Today was a low key day at the apartment, with a pretty simple plan involving bottling and racking.
First up was this year’s edition of St. Aedan’s Ale, the lightly spiced Belgian strong dark ale that I make for Christmas each year. It was more work intensive than recent bottlings, as the entire batch went into bottles. The beer finished off around 1.017, making for an ABV of roughly 9.3%. A potent holiday treat indeed! Flavorwise it’s a bit hotter than I would have liked, largely from the alcohol but possibly partly due to the spices. We’ll see if it mellows any with carbonation and a bit more time in the bottle.
Second task of the day was to rack the Fat Ethel Old Scottie Stout, which turned out stronger than intended at 5.25%, though that’s not too surprising since I overshot the target gravity by 7 points or so. This was only the fourth all-grain five gallon batch I’ve brewed, so I’m still in the process of sorting out what sort of efficiency I can get on a regular basis. The beer tastes fantastic, with a lovely roast character that doesn’t overwhelm the experience in any way. Really looking forward to drinking this, and I’ve got a strong suspicion that I’ll be brewing this again.