Christmas Beer – racking off

2013-10-23 16.01.01I am very new to this lark (although did have some fun with the brewzer from the now defunct miracle-beer.com a few years ago).  I thought I would try a Christmas Ale to start with – it would have a few weeks to condition before the holidays.  It was pretty straight forward to get up and running, though I did find patience an issue when waiting for the mixture to cool down and I also dropped the unsterilised (other than the bulb) thermometer in to the mix.

The instructions say wait 10 days or until the fermentation has ceased and the specific gravity (SG) is 1020.  My wife and I eyeballed the hydrometer together and decided it was spot on after six days.

The instructions say that all beers work best when left to clarify so I “racked them off” (see how I use jargon now) in to a couple of demijohns I had clean and waiting.

500D_1696

500D_1699Now they sit in the garage for a couple of weeks before being bottled and I have to hope that the yeast is alive enough after that to give a nice fiz when they are opened.  At over 6% proof and only having 1 litre bottles to put it in, it could be a very Happy Christmas.

 

One thought on “Christmas Beer – racking off

Comments are closed.