So far so good, 1.102 à 1.061 après 3 jours de fermentation à 18C.
I sampled mine today. SG 1.040 (OG 1.107) no signs of further fermentation (I will sample again later). I made a starter with 2 us-05 packets and dme/nutrient. Its been fermenting 7 days at 16.5 C.
Tasted ok. No fermentation flaws but a little hot. I generally don’t add carbonate. I used the profile and adjustments suggested. Not a huge fan of the minerality. Looking forward for feedback on fill day. Maybe the mash pH was off, I split the mash minerals between the first and second mash.
Just checked mine: it’s at 1.032 (OG 1.093) after 6 days at 17°C.
Taste is delicious IMO: very thick, yeasty and quite bitter. Fermentation seems to still be active based on the CO2 release. I’ll check again in a week.
1.112 down to 1.035, 10.1% ABV day 5. Still fermenting. Thick and viscous with heat and bitterness. For adults only.
I checked on wednesday and I was around 1.060 (hard to read my hydrometer given that it had a really dense layer of foam that just didn’t want to go away). Tasted great but like others noted, a little hot. Not very surprising and seems normal. It’s why it needs the extended aging.
I noticed today that the bubbling in my blow-off tube had started to slow down so I’m slowly increasing the temperature (starting at 17.5C) by about half a degree per day until I hit 21 and terminal gravity. No rush here.
Did everyone manage to brew? Is there a sheet tracking participants and volumes? Are we on target?
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I tasted mine. 1.092 → 1.032. Up front, tasty dark chocolate, a bit bitter and I can taste the alcohol but not in a bad way. I liked it. I thought it will be too sweet but it was fine. It’s balanced I guess. We will see at the meet up.
I’ve often found that these big beers won’t finish much lower than 1.030 anyway, unless you add turbo yeast or champagne yeast in which case, they end up way too dry.
Funny how 1.030 can taste well attenuated when you started out with 1.100 
17 days into primary
OG : 1.102
FG : 1.032
Cold crash next week for keg transfer.
Same comment ; dark chocolate, thick, a bit bitter, a bit hot but not that much. It’s goooood ! Happy it went well after all the trouble I had at brewday.
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OG: 1.096
FG: 1.030
ABV: 8.9%
Fermentation temperature around 18
Taste very good, dark chocolate here too with just a bit of roastiness. Well balanced imo.
Can’t wait to see the result after barrel aging.
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Transferred the RIS for keg maturation. Smells great, nice roast and chocolate notes. The alcohol is noticeable, but not hot. Bitterness is balanced and it goes down way too easy. This will only get better with age.
OG: 1.116
FG: 1.035
ABV: 11%
Hi all ! Got any news about the Barrel ?
Still got in my calendar for the 26-27 of March.
26 of March I got a family event after 3PM (last minute and can’t cancel…), and 27th available all day.
Cheers
I will contact Olivier for the barrel and discuss about the availability and shipping/pick-up
So far, beer is completed for : Eric, Norm, Albert, Ian, Yacine, Xavier, David, Kurt, Patrick, Mike
No news from Terry, Sam and James
I’m not participating (I didn’t fill out the form that Xavier posted on Jan 25) - hopefully there wasn’t a misunderstanding.
Oh ok. but you were interested at the beginning ? I guess I miss the participants list from the form.
I added James as well. I didn’t know he was a participant. Merci Norm
All good then? Sorry for any confusion.
Yes. You are forgiven. I will still give you a bottle
Yes, I’m still in! After a slight temperature control malfunction (a power outage caused it to drop to 7C on the 4th day of fermentation), mine still finished out at 1.028 from 1.104, so I just hit 10%. Not bad.
I’m currently cold crashing, which brings up a question - is the consensus that cold crashing is absolutely necessary before barrel aging? I would venture to say yes, to avoid yeast off-flavors in the aged beer. I haven’t seen this brought up in the thread, though, so I thought it might be worth discussing!
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Yes, I’m still in as well. I haven’t had time to check the FG yet, but will do that tonight. In response to James’ question, I think a cold crash is a good idea, mostly so we transfer as little trub as possible to the barrel. That is assuming you have the means to do it without introducing extra oxygen.
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We are only missing Terry.
I contacted Olivier and he did not received his bourbon barrel. He still has Rhum.
Are we waiting or we go ahead with Rhum ?
Shipping. He want an address to calculate the cost or unless someone want to pick it up.