Bottling Day

      Brewing is a fun pastime.  You're really just taking the carbohydrates God made through the power of the sun and letting the Lord's yeast ferment them into carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol.  Just as only God can make a tree, a brewer has very little hand in the actual process by which beer is made. 
      But then there's bottling day.  Bottling day sucks.  Tediously sanitizing bottle after bottle; transferring the brew to the bottling container; filling; capping; and then cleaning everything those retarded yeast have messed up.  It's mind numbing.  It's like washing the dishes after a nine course dinner party for 12.  I curse the Sumerians or whoever first mashed and fermented barley.  They should have kept their discovery to themselves.  Recipes for brewing always miss a step: between secondary fermentation and bottling, you should take 800mg of Zoloft to prevent the severe depression bottling causes. 


I get PTSD when I look at bottles

      I'm exaggerating, but just a little bit.  However, as hard as it is to muster the strength to bottle, the recovery from the process is always made easier by partaking of the fruits of the previous batch.  In this case, it's a simple, toasty porter I made this spring before the heat set in.  I like it, enough even to go through this again, which as you may surmise is saying a lot.  Until next time, Cheers!