ESB #2 Bottling

Bottled ESB #2 today. 4.5 gallons yielded 47 12oz bottles, with minimal spillage. I primed with 100g corn sugar.

FG was 1009 - a big drop from 1016 when racked to secondary. Fermentation was stil relatively active after racking to secondary. Therefore ABV is 5.7% and AA is 83%. This is a lot higher than Wyeast's spec of 67-71% at 64-72°F. (http://www.wyeastlab.com/beprlist.htm) Maybe this is because of somewhat higher fermentation temp (~78degF).

Tasting: fairly dry (as to be expected with such a high AA). Hop profile is much more subtle than that of ESB #1. This presumably is mostly due to substituting the Bullion hops with Challenger hops. I believe this is much more in line with what an ESB should be like. The Bullion hops made ESB #1 much more like an American IPA.

ESB batch #2 rack to secondary

This one spent 2 full weeks in primary. At the end, bubbling had barely decreased to 60s/bubble. Similar to the 1st batch, this is a slow fermentation.

At racking, SG was 1016
==> ABV is 4.8%
==> AA is 69%

Added 0.25 oz Kent Goldings (dry-hopped)

The bubbling continues between 60 and 120s/bubble. We'll see how it is after the trip to England. At least another 2 weeks in the secondary.

I tried harvesting the yeast from the bottom. I filled a bottle with the sludge, and put it in the fridge. It's probably more hops than yeast, but I'll get some DME, and see if it will breed.