first time brewer

[bru]

ok, so i bottled this today. i planned on doing it last sunday but it was still doing its thing. bottling went smoothly, not too much spillage (was expecting loads).

anyway, i documented the whole thing (has been some kind of a project), photos are here if you are interested:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36370804@N ... 513555298/

thanks for all your help guys, you've been immense. i'll report back when i taste it.

[Barm]

from kit to bottle in 38 easy steps! nice one - but now comes the hard part: keeping your mitts off them for a good 4 weeks to allow conditioning and maturing!

Remember to stash the bottles somewhere warm for say 3-5 days to get the residual yeast going and generate some conditioning gas, then transfer to somewhere cool for 4 weeks or so to mature. The longer you can leave them, the better it'll get! But I'm sure, like all of us, you'll want to start "sampling" sooner rather than later

I notice some of your bottles are clear rather than the traditional brown; many people say clear bottles should be covered or kept in the dark to prevent a condition known as 'lightstrike'. Personally I don't think this is a huge risk though - unless you leave your bottles in full glaring sunlight all day long; and actually I quite like using clear bottles because you can easily judge the brew's clarity/colour/sediment stability etc.

[bru]

from kit to bottle in 38 easy steps! nice one - but now comes the hard part: keeping your mitts off them for a good 4 weeks to allow conditioning and maturing!

haha, indeed! mentioned i had a brew on to my parents who said they got into it when they were younger (i never knew!) and said they got impatient and ended up drinking it after a few days in the bottles.

Remember to stash the bottles somewhere warm for say 3-5 days to get the residual yeast going and generate some conditioning gas, then transfer to somewhere cool for 4 weeks or so to mature. The longer you can leave them, the better it'll get! But I'm sure, like all of us, you'll want to start "sampling" sooner rather than later

thanks for the tip about the heat, i'd put them in a cool place thinking, for some reason, that the cooler the better.

I notice some of your bottles are clear rather than the traditional brown; many people say clear bottles should be covered or kept in the dark to prevent a condition known as 'lightstrike'. Personally I don't think this is a huge risk though - unless you leave your bottles in full glaring sunlight all day long; and actually I quite like using clear bottles because you can easily judge the brew's clarity/colour/sediment stability etc.

i'd read the same about clear bottles so have kept the blinds down in the room they are in but like you've found that you can see how they are getting on, plus they are the swing top "grolsch" like bottles which are 10.0