emma's ale pt 2, re-using yeast

i decided to use the 1275 cake from the last batch of emma's ale on this one. i did a half-assed job of washing the yeast and put it into 2 quart mason jars in the fridge (2 weeks). warmed them up yesterday and did a 650ml starter. not much bubbly activity, but it's cloudy (both jars, minus the jar beer). still a bit of trub.

for this boild, i did the pseudo sparge with the grain bag. in the middle of doin it now, in fact.

the original emma's ale was bottled 2 weeks-ish ago and is tasting fine. a bit drier and maybe more bitter and malty, but nice. used big bottles for most of it, saving a 6 of 12-oz bottles for the dregs. have been taste-testing over the last week with the 12ies and it has matured nicely, though maybe a little champaigny despite doing only 4 oz of brown sugar for bottling. maybe take that down another 1/2 oz for this next one.

edit -- og was maybe 1.054?

scottish export 80

sg 1.063? overshot 1.054. i'm just good at coaxing the sugar. new thermometer with alarm thanks to inki! poured white labs 1728 english ale yeast, straight from the vial, see how she goes.

started bubbling sometime the next day. still bubbing on 25th, so yeast probably good with the no-starter.

iea at 1.018 still, ready to rack

70% attenuation (apparent). rack after nap? we'll see...

iea (inki's emma's ale) gravity

looks like we're at 1.018 from 1.060, which means the abv is 5.5% already! gonna wait till tomorrow, then rack. we'll be craving this soon, as we're almost out of the last batch of iba (inki's brown ale). may 26th will be my brewversary. not sure how to mark this occasion. perhaps a new brew?

new brown ale for inki ('emma's ale')

i'm making the 'emma's ale' kit from northern. steeped 30 min at ~160, pseudo-sparged again. following the recipe pretty much verbatim other than that since tis a new brew. OG 1.060. The yeast (wyeast 1275) was started two weeks ago (350ML) and put in the fridge because i didn't have time to do the boil. hopefully there's not too long of a lag.

hop head!

doesn't play well with others. the hop head is at its peak, i think. floral fruity nose with a citrusy, grapefruit bitter aftertaste. definitely lived up to expectations and is slightly surpassing them. mmmmmm.

barleywine told me it was ready to rack, taste of hop head

the barleywine has mellowed out quite a bit, still super sweet, but hopefully some time and carbonation will take care of that. she's ready for the 5 month carboy journey. i might just have really sweet not-so-high-alcohol beer, but i've got plenty of other more important shit to whine about. i can blend it with another beer or something, or make some nice bread if it ain't there in 5 months.

trying out a bottle of the hop head. still tastes a bit green. i'd give this a couple more weeks to a month to condition properly. carbonation not quite there, but i did plan on about 2.3 vols. ok, after a wine glass of the barleywine and about half a hop head, i can tell that one or both has quite a bit of abv. doesn't hurt