Bottle conditioning is the act of adding a source of sugar to a beer before it’s bottled in order to have it develop carbonation in the bottle. Some people add additional yeast to the bottle along with the sugar to ensure carbonation but we only add sugar as our already existing microorganisms are happy, healthy, and looking for more sugar to create alcohol and CO2. The actual carbonation doesn’t take all that long (a couple months) but because of the complex range of microorganisms in our beer another full fermentation is triggered when we add the sugar.
As a result of this additional round of fermentation we hold our bottles in our cellar for an average of 10 months until the fermentation is over and the beer returns to a state as good as, or often event better than the original bottling.
How do we check this? Well, we take one for the team and start tasting the bottles at the 3 month point and every couple months until completion. We’ve tasted enough in-progress beers now to have a really good idea of what to expect during the bottle conditioning process. Once the beer is done, we apply labels and deliver it to you for the final taste!
We are looking for someone to join our team as taproom manager at one of Canada's most unique breweries.
We are honoured and very excited to win silver at the 2025 World Beer Cup®! Spontaneous Manifesto took home a medal in the Belgian-style sour ale category for the second year in a row!
Greg is joined by Doug, our head brewer, to walk through the ingredients we use in our beers. They go in depth into sourcing the best possible ingredients, and our focus on partnering with Canadian producers to create beer that truly couldn't be brewed anywhere else in the world.
Greg Zeschuk
Author
Greg’s career has ranged from physician, to videogame developer as founder of BioWare, and now trainee brewer. Greg is the prime enthusiast behind the Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company.