Bottled!

I bottled the latest batch last week Tuesday (10-AUG-2004), ending up with 39 bottles, mostly 16-ounce flip-top 'Grolsch' bottles. There were 8 12-oz 'stubbies' used -- I think they were Negra Modelo bottles. These didn't work out so well--the neck on these is very thick, and it made it difficult for me to get the bottle capper to crimp down on them. Hopefully they sealed alright, I had to "recrimp" them twice before the caps looked like they were secure. After they get emptied out, they're going to be recycled.

I really went overboard this time in sanitizing the bottles, filling each and every one with a strong solution of bleach and water, and then leaving them to sit overnight for two nights in a row. (This was after spending a few hours the preceeding Sunday with Savannah cleaning them out.) One nice result was crystal-clear glass, however. I don't believe these bottles were ever any more clean when they were in the original beer bottling factory. I'm reading where the cleaning solution I'm using (have to post the name another time, can't remember it right now) is an adequate sanitizer in and of itself, so really these bottles are double-sanitized. I know it's impossible to completely remove all the bacteria in a basement, rather than a clean-room environment, but I think I've gotten as close as possible with the bottles, anyway.

I picked up a nice trick while I was filling the bottles this time. Instead of setting them directly on the floor to be filled, I put them 8 or 9 at a time into the dishpan I use for sanitizing onto the floor. Now when I slightly misjudge how full a bottle is becoming, the resulting overflow goes into the dishpan instead of onto the floor where it has to be mopped up.

I've decided to rename the beer. Currently the name I'm pondering is 'Presidential Brand Pilsner' and I'm going with a simple design theme for the label. Basically it's an inverted triangle composed of vertical stripes of pale red, white and blue with the words 'Presidential Brand' superimposed horizontally across the top and middle, with the word 'Pilsner' superimposed vertically in the bottom 'tip' of the triangle. Below the triangle is a 'frosty mug' image on a pale blue background. The label also includes the words 'Gariepy's fire-brewed' and 'The Cavant Drive Brewery', along with the bottling date. Since I'm looking for something simple at clean-up time, this will be printed on standard inkjet plain paper, and affixed to the bottle with scotch tape. We'll see how well it works out.

In the meantime, Angela has given me a brand new stock pot for our anniversary! This is a 24-quart model, so I should theoretically be able to do 'full-wort' boils if I decide to go with all-grain brewing sometime in the future. (I also have an old cooler to use for a lauter tun. I found great instructions on how to design one this morning. It looks like an interesting project.) It's a nice, heavy-gauge stainless steel stock pot. The thing must weigh in at nearly double the weight of my old stock pot, which was a gift from my mother-in-law and arrived in the mail with a dent in the bottom. Will a thicker, heavier stock pot be more thermally stable for the 160F-degree 'rests'? We'll see the next time I brew!