The baby beer is fermenting and the bourbon barrel has been filled. I meet up with some club members for the barrel fill on the February 20th. Thankfully the barrel was water tight.  Each beer had its own character but blended together nicely.  The first planned tasting will be in one month.

The baby beer has been brewed.  I ended up with an OG of 1.135 which did not match my target of 1.160 at 65% efficiency but this was due to me not setting my target efficiency to the kettle volume not fermenter volume.  Using a 6 gallon target in the kettle 65% efficiency is 1.133 much closer to my actual results.  The beer was blowing off in less than 12 hours.  Now I will start a new starter with the WLP099 yeast to be pitched when this initial fermentation slows down.  I am hoping to hit 13% ABV with this barley wine.