Making Beer at LBC Step 3, the bottling

Actually, we bottled at the Greenville Arms. First, as with everything beer, I had to sanitize everything to within an inch of its life. That's what I'm doing above.

The next step is to transfer the beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket. This is called racking. The bottling bucket has the priming sugar in it. The priming sugar is what will give the yeast that have not been racked, the live yeast, the food to make the bubbles. This is very similar to how you make champagne. With champagne and wine, you're racking off the lees, with beer you're racking off the trub. Both of these means dead yeast cells and other solids at the bottom of the barrel. This helps clarify your beverage. Don't forget, we are making real ale, live ale, with active yeast in it and it will condition as you let it age. I had four yesterday from this batch, still young but a lovely beer.



Stooping over to fill bottles, which I started out doing when I was sanitizing, got old fast.



Ah, now that's the ticket. Yeah. That's the way to go.

Look at that happy face.

After putting the beer in each of the bottles I capped.





Isn't that lovely?



What did I do with the left over yeast? I made bread. The yeast looks like sludge but I can make bread with it. I had to put in a little bit of live baker's yeast to get it to rise fast enough. I wasn't patient.



From sludge to bread and what a lovely hoppy bread it was.



Go to the City Brewshop and learn how to make beer. I'm on my second batch and will do one more before the season begins. Next year I'm going to make mead.

Corn Bubble Bread

What's the difference between bubble bread and monkey bread? They're made the same way but monkey bread is sweet(ish), made with brown sugar and raisins. This is a unique corn bread and a unique bubble bread. Use a dough hook for mixing and for kneading. Set your mixer to medium high to high, depending on the strength of your machine. This needs to come out elastic and stretchy. I used fresh yeast in this recipe and it worked like a charm.

6 cups of bread flour, AP is OK.
1 cup of cornmeal, I used white
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
1 1/2 ounce of fresh yeast
1 1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup of milk
3 tablespoons of olive oil
6 oz of butter melted

I used two well greased loaf pans to make this bread. You can use any pan that will fit the little balls you are making. For example, a tube pan or a coffee can. Grease the loaf pan well with butter.

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Heat the water and milk and oil to a medium heat in the microwave. I needed the liquid for about 1 minute. Then add to the dry mixture and mix. Knead for 8 minutes once you get a non-sticky mass. You may have to add a little more cornmeal, about 1/4 cup.

Cover and let rest in the bowl for 1/2 hour. Then divide into 32 or so even pieces. I divide it in 1/2 and then divide each piece until I get 32. if some of the pieces look extra large, divide them again. Roll the pieces into a ball shape with your palm.



Line the loaf pan with some of the larger piece, do not worry about filling in gaps. They'll fill in by themselves. Brush the top of the pieces. Brush each of the little balls with butter and put into the loaf pans. Try to divide evenly.



Cover and let rest in the loaf pans for 1-2 hours. I put it in the freezer first for a 1/2 hour and then refrigerate for another 1/2 hour. That works just great.

Preheat your oven to 375F. While the oven is preheating, take the loaf pans out of the refrigerator and let warm for 20 minute. I put the loaf pan on the stove above the preheating oven. Cover the top of the balls with butter and put into the oven for 55 minutes.



Take out of the oven and brush the tops of the bread with butter.



Carefully take out of the loaf pan and let rest 30 minutes on a wire rack. You can serve this on a nice plate or in a large bread basket. Your diners can pull each bubble off the bread. The corn gives this a sweet taste. A fun bread to make.



When this goes stale, it makes wonderful dog biscuits.