Though bottling is never my favorite part of the home brewing process, at least I know that I am only a short time away from having the chance to enjoy my creation. The one good thing about this particular bottling session was that I only had a half batch to get through on this day. After splitting the original batch as I racked it to secondary, I let the unaltered half sit for about ten days before bottling and let the other half continue to sit. That other half will have to wait for another post.
Now on to the bottling details for the unaltered half . . .
This is the easy part.
As usual, there are not too many additional details to share with the bottling process (especially since this session went smoothly), but if you have more interest in how it happens check out the video for the Blueberry Chocolate Stout bottling. There was nothing to add at bottling this time, but that video will give you the gist of it.
Still not exactly black
Since it was a half batch, I only boiled a light ½ cup (rather than ¾ cup) of corn sugar in 1 cup of water (instead of 2), cooled it, then added it to the bottling bucket before racking the beer over. This was all after rinsing the sanitized bottles and bottling equipment and allowing them to air-dry a bit. I only used the 12 ounce bottles for this one as I am saving the 22 ouncers I have for the bourbon-vanilla half.
The final hydrometer reading left it with a specific gravity of about 1.0172 which was a bit higher than I was hoping for and gave it a final ABV of roughly 4.65%. That number was very slightly down from when it was racked to secondary fermentation, but I never consider my readings that exact anyway.
The packaging has to be checked for weight capacity.
The taste and aroma did not change much from the sample I tried before racking to secondary. The low, roasted aroma and light spiciness was there and it was still very much like drinking a nice porter to me. The coffee-like, chocolately flavors and low bitterness were a bit more prominent than before.
Mission accomplished
I have high hopes for this one and think that it will be really nice after carbonated and conditioning for some weeks. Stay tuned for the official review!
The Black Ale was good, probably your best to date. Nice Head, good caramel tones at first then mellowing to a slight coffee aftertaste. It went well with a chocolate icebox cookie cupcake, trial and error for Ryley’s birthday (you can find here: http://tiny.cc/840ka). It will be good to see how it compares to the Bourbon Vanilla, which is still sitting a bit. Good Job!
Glad you enjoyed it . . . nice to hear since it was probably the easiest brew that I have ever done as well. Tried the bourbon vanilla a few days ago with some friends and we think it needs some time to gain more carbonation. A few weeks will probably do it well.