After the excruciatingly long (14 days) fermentation stage of my very first home brew completed over the weekend, I was finally able to bottle my beer.

Since I don’t yet own a hydrometer and couldn’t check the specific gravity of the fermented beer in my keg—scientifically assuring that it was ready to bottle—I had to wing it, which meant drink it. The sample I poured from the keg was burnt gold with a strong smell of malt. It tasted…like flat beer, but that was the idea! From the couple sips I took, I could tell the flavor would turn out nicely once this is all said and done.

Now, without further ado, let the bottling begin!

My Mr. Beer kit came with eight of these one-liter plastic bottles. They don’t look as cheap as “beer in plastic bottles” sounds, but I hope to get some glass bottles soon for a more finished look on my next batch.

Two gallons of uncarbonated beer trickling through a small spout made bottling a lengthy process.

Topping off my last bottle filled me with this pride I never anticipated feeling about beer. I have a much better understanding now of Samuel Adams‘ tagline.

I was, again, amazed at how easy and fun the whole process turned out to be. On Saturday, I get to pop one open and take the first real taste of my homemade beer (!!!), though the instructions advised (several times) to wait 14 days after the initial bottling for optimum flavor. I can’t wait!

The bottles are resting in my closet, cozy and warm, and soon enough, the beer will be resting inside my belly, cozy and warm.