Throwing Beer Around

So Chris and I got together Sunday night to move 20 gallons of homebrew into kegs and secondary.

I spent a good chunk of Saturday breaking down and cleaning Corny kegs in preparation. There were a few scary ones in the batch--stuff left over from last spring turning funky at the bottom. Nothing that a long soak in B-Brite and a hit of Iodophor couldn't cure.

Because we split the last batch of stout into two (one a Chocolate Stout, the other a 'Mayan' themed one with Cinnamon, Vanilla Beans, and a Habanero pepper floating in the secondary). and we both wanted some of each, that meant cleaning and sanitizing four corny kegs.

Both tasted great going into the kegs. The Chocolate is a keeper recipe that I brew a couple of times a year. The Mayan was Samira's inspiration and was really interesting. The spices totally melded with the Chocolate malt and it was difficult to tell what was really in there. The habanero gave the slightest warming at the back of your throat. Very cool combination.

On top of the kegging, we moved the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale Clone from Primary to Secondary and dry hopped each 5 gal carboy with 2+ ounces of a mix of Chinook, Centennial and Cascade. It tasted awesome going into the Secondary. This baby should be ready right at the Solstice. I'm getting psyched about it.

All in all, a great night, but way too much cleaning.