Thursday, March 10, 2011

March Beer Update!

Here we are already in March! Wow, that February sure is short. I will be brewing my March beer this weekend, but decided to give a quick update on the January and February brews beforehand.
As I mentioned last month, the January IPA didn’t turn out exactly how I would have liked, but it’s still pretty good. My wife loves it and I’ve shared it with several friends that all appreciated it. The objective critiques are certainly being noted and I am keeping my own notes as well. Next time I jump into IPA territory, I will have a much better roadmap. When all is said and done, I have a very satisfying, hoppy, dirty IPA that packs some warmth at 7% ABV. Hell, at this point, I only have about a 12 pack left, so that has got to count for something.
The February Tripel is a whole other story. This is my first high gravity brew and the fermentation time really threw me for a loop. It sat in primary for about 15 days before I got nervous and decided to rack it to secondary. I’ve heard tales of beers getting mold or infections if left in primary too long and I certainly am one to err on the side of caution. The beer started with a gravity of 1.082 and after 15 days it was down to 1.030. I’m expecting a final gravity somewhere between 1.016 and 1.019, so I knew it had a bit to go. I racked it to the carboy and roused it to get the yeast working again and it was off.
At this point, it’s been in secondary for 12 days. On Sunday (the 7 day mark) I did another reading and it was down to 1.026. Not a big change, so my friend Rodney and I discussed possible actions. While the airlock is not bubbling, it’s still floating, so it doesn’t seem like more yeast is needed. We chewed on that one for a while. We also discussed dropping some more brown sugar in to get it working a bit faster. I’m not really sold on that one either quite yet.
My plan, for the time being, is to give it a couple more days and see where the gravity is at this weekend. 7 points isn’t a whole lot, so maybe time is all that it needs. Having never brewed something with gravity this high, it’s all pretty much 50% Google searching, 40% suggestion from friends and 10% instinct.
After all, one of the points of this project is so that I can maybe switch those Google and instinct figures. I’ll be pretty impressed with myself at that point.
Thanks for reading and more to come this weekend on brew day! Also, if you’d like to try an IPA, leave me a message before they are all gone!
-Chris

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