2 weeks into fermentation and after taking a final gravity reading, it was determined to be time to transfer this massive Imperial India Pale Ale over into an glass carboy for some aging and clearing. I took pics of the various steps that happened in my kitchen as the brewing processes for the day unfolded.

Here you can see most of the items involved. The glass carboy in the sink is filled with Five Star Io sanitizer, cleanliness is of the utmost importance when brewing quality ales. I had carried the carboy and the beaker used for the blowoff all the way upstairs  from the cellar at the same time to ensure the beer would not come into contact with any potential contaminants. I used my Oxyclean container as a tub to clean and sanitize the small parts and hoses in. There is also a couple brushes for cleaning the carboys resting on my traveling connoisseur cooler.

This how I use the small bucket to sanitize the hose, stopper, and air lock, while at the same time I easily add a spray nozzle in to really cover the spigot with sanitizer as well. The small brush was used prior to this to scrub it clean, then it was rinsed before the final spraying to render it completely sanitized.

Then I take one end of the hose and hook it to the spigot on the primary bottle.

Then the hose is carefully withdrawn from the bucket and threaded into the glass secondary, ensuring it does not come into contact with anything on the way.

I adjust the pickup tube with a nice space above the yeast cake and hop trub to reduce particles that are transferred to the new carboy.

The hose was cut to drop down low into the carboy, for a smooth flowing fill up with minimal agitation. Look at that glass glisten!

The transfer in progress.

Once the beer was in it’s new home I topped it all off with the airlock and a stopper filled with sanitizer. Notice the light bubbles indicating the smooth transfer.

I carried the glass jug carefully back down the stairwell into the cellar for some aging and to let it clear a bit. A dry hopping is scheduled to occur for this ultra hopped Imperial! This brew was measured with an og of 1.089, which is the biggest beer I have brewed to date. I was really excited to see the California Ale yeast really did their job and brought down the final gravity to 1.016, respectfully. After calculating for temperature at the time of the first and last gravity readings I have found this brew has achieved a 10.4% ABV, easily the most potent brew I have ever crafted! The aging should work wonders for this ultra boldly hopped and high alcohol content beverage. I can’t wait to try this one out!

Tags: carboy, core, hops, imperial, india, india pale ale, IPA, more hops, sanitize

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 am and is filed under Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.