Racking and Kegging

This was a big week for beer at Casa de Six-Shooter. Fifteen gallons of beer were sitting in fermenters. The Holiday Ale was in primary, while the Porter-Graf and Black Butte XXII were in seconday.

It took two hours to keg the Porter-Graf. The problem was several posts that I didn't know how to fix. Ugh. Frustration. But, after much aggravation, I learned to disassemble and reassemble a poppet valve. Boom! Kegging complete. A quick taste told me that this one will be better than my first attempt at a graf. It was much more solid and less tart.

The Holiday Ale was a big of a pain to rack. Since I didn't have a hop sock available during brewing, there was a hug mess of trub consisting of inactive yeast, hop debris, and pieces of orange peel and other spices. The racking cane kept getting clogged so the racking took quite a bit longer than I would have expected. It's now in secondary be ready for kegging soon.

And, finally, I racked the Black Butte XXII clone into a tertiary fermenter. Yes, a third one. Over the summer I got a little lazy and then a little busy and I let the Black Butte XXII clone sit on the pasilla negra chilis and cocoa nibs for a bit longer than a week. Like, umm, about four months longer than a week. Oops. So, to clarify it, I thought it would be best to rack it into a third fermenter and let more trub settle out. I drank a glass - the remnants of my hydrometer reading - and was very pleased with the flavor. There's a strong chocolate flavor and aroma and a moderate chili aftertaste.  The hydrometer reading put this at about 11% ABV.

The Black Butte XXII spent its
secondary in a corny keg

Black Butte XXII doesn't
fear the StarSan foam!