Man, was I behind on stuff…
The lager has been kegged. It is now carbonating out in the kegerator.
The Apple Butter Cyser is now in a glass carboy (secondary). It’s a little too cinnamony, so I’m letting it sit to see if that smooths out. It is now the only carboy I have with brew in it. *snif*
I have all I need for this weekends brews. Now I just need to mop the floor…
Wow. What a Winter.
Something happened to me that is the bane of homebrewers everywhere: I got busy. Not good. The batches I had going just sat for a while. *sigh*
The Braggot is okay, but it’s obviously been oxidized. Not salvageable.
The Cyser I had going is WAY too tart. Not sure what happened. Not going to keep it.
The Orange Cinammon is okay, but it’s got the taste of fermented oranges in it. Not what I was going for.
The Apple Butter Cyser survived. It’s supposed to be racked onto cinnamon and nutmeg, but I like it JUST the way it is. I’m going to bottle it as soon as I decide what to bottle it in.
The malty lager came through very well. Its as if it’s been lagered for a few months… go figure. I’ll be kegging it asap.
I’ve spent a while straightening up and cleaning the brew room. Hopefully I can get started on some new projects this weekend. Things I have planned are:
That should keep me busy for a while, at least.
Oy.
My big bear brew went fairly well, all things considered. I even hit my mash temperature dead on. The problem: I was trying to use 15 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch. Any experience all grain brewer will see the folly in this, especially if they’ve tried it. I only have a 7.5 gallon boil pot. End result: I missed my FG by about 15%. That’s a lot, folks.
I should have realized what I was doing, and I ran into the same issue that AG barley wine brewers run into. They can boil for several hours; I don’t have the patience for that. End result: The next time I do this recipe I will be using extract.
I’m still going to ferment this batch, as there’s more firsts I’m working with here. I’m going to milk this experience for all it’s worth. If the beer sucks, so be it. If it doesn’t, all the better. Either way, I learned a great deal.
First, an update. I racked the two California Common test batches yesterday. All looks well, and they are clearing nicely. Fermentation has ceased, and I have taken the temp down from 60 to 50 in the lager fridge. They’ll sit there another week and half or so, then I’ll taste.
I racked the dark mead batch as well. Wow was there a lot of yeast at the bottom of that one! It clogged the blow-off tube a couple of times, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a nice dark color and smells great. The body is a little thin, as expected, and I’m making plans to adjust for that in the AG batch.
Speaking of…
I have my recipe set for a full run of the dark mead batch for Sunday. I’m not going to share specifics, but I will say I’m shooting for 12% ABV, and the grain bill is the most involved I’ve ever attempted. It should make for a very interesting brew day.
