#batch16

Laphroaig 10 Years Cask Strength – Batch 16 (58.5% ABV)

Laphroaig 10 Years Cask Strength Batch 16 is not a whisky for the faint-hearted. It is the distillery’s annual tribute to its legendary 10-year-old standard, bottled straight from the cask – undiluted, unfiltered, and with an intensity that is second to none.

I’m doing the tea thing again. This time, with a cider.

However, since there is no “boil” for cider, I steeped the tea separately. Then after it cooled, I added a pint of it to the apple juice along with yeast nutrient and S-04 English Ale yeast. The OG was 1.042 (measured with my fancy new refractometer). 

I have felt very relaxed with my one gallon batches lately. Instead of bothering with an air lock, I slapped some foil on my one gallon jug. 

But then a few days in I noticed the fermentation was not exactly ostentatious. I figured perhaps the mixture was not acidic enough so I added a teaspoon of acid blend. I also ordered some pH strips. 

And then, well, it still didn’t look like anything was happening but I left the whole thing for 10 days. 

Yesterday, when I peeled off the foil I was a little worried. But... it smelled good, like fruity maple syrup. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.000, completely fermented with 5.5% ABV. The taste was okay too, so there wasn’t anything to worry about. I bottled it with corn sugar (and in retrospect I should have used table sugar but, oh well).

In short, the black tea added some nice complexity and I look forward to drinking this one. Next time I’ll use a pH strip to dial in the acidity.