So I have bottled the last of the beer that I had fermenting in the house.  Sure I am happy to have the process over with and be that much closer to enjoying the final product, but I suspect that the itch to brew some more will come along pretty soon.  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 this half continue to sit.  After sitting in secondary for about three and a half weeks (a record for me), it was time to go into bottles.

Now on to the bottling details for the bourbon vanilla half . . .

As usual, there are not too many additional details to share with the bottling process (especially since these few bottles 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 the excitement that is bottling.

The evidence left behind by the vanilla bean.

Since it was only half of a batch, I 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.  For this one I used a handful of 22 ounce bottles and the remainder went into the 12 ouncers.  This felt like a good one to go into the larger bottles and it ultimately made for fewer bottles to fill (which is always good).

Taking the final reading

The final hydrometer reading left it with a specific gravity of about 1.015 which was a bit higher than I was hoping for and gave it a final ABV of roughly 4.94%.  If those numbers are still accurate with the inclusion of bourbon into the mix I don’t know, but I would expect that it changes the game a bit.  Something to do research on for the next time.

Not technically black, but very tasty!

The aroma was lightly earthy and sweet with slight bourbon warmth and a faint bit of vanilla (as expected).  After drinking the sample I was impressed how the flavors blended smoothly with some light dryness and bitterness at the finish.  It seems to be a good variation on the control half of the batch. 

Now comes the waiting

Now comes the difficult part as I have to wait for it to condition and become carbonated.  I will definitely be sampling this one in a week just to check in on the progress.  If it goes well I think a full batch of this (with the appropriate tweaks) will be in my brewing future. 

Stay tuned for the official review!

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!

In the past I have said that if I had to pick one of the three segments of my brewing posts as the least interesting it would probably be the racking done in part two.  Unlike the process for the Saison, I had some plans to make the Black Ale a little more interesting.  It still was not at all complicated but there are a few additional details with this batch that I have to share to keep you up to date on the progress.

As always (or until I do some more video), if you are interested in a visual example of the racking process take a look at Part 2 of the Pomegranate Hefeweizen or maybe go way back to Part 2 of the Pumpkin Ale.

Not exactly black

The decision was made even before brewing this one that I would split the batch in two at some point.   I have split batches in the past by dividing the brewing ingredients and brewing two batches separately from the same recipe.  That method was not a complete disaster, but I did not love how the final product(s) turned out.  So for this one I waited until primary fermentation was over before splitting the batch. 

First time for everything

Before racking it into separate carboys for secondary, the specific gravity was determined to be about 1.0169 and a bit higher than what I wanted to see.  With that, the ABV was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.69% with the likelihood of at least one of the two split batches ending up higher in the end.

The fun part of racking

The sample (that I always look forward to drinking after the hydrometer reading is done) had a low roasted aroma with what seemed to be a bit of spice.  The flavor had nice notes of roasted malt with a bit of chocolate and drank very much like a porter in body.  It should be quite good when finally carbonated and ready to drink.

One of the additions

Then the batch was split with one half staying as it was and simply racked to another fermentation vessel.  Before the other half went through the same process I added 1 cup of a bourbon based liqueur (with honey) and a 6.5-7” vanilla bean that was split and roughed up a bit.  Some of you will have a pretty good guess as to the liqueur added, but I will keep the identity hidden in case it turns out to be a good secret to have.  However, if the end product is terrible I will share it for sure!

A little visual hint

So both carboys went back to the bathtub to sit for a while longer.  The half that was left alone will sit for another week and the other half (which I labeled “bounilla”) will sit for a few weeks, if not more.  I have yet to let something sit in secondary for that long, but this seemed like a good one to let go for a while longer.

Until bottling . . .

The last of the trio of brews that I have done in the last few weeks (or so) is a Black Ale that was at least somewhat inspired by a sample of the Southern Tier Iniquity that I had for the first time at the FBG Beerfest.  Now it really won’t be the same since (among other things) the Iniquity is an Imperial Black Ale and I will likely be adding some extra ingredients to secondary that will bring an entirely different flavor profile (stay tuned).  That and mine will almost surely not be as good as Southern Tier’s version, though I will enjoy it all the same!

The video from the first part of the Pomegranate Hefeweizen is still a good reference (as it was with the Belgian Saison) since the initial setup was much the same.  Not that the Saison was difficult, but this one was an incredibly simple brewing process.

Grains before

As with every batch, I do my very best to ensure that everything used for my brewing has been sanitized to the best of my ability before getting started.  With that, I again brought 2.5 gallons of water to about 160 degrees, turned off the burner, and put the following into the grain bag:

• 2.5 lb 2-Row Malt
• .5 lb De-Bittered Black Malt
• .5 lb Crystal 90L Malt

Grains after

The grains were then soaked for 45 minutes while maintaining the temperature at about 155 degrees.  I have made notes as to how I can better control that temperature which involves turning the burner off short of the 160 degrees as I typically do.  My process becomes more refined each time and I am looking forward to testing the altered method on the next batch.  With that, the grain bag was then pulled out and I poured 2 quarts of 170 degree water over it to ensure all of the grainy goodness was not lost. I removed the pot from the heat and then added:

• 5 lb Amber Extract

Bringing it up to a boil.

Once the malt extract was stirred in, the pot went back on the heat until there was a good rolling (controlled) boil.  I set the timer for 60 minutes and then it was time for:

• Bittering hops – .75 oz Galena
• Flavoring hops – .25 oz Galena (last 15 minutes of the boil).
• Aroma hops – None this time

Green nuggets of goodness

After the 60 minutes of boiling I was able to get everything pretty quickly down to below 80 degrees and without any difficulty this time.  After all of these batches maybe I have figured out what can work well for me and I will see how the flavor of the beer turns out as a result.  Perhaps I can continue to put off building that wort chiller after all?

When the temperature was at roughly 77 degrees (with water added to about 5.25 gallons) I pitched in the bloomed Windsor Ale dry yeast that I was using for the recipe.  The yeast was bloomed by adding the contents of the packet to 2 cups of warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes.  Using two cups was actually a mistake, as I must have had the method used for the Saison still in my head.  Regardless, I then boiled 2 tsp. of sugar in a small amount of water, cooled the mixture, added it to the yeast, and again covered it as I continued with the boiling step of brewing.  The yeast was not as obviously bloomed as it has been in the past, likely a result of my water volume mistake.  Even with that, the airlock was bubbling away in a relatively short time, so all should be well.

It certainly turned out to be black.

The original specific gravity came in at approximately 1.0527, which was only slightly lower than expected.  Maybe I actually am getting close to getting the final volume closer to being correct?  I will let this one sit for about a week before racking it to secondary with the additional ingredients.

Stay tuned . . .