Bottled my Amarillo SMaSH today

[Gymrat]

This is the first time in the years I have been brewing where I had a bottling day with no accidents involving beer all over walls or furniture. In fact there were no incidents at all. It took me 2 hours from set up to clean up. And ya know what, when everything goes perfect like that, I still don't find bottling enjoyable or relaxing. Anyway onto the interesting stuff about this SMaSH.

I gave the lid it's first pry with my lid tool and the aroma filled the room. Once again I got more aroma from my hop stand than I have ever gotten by dry hopping. I dropped the hydrometer in and got 1.010. That is good attenuation from a 1.046 beer. I tasted a sample and WOW! I was tempted to keg it instead of bottling it. This would be a great summer beer. It did still have a hint of bitterness which surprised me for a hop bursted beer. But it wasn't bad and may not be very noticeable after the beer carbonates. When I do my next Tasmanian Wheat I am going to move the 15 minute addition to 10 minutes and I think I am going to cool the wort to 140 before introducing the hops for the hop stand. Possibly that will eliminate that bitter bite altogether.

I am really curious to hear what Paul thinks of the Tasmanian Wheat I sent him. He is my "go to" guy for all things hops. As it stands right now I don't ever plan on dry hopping again.

[Beer-lord]

Patience Roger, it's in the fridge and gonna be hit tonite. I'll give you my honest critique but based on your beers I had before, I have no doubts.
I'm helping Redbeerd do a pale ale for his daughters party after graduation (yea J!) and we're gonna do both a 20 minute hop stand (I know that's not very much) and a generous dry hop to get the best of both worlds. We're looking for the same thing you are......great aroma and flavor with just a little bitterness to malt ratio. I'm going to be working on this all summer as I make some lighter, session IPA's and pale ales.

With that said, I have to say, once again, having shared beers with a number of people in the bourg, I've never tasted a rotten beer. Really! Sure, some are not perfect but all were good, quality beers. Do you realize just how cool that is? We all try hard, share our knowledge and mistakes (and pictures of our backside) and we all gain big time. I know shipping beer is expensive and getting more so but I have to say it's one of the very helpful things that have made me a better brewer.
That said, I still suck so send me more beer!!!!

Roger, I thought you were kegging now. Are you bottling some for old times sake?

[Gymrat]

I bottle when my kegs are full.

[Brewbirds]

I bottle when my kegs are full.

True friends should not blink twice at helping you drink your kegged beer so you don't have to bottle. You need to talk to them about their sincerity.

Glad to see how well the hop stands are working for you as we've been quite pleased with the results so far.

Do I understand that you are saying there is an unpleasant bitterness you are getting that is not associated with your intended bittering addition?

You are doing hop bursting on these instead of longer hop boil correct?

[Gymrat]

Yes that is correct. This bitterness in this batch is extremely minor. So minor that it may not even be there anymore by the time it carbonates.
My hop additions were an ounce at 15 minutes and an ounce at 10 minutes. Then 2 ounces at 165F during the cool down then left to stand half an hour before restarting the chiller.

[FedoraDave]

I have yet to try a hopstand (I've done a couple of hop bursts, but usually I stick to the traditional boiling schedule). I'll have to experiment with it when I have a notion. Right now I'm working on nailing down the Groomsman's Pride recipe and filling the pipeline with "house beers" for the summer.

I'm glad you're pleased with this technique, Roger. I've no doubt the beer will be a fine one.

[Kealia]

And ya know what, when everything goes perfect like that, I still don't find bottling enjoyable or relaxing.

I don't think I've tried a hoppy wheat beer yet so I may have to try something like this soon for summer. I was hoping to get my hands on a Gumbalhead to try that out but haven't wrangled one just yet.

I too, have been very pleased with the hop-bursting and hop-stand techniques.

I just did a Nelson Sauvin hop-stand beer last weekend that is fermenting now. A minor Magnum bittering addition + a hop-stand are my only hop additions and I'll decide whether I want to dry hop or not based on how it smells on Tuesday when I check the gravity on it.

[FedoraDave]

I don't know if I can say I find bottling relaxing or enjoyable, but I do find it satisfying.

Yesterday, I worked from about 7:30 to 1:30. Got home, relaxed a little, and then determined I was going to bottle the PacTiki, because it was time, and I have a brew schedule to maintain.

I don't know if I enjoyed it, but since I've got my process down, and it was only a 2.5 gallon batch, it went smoothly and quickly, with no hitches. The beer looked clear and beautiful racking to the bottling bucket, which pleased me no little and more than somewhat. I got 24 complete bottles out of it, with a couple of jiggers left over to sample (too sweet with the priming sugar, but let's not waste beer, shall we?). Saved the labeling for a few hours later, and they look darn nice, if I say it myself.

So no, it wasn't relaxing, although I enjoy some classic rock on the radio while I'm doing it, and being in the moment has its benefits. Enjoyable? No, it wasn't as much fun as brewing. It wasn't as much fun as relaxing in an easy chair and sipping a homebrew while watching the game. But it wasn't work, either. Yesterday morning, I was as busy as I had to be. That afternoon, I was as busy as I wanted to be, and therein lies the difference.

Relaxing? Not really, although it had its moments, as the bottles filled. Enjoyable? Hardly. Too much washing to make it enjoyable. Satisfying? Oh, yeah. A case of new beer that I'm really looking forward to sampling in a few weeks, and a clean carboy so I can brew on Sunday and get another case of new beer down the road.