Mead and Wit

After 2 months, I have finally moved it to the secondary.

The SG was 1.050 and it tastes very sweet. Will give it a month and then check the gravity again.

I transferred Belgium Wit to Secondary as well. It's SG was 1.004 and it has a pretty complex taste.

Will send to bottles next weekend.

Belgium Wit

Well let me try this again. I f'd up the first version of this.

A Belgium Wit is characterized by the addition of a few ingredients. Namely, coriander, orange peel, and cardamom.

It wouldn't be a typical brew session if I didn't forget something. This week it was irish moss (clarity). Oh well, this is one of those cloudy wheat beers, right?

I also forgot to take a SG, but 11 pounds of grain should be 1.055. We'll just say it was that.

Belgium Wit
6 lbs Lager Malt (2-row)
5 lbs German Wheat (should have been crushed Bulgar wheat, but it wasn't available)
1/2 lb rolled oats
1 oz Tetnang (60)
1 oz Tetnang (30)
3 tsp crushed coriander
1/3 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 of an peeled orange. Could find the f'n grater
1 tsp Irish Moss (oops)
WL Begium Wit yeast
10 ml Lactic Acid for later (I actually borrowed Kens)

I added 1.2 qts per pound of water at 165 to mash at 152 for 90 minutes. I sparged 8 gallons at 170 degrees for 60 minutes. As soon as the hot break broke, I started the boil for 1 hour.

Obviously this wasn't quite the way the recipe called it, but then I wouldn't be adding my signature.

Here it is 53 hours in.

Brown Ale in the bottle

I bottled my Brown Ale, but forgot to take a gravity reading. Fortunately, I had taken it a few weeks ago, so I'm pretty sure it is around 1.008.

Because the yeast sediment in the bottom of the secondary was really low, I decided to try adding some generic dry yeast into each bottle.

And of course I broke a bottle.

For some reason my beers are taking a long time before they generate a good head. My Honey Porter is 3 weeks old and flat. I may end up adding yeast to it. I will give it another week.

Perhaps 2 weeks in the secondary is too long for some beers.