Bottled on 6/10. Refrigerated a bottle for 2 hours last night just to bring the temp down a little without actually chilling it. I wanted the flavors to present themselves.
Very nicely carbonated but not to it's full potential yet...I hope. There is actually a hint of the first maple porter flavor in this without the horrible sweetness. It is dry with very slightly earth/malty finish. Since I hopped the second beer a little more than I would have for a pale ale to my liking, there seems to be enough IBU also. No vegetable, cardboard, sharp/sour tastes.
I know that oxidation of pouring the first beer into a second batch was a major concern with a lot of people and I agree - It bothered me too; but that beer was headed for the sewer - I was not going to hold on to 2 cases of crappy beer and I was willing to spend a little more $ and time on it even if it meant another failure. I learned many lessons; the most important of which is the most important ingredient that many people have the most difficult time finding and mixing into their beer - PATIENCE.
With this beer I feel like I've moved on to the next level of brewing if only because of the lessons learned - certainly not because of my ability to brew good beer.
Thanks to everyone who contributed. Whether we agreed on a solution or not, your opinion mattered....:rockin:
