This brew turned out just as good as the first ESB. It was a hit with the guys at work. I ended up giving most of it away because everyone liked it so much. Of the few bottles that I kept, some had a Lacto infection and some did not. I attribute this to poor sanitization when I was cleaning bottles. I will be sure to sanitize the bottles a bit longer on future batches. The remaining bottles turned out very good in flavor and fizz.. too much fizz really. I am thinking next time I should use less sugar and use malt sugar instead Hopefully that will provide for smaller bubbles. Also 1oz of Chinook hops makes it slightly too bitter. I should cut back to .75 oz instead.
Final thoughts
Bottling day
SG 1.013 @ 73; 1.015 Corrected. Taste is ok. Malty with slight buttery flavor. Yeasty as expected. I bottled with 5.25 oz of corn Sugar. This is slightly more than 3/4 cup. This should provide me with a lot of fizz, which I feel is lacking with ESB1.
Still Bubbling
Bubbles still coming from airlock. 1 every 10-15 seconds.
Racked to Secondary
Racked to Secondary. Installed Airlock. SG 1.022 @ 69; 1.023 corrected
Energizer of Yeasts
Fermentation still really active. Krausen still at top of carboy.
Go Go Go
Fermentation really rocking along now. visible CO2 bubbles coming up side of carboy. Clumps of Flocculated yeast swirling around, being lifted to top by bubbles and falling back down.
Wicked
Fermentation now very active. Sanitizing solution in blow off bucket now brown from foam.
Picking up steam
Bubbles now coming from blow off tube 2 per second.
More activity
Bubbles now coming out of blow off tube.. very slowly.
Visible Activity
Ring of foam now around neck of carboy.