Today I tested the gravity of my newest beer, the Super-Secret-Surprise Beer (hereafter called S3). S3 has actually surprised me. From the yeast starter to the reading today, every step has resulted in something that I didn't expect. The final gravity of this beer is 1.010, which means that this beer, which started at 1.064, weighs in at a hefty 7.1% ABV! This is the first time that I've broken the 7% mark, making this the most alcoholic beer I've made thus far. While this is exciting, I don't think this record will be standing for very long, since the next beer, the Black Tie Affair, will probably end up around 8% ABV if everything goes according to plan.
Other than the record breaking, the high ABV means that the yeast did its job and is most likely done. This means that in a few days (planning on Tuesday), I will rack the S3 to secondary, where it will stay for about a month before I bottle it. After tasting the beer, I really think that it will benefit from this extra month of aging. Knowing the style that it's modeled after, I can say very confidently that S3 as it is right now is not very true to the style. However, this is why we age it. Aging it will mellow out some of those strange phenols that I'm tasting right now, bring out the malt character, and improve the overall profile of the beer. It's drinkable now, but not great. Waiting will help.
Anyway, tonight my sister is coming over, and we will be tasting the Waldo Lake Amber Ale. So, in a day or so, I will be giving posting our tasting notes of this pretty awesome beer! You'll just have to wait until then to see how it turned out! (Hint: It turned out really well!)
Until then, all hail the Bierkaiser!
Picture Courtesy of fermentarium.com
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