Brewed 10/14/2013. Hit 1.093 on the boil efficiency. Brew had a few hiccups. The main one being that the false bottom got clogged with hops and hot break and caused about a gallon or so of wort to be left over in the kettle. We had to stir with a sanitized spoon and remove the gunk in order to get the flow going. Efficiency suffered because of this but it's probably ok. We might use a mixture of DME and corn sugar to bump the beer up as that will add a bit more body without drying it out too much. Also used fermcap for the first time in the boil and it seemed to work pretty well keeping down the foam. Temps were kept low on 10/14 and 10/15. Mornin of 10/16 I looked and the temp had crept up to about 69F so I cooled it back down to about 64F. Hopefully it wasn't there for too long and negatively effected things. 10/17 the temp in the morning had drifted back up to about 68F. I chilled it back down to about 64 and the krausen seems to have dropped quite a bit. 10/18 I pitched the wlp99 as well as a pound of DME with nutrient and ferm-k which brought the beer volume up to about 4.5 gallons. It's sitting at about 67F currently. 10/18 added another pound of DME in the evening which probably added about 3 cups of volume. 10/19 topped off with another pound of DME and yeast nutrient. I believe I am right at about 5 gallons now. 10/20 I started the corn sugar additions. Did 8oz in water in the morning and evening. 10/21 in the morning I added half a pound of corn sugar with fermen-k and in the evening I added the other half pound. 10/22 topped off with another half pound in the morning and took a reading in the evening which put it at 1.040. Decided to hold off on another addition until it dropped down more. 10/23 it was at 1.036 so I added another half pound of corn sugar. 10/24 reading was 1.032 and I added a half pound more of corn sugar in the evening. Afternoon of 10/25 I added a half pound more sugar and the reading was 1.030 before hand. 10/26 added a half pound of corn sugar in the evening, took a gravity reading before which read 1.030.10/28 I took a reading which put it at 1.032 and I topped off with a half a pound of corn sugar. It seems like a lot of yeast has dropped it out this might actually be it. 10/30/13 I made a liter starter of champagne yeast and then pitched in the brew. I was hoping to do it at high krausen but I think I missed the window. I need to take a reading after all the sediment drops out from the shaking. Reading was 1.035. 11/1/2013 took a reading which put the brew at 1.032. I added a pound of corn sugar in also to see if anything will happen. 11/3/2013 took a gravity reading which put it at 1.040. Learned the champagne yeast I used might not have been the right type so I made about a .8 liter starter of different yeast and pitched it on 11/7/2013. Took a reading on 11/13 and had no movement in gravity. Racked to secondary, which is a corny keg with an airlock attached to the gas out side, on 11/15/2013. Intend on leaving it there for a while. 12/12/13 I pulled about 1.5 pints off of the bottom of the keg to try and get some of the yeast sediment out of the secondary. Took a reading and it's still sitting at about 1.040. I also added 3oz of oak cubes which I soaked in some Jameson for a couple days before. I put them in a mesh bag so they wouldn't clog up the corny keg. 1/26/14 racked out of the storage keg into another keg for force carbing purposes, this also stopped the oaking process.
