Sweetness! Sweetness, I Was Only Joking When I Said. . . (Superman Was Black, Part Deux)

I am disturbed to say I have no batteries to fill my camera with. There are no pictures to document the history. I will be better prepared next time.

Re-Racking 1/9: It's a tense moment, taking any action in the process of brewing. It is delicate and one must be meticulous. It's been a long while since I picked up the brewer's bible (I like 'em cheap, Joe). However, once my nerves settled a bit I remembered the edict to "Relax, have a homebrew". Only I'm sorry to say I have no hombrew at the current moment with which to partake. I'll relax anyways.

While the bubbling had slowed considerably (1x/15 seconds), I was surprised to see a thin layer of foam on the top of the beer when I cracked the lid. "Too bad," I thought and went ahead and began the process anyhow. Things were going decidedly well, even, until a piece of hop clogged the tubing and stopped the siphoning. I still had a little less than a gallon to go and so I attempted to siphon more, only to find the tube clogged yet again. So I dumped nearly the rest, sans settled yeast, from bucket to bucket. I quickly re-sanitized the lid only to find the lid to the first bucket wouldn't fit the new bucket I purchased at Home Depot. So I quickly sanitized the lid it came with and fitted it to the re-racked beer for the secondary fermentation. The only problem? No airlock now. It could be said I am quite nervous. Typically, re-racking rouses the yeast from its slumber and it begins to do its job again. This means more CO2 production, which means more pressure, which would be let off through the airlock, which I do not have. If I notice the lid of the bucket bowing, I promise to open it a bit to let off some steam, but what I've learned is that sometimes, these things cannot be helped. A man's gotta work. I need glass carboys like I need my next paycheck. There's just nothing I can do about it.

On the bright side, I was able to siphon off enough to get a good gravity reading. I won't call it the F. G. (final gravity) as I expect it to continue to drop a bit over the next week, and I'm not satisfied believing that it will remain at 1.030. An F.G. of 1.030 means that the beer I'm currently sipping (and savoring) is about 7.9% alcohol.

What's lost in expected alcohol (I was shooting for 11-12%) is not lost in flavor. Kids, we got chocolate in spades. There's almost a heat to it, despite the 7.9%. And we got hops, bro. Quite well balanced, if I'm the one being asked. A little bit sweet, a little warm, bitter, a little bit coffee, and a little chocolate. This one could be served room temperature if I get the carbonation right. There's a slight tingle to it now, it will be bubbly in another 2 weeks after it's been bottled (assuming everything goes well). This may be a masterpiece, despite my history of coming up with some pretty wacky recipes in the past (recall Rosemary Beer and Rootbeer, which was made entirely of roots and sugar without the rootbeer extract flavoring). Seriously, for going from not brewing for nearly 3 1/2 years to this audacious delight, I am quite proud. If you live near me, you will be too.