January 9, 2012 - Apricot Saison Secondary Fermentation

Eventually, I will consolidate everything so I can have a single post for each batch which gives the brew, fermentation, and tasting results, but for now, here's an update on the Apricot Saison/Belgian Specialty Ale I started on January 2, 2012.

S.G. at secondary fermentation is now 1.008, which means with the 1.039, this beer is now 4.1% ABV. With the half gallon of added Apricot Juice, fermentation kicked back in, and you can see the bubbles here:

Secondary Fermentation Beginning Again

I figure that should add another .02%, so that the beer will be about 4.3% ABV when complete. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this batch. For my first all-grain, it has been a fun experience, and it actually tastes like "real" beer already! I revised my efficiency numbers, and it seems I got 51% efficiency from the mash, but the problem should be fixed with the next run. 

The secondary will run for 14 days at approximately 68 degrees F to finish out, then I will add the priming sugar, apricot extract for aroma, bottle, and condition for 1 month.

I already collected up 50 empty beer bottles from my stash, de-labeled them, cleaned them, and stored them for bottling later.

For now, this is what the brewery looks like:

The next batch is going to cook this weekend, and my wife and I will be making an Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

Here's the recipe: http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/58e215d2/chicken-mountain-brewers-scarecrow-jacks-pumpkin-ale