Racking the Black(berry wheat)

Thought I'd share with you guys how the racking went. If you are scoring at home, you'll remember that this guy made mad krausen during fermentation. The last beer that did this to me was the Beach Bier (more on that later), and it was one of the best beers I ever made.

Apologies ahead of time for the shite quality of images here, my Blackberry (ha no pun intended) phone's camera leaves a lot to be desired.

First thing to notice below the the eponymous krausen crust at the top of the carboy. Pretty benign actually, if not just gross. :)


Racked as usual to the 5-gallon glass carboy, and took a gravity reading. 1.006!!! As it stands this guy has a potential ABV of 6.16%, which is relatively high for a wheat beer (I think). Here's a picture of the sample:



Nice and cloudy, as it should be. Took a swig and DAMN it was good! Bready with a lot of body, not a lot of hop bite (no surprise given the recipe), with a very clean finish. Put it this way: I let Master Chief (wife) try it and she was impressed. I think I'm going to shed a tear!

Because of the extended time in the primary (close to 13 days) I'll probably let this sit about 2 weeks in the secondary before kegging.

Oh, and as for the Beach Bier (its a witbier), that was the beer of request for this year's Crawfish Boil ("Ball") down in the cul-de-sac. Keep your eyes peeled for that brew session, it's a great recipe and will be sure to share it with you all.