BDSA update #4...racked to keg.

This weekend is the keg tapping party for a fellow brewer, and Tucson Homebrew Club member, who won the National Homebrew Competition's Pro-Am for our area. The event was held at Thunder Canyon Brewery, one of three local brewpubs in our area. It is a Belgian Dark Strong Ale/Belgian Quadruple. The Pro-Am is a category that will be judged at the Great American Beer Festival. I felt that it was a perfect day to make some progress with my BDSA. Therefore, I finally racked my BDSA to the keg after a 5 week primary! It was finished at 4 weeks, but I could not find the time to rack this beer sooner.

While on the topic of racking, I had to purchase a new auto-siphon due to the fact my original siphon finally broke. It had a small crack forming near the plunger end of the racking cane that spanned the circumference of the cane itself, and it  finally came apart.

Having said that, the new auto-siphon cane is a bit smaller than the first, and the tubing I was using no longer fit snug. While racking the siphon continued to break, as well as sucking air in-around the cane through the tubing. I'll assume that some aeration was occuring. This can be problematic with long term beer storage, apparently it can cause a wet cardboard flavor from oxidation.

Once I had the beer in the keg I charged the keg to 30 psi to seal the lid, and I rolled it on the floor back and forth for a couple of minutes in an attempt to counteract any oxidation from the aeration that may have occured during racking. I purged most of the co2, leaving approximatley 2-3 psi in the keg.

Regardless, I took a fFG (final, Final Gravity), it hadn't changed from wek 4 to 5. I will state that the pronounced banana note has subsided and mellowed into the background. From week 4 to week 5 there is a considerable change to the flavor of the beer, the warm alcohol in the back of the throat has also smoothed out considerably.

The FG(note where the meniscus meets the hydrometer, this is the proper place to record the measurement).

1.018 @ 72.6°F = 1.020 corrected for temperature.

Next update will be when I tap the keg, maybe around October. It will be a very good fall/winter warmer.

Stay tuned for BDSA update #5. Tapping and tasting...my favorite part! (If you are following this blog leave a comment and if you are intersted in sampling this beer leave an email contact.)

Cheers!