize.
3. Submerge your bottles in the sanitizer and let them fil. It is okay if your hands come in contact with the sanitizer, just don’t submerge hands for long periods. Hold them upside down to drain all liquid sanitizer out, but remember, don’t fear the foam!
4. Sanitize the tubing and your bottling wand, and attach them to the Fermonster spigot.
5. Make sure the spigot to the Fermonster is now open. Raise the bottle up until the plastic tip of the bottling wand touches down into the bottom of the vessel, and your beer will begin to flow. Allow the beer to fill the vessel, stop just above where the swing top is fastened on the 750 ml bottles or stop at the level of the top of the handle of a standard growler. When you lower the bottle, the plastic tip on the wand springs back into place to stop the beer flowing through it. When the bottle is fully removed, the displacement from the plastic wand will leave just the appropriate amount of headspace in the bottle.
6. Add the carbonation drops to the bottle your beer is in. Reference the chart below for the number of drops per vessel.⚠️ It is important that you follow the amount of drops, and do not add more⚠️ If you add more than suggested, you run the very serious risk of creating what are known as bottle bombs. These are exactly what they sound like, and can result in the pressure building up so fast inside the glass that it has nowhere to go and explodes your glassware. In more fortunate instances, the lids just pop off, and you end up with beer on the ceiling, instead of your mouth, where it belongs!
7. Take your sanitized lid, or swing top, and seal it tightly. 
8. Repeat until the bottles are all full. You might need to tip the fermonster toward the end, this is OK just try not to fill the bottles with yeast/trub slurry.
9. Gently invert each bottle to make sure the carb drop is moving freely then rinse and dry the outside of the containers if needed. Place the bottles back into the same place you fermented your beer. Make sure you keep the bottles upright, not on their sides. Now you’ll wait another 10 days. The sugar in the carbonation drops will be consumed by the yeast in that beer, and the release of CO2 in this process will dissolve into your beer, and bottle condition (carbonate) it.
10. You should be left with a minimal amount of slurry in the bottom of your fermonster, it’s OK to dump that and clean and dry it. Keep reading to find out the proper way to clean! 
11. After 10 days, move the bottles/growlers to your fridge, and allow them to chill. Pour your beer into a glass, and enjoy the fruits of your labors! Remember, once you open each container, the same way as when you open a bottle or can, you’ve got about 24 hours to finish it. Otherwise the beer will go flat, and most likely start to oxidize, so make sure you’re committed!

 

Type of packaging	Low Carbonation	High Carbonation
750 ml (25.4 oz) bottle	1.5 drops	2 drops
32 oz growler (self provided)	2 drops	2.5 drops
64 oz growler (self provided)	3.5 drops	4 drops