Carboyed

Moved P1 into carboy. There was about .5" layer of foam on the top, but very little trub, although I left behind what there was.

So now I can start even another batch in the pail, but no materials at the moment. Probably do that once I get back Sunday.

P1

Have continued to enjoy A(le)-1, and especially A1A (first seven bottles) was good; more bubbles!

Picked up materials for a porter from ABS:
6 lbs. Northwestern - Amber malt extract
1 lb. Briess - dry dark malt extract

1 lb. "Porter blend" crushed grain - (.5 lb. Dark Crystal, .5 lb. British Chocolate Malt)

2 oz. Kent Golding (says "UK Golding" on the pouch)

1 vial White Labs English ale yeast (strange that there is no volume for yeast listed in the recipe or the vial)

Steep the grain for about an hour on medium heat in 2 gal. tap water, then began 1 hour boil. 10 mins. in first oz. of hops, 40 in the second. Everything went smoothly and the smell was awesome! The grain adds s ton of richness.

Put the mix into the 6 gal. bucket for the first couple of days fermenting. Didn't seem to be as much trub (love that word) as last time. I think either from less malt scorching or maybe just fluffier hops last time? Who knows. Anyway trub was less and much darker.

I am actually posting this on 25.3, and have been observing bubbles coming out of the airlock for the past two days, and will probably move to the carboy tonight.

Consume!

Last night attempted to drink the first (through fourth) bottles of A1.

It contained alcohol and did not make me ill! Success!

Somewhat flat due to the delay in bottling after adding the sugar, and containing a bit of sourness to the hoppy aftertaste. But really not bad. A flat ale with a heavy aftertaste - I have definitely consumed worse beer than this. To be consumed by the monks, but not so good as to give it away :)

Bottled finally

CW brought the press over 6.3 but I didn't use it until 7.3. Nothing to tell. Mix looked good, bottling was easy with the Ale Pail. Was more gentle with the cap press :)

Mishap!

Began bottling A1 by siphoning 4.5+ gallons from the carboy, leaving about .5" liquid + sediment at the bottom. Into newly acquired "Ale Pail" (6+ gallon PVC bucket w/ nice spout at the bottom) plus 4oz. dextrose (pre-mixed w/ .5cup warm water).

Siphoning went fine but the curl of the PVC hose is annoying and I can't point it where I want. Need more of a wand like device.

Bottled 7 Franziskaner öber-pints before I broke the bottle cap press...

"All I tried to do was pull him up - a momentary loss of muscular coordination. A few extra foot-pounds of energy per second, per second!"

Not as strong as it looked, or maybe my beard is too tight...

Nothing to do after that. Just wait until tomorrow and call CW.

First batch

Since this is a bit tardy some detail might be missing.

Boiled about 3.5 gallons in large enamel pot borrowed from CW. Added 6lbs. Northwestern Gold malt extract and 1oz. nugget hops. 30 mins in added 1oz. warrior hops. Pot boiled over once fairly strongly, and a good bit of the hops came out.

Put into 5gal. carboy and added 1.5 gal. water.