Monday, June 22, 2009

The belgian style golden blew up in secondary, after following a recipe's recommendation of adding more dextrose when you move it to the carboy. The airlock clogged and the stopper shot itself out of the bottle. I sanitized the stopped, put it back in, and refilled the airlock. It's still bubbling, so I think I might be in the clear. CO2 is heavier than air, and there's a pretty good chance that as a result, the beer didn't oxidize. It's also pretty high in alcohol, which reduces the chance that some bacteria got a toehold in there while it was exposed.

I kicked a "housecleaning" batch of something resembling a belgian dubbel to the yeast bed of the golden. It was partially an excuse to use up some expired liquid malt extract, including a can of Cooper's Old Ale. As well as some treacle, some table sugar, and a few ounces of honey I had lying around.

Honey quality apparently does make a big difference in mead. The half gallon batch I made using a pound of honey from the farm in Peabody, MA where I shot my friend Paul's wedding was outstanding.

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