Another in my line of Belgians. Next up, though: oatmeal stout.
Boiled 3 gallons water in the evening; let it cool overnight with the pot lid on.
Yeast starter with about 2 cups water (final measure) and ¼ cup malt extract; into sanitized Mason jar to cool; pitched yeast when it was at room temperature.
Moved boiled water to the fridge in a fermentation bucket around 9 AM.
Brought about 2½ gallons water to boil, added malt and about ⅔ of the hops; continued boil for 30-40 minutes. Cut heat; added the rest of the hops; covered pot. Cooled until about 8 PM.
Added cool water from fridge, bringing wort to about 70-72°F. Pitched the yeast starter (no observable activity). Original gravity at 1.05 (6¾% potential alcohol). Siphoned into 2 x 3 gallon carboys and capped.
Vigorous fermentation observed this evening.
Re-racked into the 5-gallon carboy and added 2½ tsp of yeast energizer.
Mild activity - bubble every 30 seconds maybe.
Bottling. All bottles had gone through the dishwasher; also sterilized (some of them) in the oven at 350°F for 1 hour. Racked the carboy off into the boiling pot, making sure to add lots of oxygen and for stirring.
Recovered a total of 33 × 12 oz + 7 × 16 oz + 1 × 24 oz = 532 oz = 4.16 gallons.
Un-carbonated sample glass is quite good - not too sweet.
Final gravity reading at 1% potential alcohol, so the actual ABV should be around 6%.
Opened a swing-top and regular bottle; both are still basically flat.