I took a couple of free hours this afternoon to bottle my disaster of a partial mash brew and move my Eurorail ale into a secondary.

This oatmeal stout has been a write off since I first turned on the stove. I swear this batch is cursed as I have now broken every single hydrometer I own since its initial creation (thats 4 for those interested). The mistakes did not stop today as I forgot to prime beer for bottling and rushed at the end to add 5-7 grams of dextrose straight into the bottles. I hate doing this because it leads to mismatched carbonation between each bottles and possible bottle bombs. I took the FG which read 1.009, placing this beer at around 5% ABV. I also took a small sample taste and was horrified with the current results. I can only hope that a few months in bottles will improve its flavour otherwise this beer may be destined for the toilet. If it does turn out I will forever dub this beer “Bradinator’s Train Wreck Oatmeal Stout” or “TWO Stout” for short.

The Eurorail ale on the other hand seems to be fairing much better. I do not like to use secondary fermenters, but due to the lack of a real lid (I make shifted a tin-foil top for the primary) I figured this brew would be safer in a properly covered fermenter. I also took a gravity reading which puts this ale at around 1.010 or about 3.5% ABV. Given another three weeks in the secondary this beer may reach 4% which is my desired ABV.

I did not touch the Irish Stout as I am going to leave this one in the primary for 3 weeks, then straight into bottles for another week of conditioning.

I still cannot believe I broke my last hydrometer. I should see if they have plastic ones.