September in the Rain

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Update

I've been good and left SitR alone for a week, but this afternoon I couldn't resist having a teensy peek. Just raising the edge of the lid for a second or two.

Fermentation has subsided. It's hard to tell but the brew looks like it's a lovely warm mahogany colour. Best of all, the aroma that hit me was gloriously beery, nothing "off" about it at all.

And then I sealed it up again. I won't be able to do anything with it until Wednesday, when it will have been fermenting for 11 days. I hope that no harm will come to it in the next three days and that all it will do is settle, but any reassurance that I'm doing the right thing would be very welcome (I've been having a bad few days and all reassurance is particularly welcome at this time!)
 
It was bottling day today. I fillled the twenty-two bottles I had prepared and could probably have filled three more. The surplus I have in a jug in the kitchen and I keep sampling it to make sure it's all right.

The verdict: The colour is great, a lovely auburny brown. It's quite sweet and has a nice body (so a lot like me really ;) ) with a bitter aftertaste (yes, well.. :? ) which is not as pronounced as it was on Wednesday when I first sampled it. It's a little bit sweeter than I would have liked but it's not cloyingly so and I'm rather hoping that a couple of months conditioning will help with that (am I right?) The flavour is round, smooth and complex, and again I'm hoping that the flavour will develop during the conditioning process. All the bottles are now crown-capped and put in a cardboard box within a plastic recycling crate with lid (the latter courtesy of Cumbria County Council – they make great containers for plans too, isn't that nice of them?) just in case any of the bottles explode, and stowed out of the way in a spot with an even temperature.

Even in its raw, unconditioned state I've tasted far worse in pubs from supposedly reputable breweries (the pint of Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery's Ruskin Bitter I was offered last night was particularly disgusting, and the brewery should consider refusing to supply the pub in question (I won't name names here) as it was most ungracious about changing it as well as clearly being sloppy in its cellarcraft.)

I'm thinking of cracking the first bottle at Christmas – does that sound reasonable for a 5% brew?
 
enitharmon said:
I'm thinking of cracking the first bottle at Christmas – does that sound reasonable for a 5% brew?

Why wait, quality control sampling is compulsory :drink:
 
But Ed, that's what I've been doing all evening, getting nicely febuddled <hic> :cheers:
 
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