Aussie Birthday First Taste

G'day - it's birthday time so what better way to celebrate than with the first taste of the home brew.  I've patiently waited since August (arguably before then) to taste the first down-unda brew.

I have been very concerned about the brew - the ingredients didn't seem as fresh as ones in the states and the recipe seemed a bit off.  I'd done my own tweaks to try and get it close and it has seemingly held.


So, still young in the bottle I gave it a "fair go". 

Good signs of bottle fermentation, suds were coming to the top, albeit lightly.  Color was generally clear and my fear about the bottle caps and the different bottles themselves were lifted.  Success!

But how was the taste?  Taste was surprisingly good!  It was heavily caramel and rich in flavor.  The hops and yeast could have been different as it didn't seem IPA ish... but it did have a unique taste like an English pale ale with a darker twist.  And it was good :)

Great way to start the birthday and spring season off!

Dave's IPA Bottled

After racking to the secondary fermentor (when was that again?) it was time to bottle.  It's been fermenting since early August, so a good 2 months.

The setup was actually good.  Pulled the fermentor out and just did it in the kitchen.  With the newly smuggled acquired Bottle Filling Wand I made quick work on bottling the batch with the auto-siphon.  To prevent a mess put the bottles into the stock pot.  Worked great.

End result speaks for itself :)

FG was 1.018 = roughly 5.5% by volume.  A couple weeks and we'll have the first taste!