The wine and beer in secondary.

So today I felt good enough with the rate of fermentation in the beer and wine to check the SG of each and see if it was time to move them in to secondary fermentation. Sanitized my gear, of course, and let the fun begin. The Brown Ale was at 1.014, so I sanitized my remaining carboy and siphoned the beer. Of course, I had a sample out of the beer from the hydrometer. So of course, Sam and I had to taste it. This is where the concern starts.

The aroma was great; it smelled like beer! However, it tasted a little watered down. Like beer, but like beer with water in it. Hopefully this goes away after time. Anyhow, it is now sitting happily in the secondary, and fermentation has slowed to a crawl. It is clearly almost done eating up all those yummy sugars, and I’ll probably bottle it after a week. One thing I learned is the value of other sized carboys. I was having a hard time understanding why anyone would want anything but a six-gallon, but as I see now if you’re racking to secondary you’d really probably be better off with a 5 gallon, so you have less air at the top. In primary fermentation the beer is throwing out a ton of CO2, and that pushes the air out of the top. However, now it is barely bubbling, and the amount of space has increased. That is a whole lot of oxygen this little beer has to push away with very little sugar left to do it.

Tiny fermentation bubbles, hooray!

Now, with that done, it was time for dinner. Of course, I had a beer. How could I not have one, really? We had a pilsner; it was delicious. Also, Sam cooked a delicious chicken breast in rosemary vinegar with spinach salad, peppers, and onions. Awesome.

Anyhow, after dinner, it was wine time. The SG of the wine was 1.008, which was perfect. Exactly where I wanted it to be when I moved to secondary. Sample placed in to a glass and the siphon started. Smelled the wine, and woah… not what I expected, or wanted. Smelled almost like vinegar. The taste wasn’t bad, but not as strong as I would hope for a tempranillo. I’m really nervous about this one; fermentation did start a little cold, but it did start, so I wasn’t worried. However, I’m now pretty glad I’ve moved these up to the guest bathroom. Warming them up to about 72 hopefully will help. Still, there needs to be an aroma miracle in the wine for it to come out good. I’m really upset about this one, and trying to track where things might have gone wrong. Either way, the porter seems to be doing well, so that is good news.

Stout Ale from Left Hand Brewing

Drink of the Day

So, here it is, the drink of the day. I wanted to hit Dry Dock up today, but I just didn’t have time. So instead I pulled out one of the New Years leftovers to give it a try; the Fade to Black Ale from Left Hand Brewing. You know, this beer had me a little worried. The label isn’t my favorite, and seems like it is trying too hard to be awesome. I knew I should have left my judging somewhere else when I poured it and smelled rich caramel, malty, coffee, smokey goodness.

So much smoke! I love it. Look, let’s say we were going camping. Yeah, you and me. We are toasting some marshmallows. (Aside: Up until just now, I spelled that word “ell” instead of “all”) Do you just warm it up, lightly brown it, golden brown, or light it on fire and let it burn a while? If you answered last, then do what you can to get your hands on this beer. Call your local decent beer hut and tell them to get it… or else. I’m pretty sure that means they have to; at least, if movies are to be believed. This beer tastes like all the best parts of a charred marshmallow. Smokey sweetness combined with toasted caramelization flavors. They should pick a new label for this one, but it is a damn good beer. Now I’m going to seek out more stuff from Left Hand, because if they got this one right…

Oh, and as a word of warning… I’ll be really busy tomorrow, and thus… no blog post! I know, I’ve done so well so far, but Tuesdays are just slammed for me. It would take some kind of crazy get-off-work-super-early miracle for me to find time to post tomorrow.

Tags: brown ale, fade to black, left hand brewing, marshmallon, secondary fermentation, stout, tempranillo, vinegar aroma, Winemaking