Mild Consternation

The Hartlepool Right Mild has been bottled and party pigged. Hurray!

But for me this is the worst part of the home brewing experience. I can't know for sure if the result will be worth all the expense and effort; and I won't know for three more weeks.

I always have concerns about carbonation and there are numerous issues with this batch that could lead down the path of disaster:

I only pitched one packet of dry yeast, it should have been two. I ended up pitching the second packer 24 hours later.

The krausen dropped after only 24 hours of active fermentation.

After 8 days in the primary, it was still only half way to the final gravity target.

After racking to the secondary fermentation vessel and waiting another 7 days, the gravity reading never budged.

So, I could either end up with bottle bombs from the excess sugar that never fermented before I firmly sealed it up it in small glass containers,



Or a keg of beer that only dispenses glasses full of foam,



Or, if there isn't enough viable yeast left, flat beer!



The good news is, I am enjoying my first taste of Sierra Nevada's fall seasonal brown ale, Tumbler. It is really, really good.