A few nights ago when we bottled the Deadeye Stout, the garage was as warm as 60F and the Apple Lager out there was fermenting pretty fast.

I had a stroke of pseudo genius! (Or just a stroke)

I have a cooler that is the perfect size for these 1 Gal jugs to fit in, so I put it in there with a bunch of ice and salt (to lower the ice's melting point). I've been checking it every couple of days and replacing ice in it off and on. I'm keeping the temp anywhere from 32F - 40F most of the time this way.

This jug is definitely going to be unique, to say the least. Whether or not it's good, we'll just have to wait and see...

Soda FAIL

Yeah, the soda's kinda failed...

The Wyler's Raspberry has more potential, it just needs to be made in a 3L and with more sugar.

The blackberry extract is pretty horrible. It was out and warm for 2 or 3 days and then in the fridge for at least a week before the first time I opened it. Each time that I opened it, the release of CO2 pressure pulled all kinds of lees off the bottom of the bottle and mixed it throughout. Very yucky yeasty tasting.

Last night I filterted it through a paper coffee filter and it was much less yeasty, but the blackberry flavor was just overpowering and generally, not good. It was tolerable when I mixed it about half and half with some Merlot / Cab Sauv wine that we had.

Stout is Bottled!

So, after several hours of work, and a lot of water getting everywhere, the Stout is finally bottled!

We got to get a bit of a taste test, and its very light and crisp for a stout, but has the signature coffee flavor. Hell, Craig might even drink it.

And something we're going to try to do from now on is make a photo log of our progress. My camera is a POS and I didn't notice that the date was way off until I uploaded.



All of the bottles had a nice long soak in the tub, the hot water (at least with the AB and Sam Adams) worked wonders. Those labels came off faster than Bill's pants at a Crackbaby party.



Here's Billdo, with his pants on, sanitizing bottles as I scrubbed them.



We added 3/4c of Corn Sugar for priming and racked it over to the Bottling Bucket. Isn't it pretty? I like my beer like I like my women, cold, black, and bitter. This stuff came out blacker than Samuel L. Jackson. Maybe I should call it BAMF beer...



Bill filled and I capped (and took pics).



We had 49 regular pry offs and it turns out 1 twist off. Can you spot it? One of these things is not like the other...



2 weeks for carbonation is way too long...

I went to St. Louis Beer and Wine and picked up the fixings for a Spiced Belgian Wit. Monday is going to be a late and fun night:).

The minifridge with the Apple Lager of some KING is now at 34F.

The one in the garage has gotten as cold as about 34F also but fluxes upwards of 50F depending on the temp outside.

Soda! Wait, what?

I've been playing with making soda a little bit for the past week or so.

I took a pack of Wyler's Sugar Free Cool Raspberry drink mix, half a cup of sugar, a few drops of vanilla, and about 1/16 oz of bread yeast (1/4 of a 1/4oz pack).

I put it all in a 2 liter soda bottle and shook it all up. I let it sit for about 24 hours and then put in in the fridge for a day or two. It was not very fizzy, and very syrupy. The Wyler's packet was supposed to make 2 quarts (slightly less than 2 liters), but Liz and I have found that they make REALLY strong fruity drinky thingys when mixed at normal strength. Next time, I'll use a 3 liter bottle.

I made a second one with some blackberry extract (a little less than an ounce), a whole cup of sugar, and the same 1/16 oz of bread yeast. This time I left it out for somewhere between 48 and 72 hours and then stuck it in the fridge a couple of days ago. We'll see soon how it turnes out.

Oh! And right after I bought a new thermometer to replace James's that I broke, I found mine.

Figures...