#bottle conditioning

that was named after my habit of peeing in sinks 

to become vile and undrinkable.

Bottled Fluffernutter Sammie Stout and JAOM

Ready to bottle Fluffernutter Sammie Stout.

  Had some free time and decided to get all my supplies together, cleaning and sanitizing done, and bottle my Fluffernutter Sammie Stout, and my small batch of something that is very close to JAOM (Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead).

With the JAOM, I remember I was a little short on honey and made some substitutions, but I can’t remember exactly the details,…

 I’ve given a lot of love to small beers so far, so I think it’s only appropriate that I turn my attention to bigger beers for a minute.

I’ve been working on an Abbey Dubbel since late November. I added Belgian candi syrup and (probably too much) table sugar on day three of primary fermentation. I bottled in mid-December after three weeks of primary fermentation. The beer had dried out to 1.004, far lower than the style. The original gravity was 1.066 and added another 0.04 points with the candi syrup and about 0.05 from the table sugar, which puts the true original gravity at 1.075.

If those are correct, then the beer is 9.3% ABV.

The good news is that it doesn’t overwhelm with alcohol, so the fermentation was clean.

I let the beer carbonate for two weeks, which may not have been enough (and/or I didn’t use enough priming sugar). I’ve been lagering them in the fridge for the past two weeks, so it’s coming up on two months since I first brewed these.

And it’s been nice. I brewed at a breakneck pace in the fall: altogether eight batches between August and December, so on average twice a month. I’m sure this is pretty standard fare for a lot of homebrewers who are putting out much bigger volume (and probably souring/aging a good portion of their product), but it was a lot for me. It’s been nice to ring in 2015 by chilling out a bit and waiting for this big beer to come through. It’s also nice to have a winter sipper.

A couple of notes:

1. Carbonating in the bottle takes at least two weeks, maybe more with big beers. I’m guilty of wanting to try out my beer as soon as possible, but it’s usually best to give the beer time to carbonate. Sometimes even three weeks or more may be necessary.

2. Let the beer age cold. Lagering can help a lot of different beer styles, and it’s as easy as putting bottles in the fridge. I haven’t noticed all that much difference with this Dubbel, but I had a Rye Saison that really improved in the fridge post-carbonation.

3. This is a tentative recommendation because I want to see if this beer gets bubblier when I take it out of the fridge, but skew your priming sugar additions on the high end as long as you are sure the beer has attenuated to the final gravity. If the beer hasn’t fermented out completely and you add more sugar, it could lead to bottle bombs. That said, if you’re certain it’s fully attenuated, add priming sugar to get 2.5-2.7 volumes or so to ensure you get a nice bubbly beer.

Day 166 Bottling Muscadine Wine

Muscadine wine…nice and clear.

Finally bottled my muscadine wine! I started with grapes that I foraged from wild vines and now I have my first wine in the bottles! The wine has been bulk aging  in two 1 gallon carboys and one 1/2 gallon carboy.

Bulk aging the wine.

I combined them all into a bottling bucket to make sure the wine is all consistently blended and to facilitate the bottling.

Transfer…

Day 165 Bottling Scottish Samhain Pumpkin Ale…Finally!

Well, it took awhile…32 days to be exact. Yesterday, I finally got to bottle the Scottish Samhain Pumpkin Ale and, if I got the priming sugar right and all goes well, this has the possibility of being pretty amazing! It just seemed to want to keep going…so I let it. And it did drop by another point over the last 10 days. The hydrometer sample looks nice and clear and wound up at 1.014.

Hydrometer…

Day 163 Tasting Fermentation Samples

  Scottish Samhain Pumpkin Ale, just a little evidence of activity on top.

This evening, I replaced the blow-off tubes on the fermentation bucket and one gallon carboy of McQuinn’s Robust Porter. While I was at it, I decided to take a small sample of the  Scottish Samhain Pumpkin Ale and the porter. I am trying to continue learning to evaluate the potential of a beer “in process” by looking at,…

Better on tap than in bottle - Beer - #464 - St. Austell - Admirals Ale

In this post: Beer from St. Austell  in the form that is Admirals Ale, Music from Snow Patrol, Random Numbers and double dipping. “I see no ships…”

“This beer contains barley malt and is suitable for Vegetarian”

Another, the last, fathers day gift, St. Austell Admirals Ale, again a supermarket beer, so not difficult to get or particularly rare.

500ml bottle that is 5% ABV, making it 150…

It's not bad, I'd share it with some cheese though. Beer - #455 - Wigram - Czar Imperial Russian Stout

Stout time. This one the  Wigram Czar Imperial Russian Stout.

Brewed by Wigram Brewing Company in the style that of the  Imperial Stout and they are based in Christchurch, New Zealand

500ml bottle of an beer that is 8.5% ABV, that would be 255 calories a serve, and  3.35 standard drink units in NZ.

He was looking so was I

Brewed in the authentic historical style of an Imperial Russian Stout, this…