We might have a problem

Two in primary. One in secondary. Four more on deck.

Honey weizen

Happy birthday Kelly.

IPA

Three weeks after bottling.

I have become enamored of the bitter and the hops. So glad summer is on the way.

That day again

What did we learn today? We learned that a lid will make a liquid come to a boil faster. It will also prevent you from seeing it before it overflows the vessel. We also learned that a razor blade is an essential cleaning tool when scraping burnt muck back off a ceramic cook top.

Oh bother.

What day is it?

Gun

Just because all beer and no bang makes Dan a dull boy.

And, that is how many years old I will be in a few days.

Bottled

Started with five gallons in the primary fermenter. By the time it is bottled, the yield is about 4.25 gallons or 85%. Odd that, the bottling bucket said it had a little more than 4.5 gallons in it. Guess I had best check the graduation marks on it and the primary fermenter.

Used the last ten caps left over from a bottling event many years ago and began on the caps acquired at about the same time. They seem to be working pretty well so far.

One other interesting note. The refractometer tells me (~1.035) that it is nowhere near the FG I am looking for but the hydrometer tells me (~1.013) I am spot on. It appears that the refractometer is not a good way to check specific gravity in an alcohol/water mix. Next time we will use both for OG and FG measurements.

It turns out that the preceding paragraph is one big no shit Sherlock... Ferment Progress Using 18.75 Brix (corresponding to my OG of 1.078) as my starting point and 9 Brix (corresponding to my FG of 1.035) as my ending point, we arrive at an ABV of ~8.3%.

Bottling Day

Took the secondary fermenter out of the fridge about three hours before bottling time. Adding two cups of simple syrup just off the boil to the bottling bucket, letting it sit for a couple minutes and then racking onto it had the temperature in the bottling bucket around 58 F.

Let it all sit for about 10 minutes while I assembled the bottling stage, gave it a vigorous stir and commenced with the bottling.

Tasted the last little bit that didn't get bottled. A little bit sweet from the priming sugar but this one ought to be pretty tasty and will land right around 8% ABV.

Cold Crash

Never done this before. Will give it a couple days in the fridge and probably bottle on Sunday.

Anyone know if I should get it out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature before bottling or just bottle cold and let it warm up in the bottles?