Bottled!

It’s 34 pints of red ale, the first batch of the year, and it tastes pretty good – there’s always enough left over in the bottom of the tub for a swig.

It’s a little sweeter than I thought it would be, sweet enough that I was just a little bit worried that fermentation might not have been entirely over and done with, but the airlock was blooping so slowly and I was getting so impatient to taste it that I couldn’t wait another week. The finishing gravity was 1.016, which seems low enough, so I think it’ll be just fine.

Bottling took place in full-blown panic mode when I discovered that the hose I bought from the hardware store wouldn’t siphon properly when connected with the racking cane. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, it means just this: That I had to let the brew flow continuously from the tub to the bottles for fear that the siphon would break and I wouldn’t be able to get it started again. For about twenty minutes, I looked like one of those cartoon fist fights with half a dozen arms windmilling around in a cloud of dust.

I spilled more beer than I would’ve liked to, but thirty-four pints isn’t bad, so I’m not going to cry over it. Now the clean-up, on the other hand …