Batch Moving Day + Ginger Ale

Today was batch transfer day.  We had 10 gallons of Pale Ale and 5 gallons of IPA that finished in the primary.  One Pale Ale went directly in the keg with a sock of Ahtanum hops and the other went into a secondary fermenter.  The IPA with an original gravity of 1.064 went into the secondary fermenter at a gravity of 1.011, which equates to about 7% ABV with 70 IBU.  In addition to the three transfers, we made a 5 gallon batch of ginger ale with fresh ginger, lemons, sugar and water.  Here are a few shots of the action.

Dry hop Ahtanum:

Pale Ale transfer:

Washing bottles with recycled cleaning water:

Racking Pearl Malt IPA:

Ginger Ale:

Cheers!

Bluff City Extravaganza Packaging

Today, we prepared our homebrews for shipping to Memphis, TN for the Bluff City Brewers and Connoisseurs competition.  The method that has worked best for us is to rubberband the labels, Foodsaver the bottles, wrap in bubblewrap, and stuff box with paper.  The key is to eliminate the possibility of glass to glass contact and prevent as much possibility for movement as possible.

Six bottles is typically the maximum we will pack into a box, so this is two boxes worth.

Bottled 10 gallons of IPA

We bottled two batches of IPA tonight.  It was the Biscuit IPA and the light caramel malt IPA.  It came out to 65 of the 12 ounce bottles and 16 of the 22 ounce bottles.  We are looking forward to trying these in a few weeks.