PoD #2 Bottling

According to the bottling bucket, this was 5 gallons, but I think more like 4.75. Anyway FG was 1015, so we dropped a couple of points in the secondary. This brings ABV to 6.53% and AA to 76.6%. If we had one more point drop of the FG, the ABV would end up at 6.66%, the target for the Prince of Darkness! I think I'll just put that on the bottles anyway ;-)

Tasting notes:

Appearance:
No head - not yet carbonated
Very dark brown colour. Reasonably clear in thin samples. Viscous, almost oily character to the liquid.

Aroma:
Subtle chocolate/coffee

Taste:
Slightly malty sweet, still some lingering fusel alcohols, though these have mellowed significantly. Not much bitterness or crispness. Taste builds slowly on the tougue. Sweet aftertaste fades slowly, but is not unpleasant.

Mouthfeel:
Smooth, full body, but with a slight alcohol spike.

Drinkability:
At room temp., and no carbonation, it is quite thick and heavy. Drink slowly.

PoD #2 Rack to Secondary

Racked about 4.75 gallons to secondary. SG was 1017, so ABV = 6.3% and AA = 73%.

Taste was good, though a little strong alcohol tasting - presumably fusel alcohols. Hopefully these flavours will mellow in the secondary and in the bottles.

Sir Wheat (Hefeweizen) Tasting

Looks like a Hefeweizen, smells like a hefeweizen, tastes like a hefeweizen. Sweet! Suwheat! Sir Wheat!

Nice big foamy white head. Bananary estery bouquet. Light, refreshing taste. Despite H2S odours during primary, there is no hint of this now. This one keeps improving with age.

The only downside is the low OG and FG.

Prince of Darkness Batch #2

We had a bit of a brew party. Alex brought over his nice SS 10 gallon pot. Nicky, Eric and Kerry came over too. I had bought a 160,000 BTU propane burner.

I modified the original PoB recipe slightly:

9lbs pale 2row Maris Otter (increased from 8lbs)
1lbs crystal malt, 60 deg Lovibond
1.5lbs quick oatmeal (increased from 18oz)
0.5lbs chocolate malt
0.5lbs roasted barley
2 oz Fuggles leaf hops
1 pack Wyeast 1084, Irish Ale yeast

I attempted to make a yeast starter from yeast slurry that I had harvested from the original PoB. I had stored this in a bottle at the back of the fridge for several months. I pitched this into a mini DME wort, but there were no signs of life after 24hrs. Fortunately I bought a smack-pack as backup.

I decided to attempt a protein rest at 122 degF. We started with a stiff mash of ~2gallons strike water. We held the protein rest for 30mins, then added 1.25 quarts boiling water, which nicely incresed the temp to 154 degF, which we held for 1 hour.

We sparged with the remaining 6 or so gallons. The sparge rate was very slow, probably taking about an hour. I don't think I'd want it any slower, but this was a nice rate. I assume the slowness is due to the protein rest and the extra oatmeal thickening up the wort.

Hop/boil schedule was simple: We added all hops 15 minutes into the 1hour boil.

Again, the leaf hops caused some grief when it came to syphoning into the fermenter. We got about 3/4 of the way with the syphon, then the syphon got so plugged, we ended up straining the rest through the sieve/funnel.

OG was 1064.

The propane burner and big pot is *WAY* quicker than the two smaller pots on the stove.