Mikkeller

I have GOT to find an English translation of the ingredients on the label of this Mikkeller Imperial Stout.  There is something in it that absolutely must go into the next batch of Sarcastic Doorman.

Anyone know what "cassanade" is?  Apparently it can be dark...

Ol' Draj

In a 750ml glass bottle (if you finish off that Old Raj gin, say, the empty will do nicely), combine:

• 1-2 stalks worth of fresh mint (at least, you could add more)
• 5-6 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• As much cheap vodka as you can fit in there with the other ingredients

Let sit for a good 48 hours or so before sampling, giving it a shake or inverting it once or twice.  The end result is a lovely amber coloured liquor that both burns and cools quite pleasantly.  Most congenial on a sunny day toward the end of summer.

Sadly, quite impossible for me to photograph adequately with the equipment I possess, seemingly.

Racking to Secondary

Today I transfered my beer-to-be from the sealed bucket to the carboy; in brewing talk, this is racking from the primary to secondary fermenter.  The primary fermenter was seriously threatening to explode, so it's a good thing I got to it.

I measured the specific gravity before siphoning; down to 1.020 from 1.050, right on target.  I also tried a little sip - it actually tastes pretty good already, very promising.  Given that I'm going to end up with twenty-three liters of the stuff, I really want it to be alright...

I'm slowly accumulating more equipment - I've got a hose that connects to my sink, now, to help with the cleaning (washing stuff in the shower wasn't super convenient), a little ladle to take the samples for testing, and a few other things.  Two kinds of sterilizer, sanitation is very important.  I feel like by the end of this batch I'll have a pretty good handle on things; what I need next, probably, is a platform so I don't have to move the fermenter to transfer out of it stirring up the sediment.  I'll have to see what I can come up with.