Bottling Day

We bottled 1170 bottles of Scholar this morning in pretty much record time - about 90 minutes preparation then filling and capping took three of us about three hours using our four head hand bottling and capping setup fed from the conditioning tanks.  When we started last November it took us about ten hours to do the same work and I wouldn't have believed it could be done in half a day.  As they say in manufacturing "repetition breeds competence".  It then takes another hour or two to clean everything down afterwards and move the bottled beer.  It's now in the conditioning room warming up nicely to around 21deg where it will sit for a week or two carrying on fermenting to become true bottle conditioned ale.  Can't wait - there is something about a bottle of fresh Scholar that reminds me of newly baked bread.  We also prepared the malt for tomorrow's brew of Prospect.  The liquor (aka water) was prepared on Monday.  07.00 start. Mash on by 09.00 followed by a bacon sandwich.