Number XIII - Decanted

Today I decanted Number XIII into a clean barrel for a further fermentation in the cellar - primary fermentation is still going on slowly, I can see it in the remaining yeast and I'll leave it another week before bottling.  Taste is good, but I was drinking the last dregs from the barrel so they were a bit too bitter, there's definitely alcohol in there too - perhaps a bit too much for my taste!

SG is 1016 @ 20C.

ABW = (1.055 - 1.016) * 105 = 4.1%
ABV = 3 * 1.016 / 0.794 = 5.2%

Or using the ABV Calculator: 5.6% ABV, which is more or less what it tastes like!  There's also an IBU calculator.

Note: OG estimated to be 1.055 as I didn't measure it after adding 4l water to the ~15l wort at 1065

Note: Correction to hydrometer readings of additional 0.002 to 0.003 per 10C over 20C.

So, it seems to be too strong and decanted into the second barrel there's only half full.  Need to improve water control.

For the brewery expansion I was looking on ebay today and found 10KW gas boilers can be had for about 50 euro - leaving enough money for a large 50l stainless steel pan and still have change for what the 2KW electric boiler would cost.  This would mean doing the boil in the wash room which would be OK.  Search ebay for 'gasherd' and up comes loads of ads like this:

9,5 KW Gaskocher Profi 4 Fuß Hockerkocher 9,5 KW 40cm

Piezo- und Zündsicherung mit 1,5m Schlauch u. Regler 47.99 euro. Then need the gas bottle and that's it, could probably use my existing pans but it would be nice to buy a big steel one that can be used as a mash tun too.

This would allow the boil to be gas powered, the general water heating to be electric, I could do the mash upstairs then carry the wort downstairs to boil, ferment in the cellar if I can keep it warm enough in winter.  This would save some lugging around of fragile, half fermented beer.

Harvested the yeast into sterile yeast jars and put into fridge.  Let's see if they're useful in a couple of weeks when I try the next beer.