Batch #1 is in the keg under 20 pounds of CO2 and as cold as I can get it. It has been in there for maybe 24 hours and the carbonation is coming along. I plan to drop it to serving pressure tomorrow and maybe draw a bottle or two to take to my dad at the old folks’ home on my obligatory Sunday visit. The excess furniture is supposed to leave Monday so I’ll be able to bring the kegerator(s) into the house for greater convenience.
Batch #2 is plugging away in the fermenter. No visible signs of fermentation so it’s really only conditioning.
Batch #3 is a mini-batch to use up a one gallon hit that came with some stuff I picked up. It’s a West Coast IPA and will be my first experience with dry hopping. I’ll probably bottle it all rather than tie up a keg with beer I don’t currently drink (and it will fill only 10 bottles or so anyway). If I acquire a taste for IPA beers later I can always dig them out. This is another partial extract and I never had that heavy aroma during steeping that happened on batch #1. Of course, the specialty grain bill was far smaller. Turns out that there’s not much danger of a boilover with one gallon in a 5 gallon pot! I might do some more mini batches to try other brews that I don’t normally drink. There’s no economy of scale, of course, so it’s an expensive way to go.