Bottling

Most of our beers will have finished fermenting after 1–2 weeks, but there’s no harm in leaving a beer that has fermented early for the full 2 weeks – the conditioning might even improve it. To be certain fermentation has ceased you’ll need to take a hydrometer reading. Siphon off a small amount of beer into a narrow tube and dip the hydrometer into it. If the reading is a gravity of 1.012 or lower, it should be ready. However, check again the next day to make sure it’s the same level and therefore stable. And don’t return the siphoned-off drink to the main batch in case it introduces infection – drink it instead!