Ascension Ale 2.0 Brewed

My brother and I cooked up a mega brew today. OG was 1.075! BeerSmith predicted 1.078, so I'm pretty happy. Also, the starter I made a couple days ago and have been worrying over ever since seems to be just fine. Looked like it had some yeast in suspension today, and when I shook it up before pitching, it had a lot of CO2 released, so that's good. Looking forward to a nice Trappist Ale in a couple months! :rockin:

It's hilarious that I was actually concerned about the yeast:



I took off the airlock, which had wort/beer inside it, rinsed it out, filled it with vodka again, swapped the bottom of it and the top of the carboy with vodka, and replaced it:


Is that sufficient to avoid infection issues? I think it's possible I may have to clean it off again. This is by far the most vigorous fermentation I've had to date, but what do you expect with a Belgian, I suppose.

looks great. So how long will you keep this in secondary and how long for bottle conditioning?

I'm going to leave it in primary for two weeks, I think. I don't really have a secondary carboy right now. SWMBO is aware that I'd like one for Christmas, but the LHBS didn't have any. I special ordered one, and it's at the shop waiting for me, but I might get in trouble if I bring another one home! :cross:

Now, this is such a big batch (5.5 gallons plus, I think) and the fermentation is so strong that I could probably just transfer it to another six gallon carboy and let it go in there for a few weeks and finish fermenting, just off the original trub. Decisions decisions!

Only thing I know for sure is that I won't be drinking this for a couple months. I'll have to check the SG in a week or two.

why dont you put a blow tube on it? Sterilize a piece of plastic tubing and run it from your bung hole down into a glass or bucket (looks like you should use a small bucket!) filled with sterilizing solution. Then you don't have to worry so much about it.

I dont think you have to worry about contamination as long as you kept everything clean when you dumped your wort/pitched your yeast.

Man, this thing is going nuts:



This is by far the strongest fermentation I've had in all my batches. It has been about two and a half days since I brewed and pitched the yeast, and it is still kicking hard at a rate of ~60 bubbles/minute!

And as you can see, it's the ridiculous coffee w/ cream color, much lighter than when I brewed it. It boggles my mind to try and imagine how much yeast is roiling around in that thing right now. The entire thing is a torrent of swirling activity.

Anyway, just wanted to share another picture. I'm really excited about this beer. Crazy to think I have such a long wait ahead of me. Oh well, at least I have six cases of other homebrews to tide me over.

Looks like it is ready to bottle. j/k

Does the fermenting smell differ much from previous batches?

No, I'd say the smell is pretty much the same; there's just more of it. Like everything else about this beer, it's stronger.

Actually, upon further review of the aroma, I think that, yes, it does smell different. Much more complex, I think, and definitely reminiscent of some belgians I've had, somewhat fruity. I'm pretty sure it's that wacky trappist ale yeast that's giving it the awesome smell.