2014 Xmas Beer Racking

Tonight we racked our Christmas beer and got our first chance to see how it's progressing. It was a smooth home brew night - no stuck stoppers or broken carboys at all! The only minor glitch was that we almost forgot to put in the cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean to "dry spice" the secondary. Amy saved the day by remembering!

We got to use our refractometer again to measure the brix, and with some handy calculations and conversions with BeerSmith, it looks like we're at a gravity of 1.026 for an ABV of 8.1%. This was a relief since I was worried the fluctuations in temperature during primary fermentation would cause some problems. If they are, they don't seem to be showing in the form of reduced attenuation. I guess it still remains to be seen if the temperature changes produce any off flavors in the finished beer.

So far the beer tastes pretty good. You can taste the cherries but they're not overpowering. We're excited to see what it tastes like with the cinnamon and vanilla in there.

[ 2014 Christmas Beer Brew Day ] <--- | ---> [ Christmas Miracle 2014 Tasting ]