Good things comes to those who wait

96 clean, sterilized bottles and the new (left carboy) and old brews waiting to be blended

As Chris highlighted in his last post, sometimes patience is rewarded, even if you don't know how long you have to wait. That's my hope, at least, with the brew we bottled on Sunday. After well over a year and a half in the carboy, I finally got my nerve up to try the sour ale. It tasted pretty decent, so I brewed a new batch to blend with the old. It has been so long since I brewed the original batch, I didn't remember adding oak chips to the carboy...

After devising a blending apparatus - a t-fitting in two the bottling wand - 96 bottles of sour ale or old bruin (old brown) ale have been produced. I only had one bag of priming sugar, so I added it to the new batch for carbonation. I anticipate these will be a little on the flat side, or perhaps with finer carbonation bubbles.

Bottling blender - red or blue? How 'bout a bit of both?

I am pretty excited about the possibilities for this beer. If all goes as anticipated, with another 3-4 months of bottle conditioning, I'll have successfully brewed one of, if not my favorite beers. This stuff (if you can find it) sells for $50 a case, $20 a four pack, or $10 a pint. I spent ~$80 in ingredients. It's pretty exciting to me to have, on hand, a great supply of hard to find, kind of expensive, and very delicious brew.