As the beer has been in the fermenter for two weeks, and we have workmen in for the rest of the week, Wednesday was a good day to have a go at some racking and bottling.  A quick test confirmed that it still tasted like beer. The ABV had gone down a little but not into the black zone in the hydrometer, but it didn't taste particularily strong so I'm happy with it at the moment. I added 70g of fruit sugar dissolved in 200ml of warm water to the racking bin and decanted the beer in. I haven't been able to find much information regarding using fructose, but apart from having a low glycemic index it's a sugar so the yeast should feed on it. We'll see, I guess. The yield was 30 bottles with relatively little mess. The crown capper is easy to work and I managed not to break any. They're now in the garage for a couple of weeks for conditioning.

So what I have is 30 bottles of a single grain, single hop beer. I did a bit of calculating to get an decent balance of bitterness and it worked. It tastes like beer, and is decently hoppy but is lacking something. A couple of weeks in the bottle may improve matters a little but one thing is obvious and it's that practise is necessary, and it is all about trying to come up with recipes that work, and perhaps importantly, can be repeated and possibly even made in bigger quantities. So I've done a bit of shopping at the Malt Miller and I'm going to try an all-grain brew with a bit of variety. Ooer.