This has been in the warm long enough to build up any carbonation there’s to be had, so let’s get it put into the cold. The plastic bottles have some good pressure too!
First Taste
Later that same evening I pulled one bottle back from the garage because I plan to put away the other two buckets later this week, and wanted to be sure the quantity of priming sugar / sweetener is acceptable. Here’s the note I just added to the drinks log:
First dip into the Riot, and it seems very nice although it’s not been in the cold for a full day yet. The nose is a bit yeasty but carbonation is spot-on and there’s not enough sugar to drive away the taste of apples, but enough to prevent it being too tart. I’ll seriously think about doing the same to the next batch from this pressing, Oslo or Wellies.
Those bottles of Yeti have been knocking around in the server room for 10 days now, so it’s about time they went outside where it’s marginally cooler. Can’t wait to try this one to see if it’s as good as the keg, but with such a high percentage big beer I think I’ll have to wait a couple of months before going anywhere near it.
Bure Gold moved out to the garage today, but it’s not as cool in there as it has been of late due to a mini-heatwave over our late May Bank Holiday. Still, got to be better than being up in the server room.
All bottles appeared to be perfectly clear, with a little sediment in the bottom. Looking good.
I moved the eight silver capped 500 ml bottles of Foxdale Gold into the garage today, they’ve been in the warm server room long enough now. Little bit of sediment inside and they’re still quite hazy, may take a long time to clear in the garage now that we’re into ‘summer’ with daytime temperatures of 10 ℃ and 3 or 4 ℃ at night. Bound to be a bit warmer than that in the garage though, so I’m thinking I may bring these into my new beer fridge when it arrives.
Extract Blonde #2 has moved to the garage for conditioning. I’m not sure if this is really needed since the beer was cold-crashed before being bottled, but there is some sediment on the bottom so I guess it might benefit from a few days in the cold.
Good to see actually, since I was worried that cold-crashing would have removed the yeast that I need to give this carbonation. At any rate the carbonation drops have been eaten and there’s sediment, so I’m hoping that I don’t end up with sweet, flat beer.
31 bottles go out into the cold, one’s already off to a friend. I’ve not bothered to label all of these, instead just two from each of the three variants. Let’s see if this is enough to keep them identifiable or if I’ll live to regret that decision.
There’s still a little bit left in the 5 litre mini keg in the fridge, but a leaky disconnect caused some of that to end up on the bathroom floor yesterday. Going forward I don’t think cider is worth kegging anyway, since it keeps just in in bottles with no loss of flavour and since I don’t drink it quick enough to warrant tying up a keg.
Moved these out to the garage today along with Nog and Evil Dog II. Temperature out there is about the same as it is in our fridge, so they should condition pretty quickly.
Been 8 days in the warm, let’s move her into the garage. I hope the longer-than-planned (by 3 days) time in the warm hasn’t given rise to off-flavours, must get better at keeping on top of these things.
For what it’s worth I took delivery of the FermZilla two days ago, so going forward I’ll be able to ferment and maybe bottle hoppy brews in an environment entirely free of oxygen, which may help eliminate those sweet & sour flavours in future.
Instructions call for two days in the warm after bottling, but I’m going to give it a week based on nothing more than Wherry (which shares the same brewer / instructions) being a little sweet and a little flat. That one had 3 days between bottling and conditioning, let’s see what happens when we give Nog a bit longer. Of course there’s no straight comparison since Wherry used carbonation drops and Nog was batch-primed with dextrose, but hey … we’ll see.
Edit: actually, I was three days late moving this one out due to one thing and another, so she’s had 10 days in the warm. Garage is plenty cold enough right now at just 1 ℃, let’s sit tight and check in after a couple of weeks.
Been in the warm for 2 weeks now, time to put her out in the cold for at least 7 days to clear.
Since I was at it, why not sample one? Look, there’s a cheeky little Heineken number that nobody’ll miss. Forgot that this was one of the over-carbonated ones, receiving nearly twice the recommended bubble-magic for its tiny 275 ml size. Unsurprisingly it was a bit of a gusher, spewing up a relentless fountain of bubbles from the base, turning the already unsettled contents ever more turgid. Managed to catch about half a small glass and it didn’t taste too bad – maybe a bit yeasty and very grapefruity. Once these settle down a bit in the cold they could be quite nice, I just hope that the small amount of high-tide sediment in the necks isn’t anything to worry about, just like the white sheen on the bubbles before bottling.
Been 8 days since it was bottled, time for a couple of weeks in the cold.
Slightly concerned at specks of sediment at the top of some bottles, in one or two cases it looks like a white pearl half the size of a pea, in others it looks like flaky, floaty sediment. Mould?
All bottles moved out to the garage after 10 days in the warm, safely tucked away in a Patteson’s Glass cardboard box with top and side labels. Let’s see if I can resist opening one until they’re ready on 20th March … though as it’s currently 3 ℃ outside I’m wondering if … no, just wait until March. 😉
Another one banished to the cold garage – this one should be ready for tasting in about a week’s time. 1½ Patteson’s Glass cardboard boxes, ambient temperature right now around 6 ℃.
Just moved this out to the garage, it’s sharing a Patteson’s Glass box with half a case of Blueberry Cider. Should be ready to taste in about two weeks from now – can’t wait!
All seven bottles have moved out to the garage where it’s around 5 ℃ right now. They’re only a little cloudy and I doubt that this will change much, though there is a little sediment on the bottom of each bottle and the carbonation drops are gone.
Another question is whether the fermentation and production of alcohol from added sugar will extend or reduce the ‘best before’ time of the original juice, which I sadly neglected to record. Oh well. The cherry juice I just added to Type 22 is good for six months in an unopened state, and I’m hoping that 6.5% ABV will keep Thrush alive long enough for us to enjoy all 7 bottles, starting in 10 days time.
Like Type 25a I hadn’t realised these were still in the house, so it’s about time they get into cooler temperatures for conditioning. It’s around 3 – 5 ℃ in the garage right now, should help clear up any remaining cloudiness. Speaking of which, these look more or less perfectly clear already – can’t wait to see where we end up when we do our tasting in a couple of weeks.
I hadn’t realised these were still in the server room, let’s hope that cider isn’t too fussed about spending 35 days in a warm place prior to conditioning. The bottles do look somewhat cloudy still, with some sediment on the bottom and and a very faint hint at different layers of cloudiness towards the top, which disappeared with the slightest handling. Moving to the garage where it’s between 3 and 5 ℃ at the moment.
Type 25a prior to conditioning
The 6 release candidates from our very first batch this year are also being moved to the garage today, and those look much clearer. Wonder if that’s due to the 5 days longer that they’ve had in the bottles or some other factor.
Decided I was tired of looking at these eight precious bottles and not being able to open one, so I moved it from the brewery to the garage 2 days earlier than planned. Let’s see how quickly she clears up, because I can’t wait to try one.
Hard to believe this was bottled 14 days ago already, let’s hope the next 21 days in conditioning pass just as quickly. Already the brew is very clear, with some sediment on the bottom and a couple of very fine particles in suspension throughout. Nice colour too.
Can’t believe the instructions call for just two days “somewhere warm” after bottling, but there you go. Cwtch is going to the garage for at least a fortnight, and I can’t wait to try some. The sediment’s already forming on the bottoms, but it’s got a long way to go before it clears up. Although this is not my first brew it is the first one to start conditioning, so let’s see how this magic works.