It's a day short of two months since my last post, and quite a few things have happened. My daughter Iris was born on the 21st January. She was in hospital for nine days with an infection, as was my wife, which was dull and tiring and worrying at the same time. However, she came thorough it unscathed and has been home with us for three wonderful, if occasionally sleepless weeks.
In the meantime, both AG#10 and AG#9 have become ready to drink. I bottled AG#10 at the beginning of January but made a bit of a hash of the fermentation - putting it into secondary probably wasn't a good idea without a bit more yeast going with it, which meant that it didn't attenuate well and came out at around 3% ABV where I was aiming for around 3.8%. It's been slow to condition, probably because of that, but after six weeks it is decently carbonated at last and tastes pretty much how I wanted it to, so with a few tweaks I have tried again, of which more soon.
AG#9 is something else again. I bottled at 6.1% with 15 75cl bottles that I bought for the purpose, with a few 500ml bottles left over. I drank a couple of the 500ml bottles over Christmas and it tasted great. It's exactly what I had in mind, pale, dry and sparkling. However, with the 75cl bottles I was good and waited until Iris was out of neonatal care to try one. It too popped satisfyingly and poured champagne clear... until all the sediment was stirred up by the carbonation and I ended up with a cloudy, but still very drinkable beer. Interestingly, I also bought a bottle of Leffe Blonde on the way back from the hospital one night and it tasted much the same, so I have definitely found the right combination and can only assume that White Labs WLP570 is similar to the Leffe strain.
I also worked my way through much of my AG#8, which improved in the bottle. The infused version actually tasted better colder, and I never did get around to mulling it.
I also spent a fair part of my time reading the excellent IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes & the Evolution of India Pale Ale