So while doing the English Brown Ale, I wasn't pleased with how long it took to get back up to a boil. I did something stupid and put the lid on the huge brewpot. It took just seconds for it to overflow. I think that also removed several of the good fermentables, because there is almost no krausen buildup on the edge of the primary. I think that also might be because of the gas release valve setting - I put it deliberately low after having the Russian Imperials Stout literally explode all over my dining room. Oh well. I am going to siphon now, using the water-in-tube method suggested by Papazian.
The OG was 1.040, and the SG now - moving to secondary - is just over 1.010. Assuming that's relatively stable, the ABV% is going to be about 4% ((1.040 - 1.010)*131.25)
Belgian Tripel
While brewing the Tripel I cut some of the recipe out. I did not wait for the wort to come to a boil before adding the LME/DME/candi/maltodextrin and dumped it all in.
I must say, it was one of the coolest reactions ever to see the hops go into that. I put just a few at a time in because I knew it would cause major foam with the enzymes mixing, and that thing was bubbling like MAD for a good 5 minutes. It was pretty cool.
OG was 1.080 - this is gonna be a strong one! Hopefully it'll get down to about 1.010, making it just over 9%
This is a quick video of the airlock after just over 12 hours - there is a steady, but not huge amount of CO2 being released.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_cqfWoGNslLQ/S78VT8qSGOI/AAAAAAAADFE/yCwSAXmqYnc/s128/Fermentation%20048.jpg
Next Up: Hard Cider
