empty carboy blues

racked the hoagie style peated scotch ale on friday night, with a procedure that was not entirely uneventful. my broken siphon starter had been retrofitted with parts from my replacement (and also broken) siphon starter, and it refused to start a siphon. i'm not sure why -- the two were different models, but to my understanding of physics, that should not have made a difference. after we got things working (suboptimally: no "filter tip" on the starter, so we got a little more gunk than desired) i lost interest (replacement tip is in the mail) and didn't try to reproduce and analyze the problems.

i've got too many other problems to analyze.

i got a taste from the tube leftovers (perhaps not the best place to taste) and, unlike the extract version which i brewed nine brews ago, i could actually taste the peat. at 12 days of (vigorous) fermentation, we still have lots of harsh flavors, but not an excessive fruityness (which worried me on account of high initial temps). 203 tried some from the tubes, and she thought it was also good. unfortunately, it's got a lasting bitterlybad aftertaste. fortunately, that doesn't surprise me in the least and i'm certain it will go away with some aging in the secondary.

but now i've got the empty carboy blues. there's a 6.5er right there in my closet with nothing in it, and the only thing stopping me from brewing this upcoming weekend is the notion that i wont get the ingredients to arrive in time (oh, that and the fact that 203s parents arrive that weekend and 3 days later i'm getting married. but other than that...).

my next batch should be an imperial stout, which will take plenty long to age. it does not put me off one bit that summer is not hte best time to age a stout. i've got about 5 gallons left in the kegerator and 5 gallons in the secondary, which indicates that i'm piling up -- but that could all be gone after one party (tho the stuff in the secondary needs to age in bottles, too).

sigh.