Primary fermentation of the Belgian Pale Ale appeared to be finished last Thursday. The airlock was inactive so I gave it one more day (for a total of seven). When I returned home from work on Friday I racked the brew to a 6.5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation.
I was nervous that with all of the little glitches I had on brew day that it may be undrinkable. Fortunately at the time of racking everything appeared to be great. The aroma, flavor, and color all were spot on. The attenuation wasn't as high as I would have liked to see. Specific gravity hadn't fallen as much as I had hoped (the sample that I measured was 1.021 @ 73 degrees). This leaves the ABV hovering right around 3%.
Of course this has just as much to do with the original gravity as it does the current gravity. I had trouble maintaining a high enough temp while mashing which in turn didn't allow me to reach the target original gravity of 1.050. This is the weak link in the process right now but I have a few ideas to improve the situation next time around. Hopefully the gravity will drop further. I would like to reach an ABV of around 4.5%, if not it should prove to be a very drinkable session beer that I'll enjoy in this warm weather.
Cheers,
- Jay
In Secondary:
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