Barley wine and Bombers

Racked the barley wine to secondary today. Took measurements with refractometer, but did not believe the Brix of 11.5%. Dug out the floating hydrometer and thief, sanitized them and took a reading. The SG came out to 1.016 give yielded an ABV of 11.8%. That is more inline with what I would expect at this point and went with the noticeable alcohol on the nose. The beer is still quite sticky, so there is still room for more. I may need to get a 6.5 gallon carboy, make a champagne yeast starter and rack over it. I will monitor first.

This week's first article for examiner.com is a review of Rivertown Brewing's Hop Bomber. This brewery is one of Cincinnati's latest. While nothing really spectacular, the beer is nice and would go well with food. I will definitely have it again.

In a step to make my position at examiner.com a little more official, I have ordered business cards from them. At least I'll have something to hand out when I meet folks. Yeah, I really do this, no its not a living.

The Jungle Jim's International Beer Fest is June 18th. If you don't have tickets, get them now. There is a very good chance of a sell out this year. I will be there with camera in hand. I'll be easy to find though as I'll probably be around @GooseLindsey. James Bonaminio Junior has asked me to take pictures in a more official capacity, so hopefully this year I'll have better access for shots. I will have my new SB-600 as well.

In case you are wondering, many of the images seen on their website from last year are mine. Just check out their site and compare against my gallery. Nice, ain't it?

The latest of developments

Several weeks ago I noticed that Examiner.com did not have a Craft Beer Examiner for Cincinnati. I asked Charlie Papazian via Twitter about it and he sent my a link by which to apply. After a few rounds, I was accepted and now I have published my first two articles. Check it out, please.

I tested the latest stout. It is still a bit flat, but the flavor is getting better. I did have a moment when I thought perhaps I didn't use priming sugar, but I remember going to Jungle Jim's for it, so I'm sure it was just a paranoid moment. I shook some of the bottles up and I'll give it another week.

Friday is the Bell's Brewery tasting at Jungle Jim's. I'll be there, with homebrew in tow. The scuttlebutt is that Larry Bell will be in attendance. So, call and get on the list.

I've decided I will make my barley wine again this Saturday. I've converted the recipe to a partial mash. Picked up 10 pounds of pale 2 row today at Listermann's, along with 2 pounds of Crystal. My brother is stopping by Saturday to help. Maybe I'll be able to get some good pics of the event. Made the yeast starter tonight. I can't wait.