First batch in the bottles

I know, I know.... Everyone says to keep the wort in the keg for 14 days until you bottle.  Today is the 13th day of keg fermentation, but since it is Sunday, I decided to go ahead bottle a day early.   I figure it is better to do my first bottling job on Sunday, when I can be more relaxed and not rushed.

The beer is crystal clear now.  Smells and tastes pretty much like a flat domestic mainstream beer.  Safe marketing on behalf of Mr. Beer, I suppose, since this is a taste that most people will be familiar and comfortable with.  I am hoping, and I have read, that warm conditioning will bring out more flavor.

I have watched the videos on the Mr. Beer web site about bottling, along with some others on YouTube.  I HIGHLY recommend watching the videos, as there are some tips there that you won't find in the instructions that come with the kit.  I have also been reading through threads on the Mr. Beer Fans community site to make sure I was going about the process properly.  All of that made me much more comfortable going into this phase.

I sanitized everything per the instructions in the kit and videos.  I used a big bowl to collect the sanitizing mixture for later use.

I let everything dry and then I carefully moved the keg out of the pantry and placed it over my kitchen sink.  Fortunately, I have a deep sink, so the bottles fit almost perfectly under the spigot.  I had read some complaints from users about the last bit of beer not draining properly from the keg, so I decided to use a small shim (1/2" thick book) under the opposite end of the keg to get the largest volume of beer nearer to the spigot.

I put the appropriate amount of priming sugar in each bottle and started filling them from the spigot.  I had expected this to take longer than it did, but it was really only the last bottle that seemed to fill slowly.  I kept each bottle at an angle to reduce aeration.  I was able to fill all 8 PET bottles up to the bend in the neck, per the Mr. Beer instructions.

With the keg tilted at a slight angle, I was actually able to fill up an extra 16oz PET bottle (formerly Pepsi Max).  According to the videos on the Mr. Beer site, soda bottles are OK to use since they are made to contain carbonated beverages.  I had rinsed the bottle thoroughly earlier in the week, and I included it in the sanitizing.  I will say, however, that this last bottle contained quite a bit of sediment, and was not nearly as clear as the other bottles.  I am planning to use it for carbonation testing anyway, and I won't rely on the taste since it had soda in it before.

I tucked the bottles back into the pantry on the baking sheet and will wait 21 days before putting one in the fridge.  In the meantime, my refill kit and extra bottles should be arriving in the mail in the next few days.  I went with the Bewitched Red Ale for the refill, 16 oz. bottles, and I also included their bottling kit with the new spigot and wand assembly.  I had a 20% off coupon, and the discount pretty much covered the bottling kit.  I cleaned and sanitized the keg and spigot with the leftover solution I had saved from the bottle sanitizing earlier.  I am all set and ready to go for batch #2 when my refill kit arrives!