Good long batch!

Finally my 4th batch is done! Bottled, and I'm drinking it!

I made this batch (sam adams boston ale clone - AHS) way back in december and because of several trips this half year and a newborn I left the beer in primary for 5 weeks and in secondary for several months!

I thought that because of the long time, the batch would be ruined but I decided to bottle anyway. I followed the advice some of you here at HBT gave me and sprinkled half a pack of dry yeast on top on the beer once it was in the bottling bucket.

Three weeks later I opened the frist one and WOW! A very nice and tasty beer! It doesn't tate anything like SA Boston Ale, it tastes better in my opinion (of course, it's my beer, what else could I say!!!!)

I already hace another batch in secondary and gettin ready for the next one in a couple of weeks!

Loving this Hobby!

Thanks for all your help!

Mawa

Hey, congrats! Sounds like a winner!

I am a big fan of bulk conditioning. All my 'bigger' ales go into the secondary for extended periods now (1 - 6 months). It really does help the beer. Having the beer sit on the big yeast cake really helps to remove off-flavours and round out the flavour profile, particularly if you use a lot of dark/roasted grains.

And I am like you -- I now sprinkle a half-package of yeast in my bottling bucket before I bottle. But I don't think it is really necessary (I am just cautious). I think on my next batch, I might bottle a few before I add the yeast, just to compare the carbonation on the yeast vs. no-yeast bottles.

Anyways, glad to hear about your success. What's next on the brewlist?

Thanks for the response!

I still want to do a couple of "extract kits" to get the proccess down, before i start experimenting buying ingredients separetley and following some recipies and after a few batches of that, getting creative!

The brew already fermenting is a Fat Tire clone from AHS and the next one will be an American Red Ale also from AHS. I'm thinking of trying the late extract method with the red ale; I'm sure I'll have some questions for that!

Mawa

There is also no substitute for time! If you could leave all of your brews so long they would almost certainly improve in flavor! Good luck.