a series of samples

It was time to bottle up my Mighty Arrow clone (a New Belgium brew) last night. I got things cleaned up after dinner and organized my equipment. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the racking cane of my auto-siphon clean after last use.

There were now little particles (most likely leftover hop sludge) in the tube that I had no way to get clean. I remember having an extra racking cane with the kit, I bought so got that out.

Only to find that it was not going to work as the bottom piece wouldn't fit in the siphon. Shit! I had already made up my priming sugar, now what? With leaf hops floating around in there, pouring it out of the carboy wasn't an option. Besides, it would introduce too much oxidation into the wort.

I scrounged around and was able to find some rubber  washers for a faucet handle that weren't exactly the right size, but I was able to fabricate it enough to get me through this racking session at least. Or so I thought.

About halfway through, it lost its prime. I had to get Melissa to hold the hose in the bottling bucket while i re-primed it. But, alas, it lost prime again with about one gallon left in the carboy. No matter how I tried I couldn't get it to start again without risking sucking up some of the yeast trub, which I didn't want to do.

Sigh! what a waste! That gallon equates to about ten 12 oz. beers!

The beer itself was rather clear as it was siphoned through, but had a very "estery" smell. Ester smells are typically the result of fermenting at too high a temperature. I didn't have it any higher than I normally have it, so was confused.

I set aside enough to take a gravity reading and got 1.010 which was pretty close to my targeted value of 1.013. Sweet!

I did take a taste of the sample but wasn't too optimistic after smelling it. However, it wasn't sweet at all and there was some of the cascade hoppy flavor manifest in it. This may well be a good beer after all.

I finished bottling and cleaning up without issue. I had been drinking (imgaine that!) a six of Flat Tire and was finally out but still thirsty.   ; )  

Luckily, earlier in the day I had taken two of my Chocolate Milk Stouts and two of my Sunset Wheat clones and put them in the fridge to chill for a couple days as I was expecting to taste test them in a couple days. Those four bottles had no chance!

I drank all four of them to quench that thirst I was experiencing. That stout was pretty damned good if I may so myself. I really figured it would have a  few more weeks before it would be that good.

So good, in fact, that I went ahead and put both cases into the ferment chamber (pictured here)

 <--- BEFORE
                              
                                             AFTER--->
                    




to chill them and "freeze" the aging at this point. I may pull a 12 pack out and let it age another month and then see how it conditions over that time.

The Sunset Wheat, however, which I fully expected to be ready by now, wasn't. Or if it was, it's just not as good as I expected. It was nicely carbed up, but the flavoring extract that was added at the time of bottling is a bit overpowering. The beer is just a tad too sweet. Hopefully, it's just not ready yet and will mellow some with time.

Yesterday, I got the temperature controller for the fermentation chamber and that was installed today. Now I am ready to brew any style beer. Woo Hoo!