Pints: Northy 12 Kit

I got this kit for xmas.  I enjoy a good belgian quad from time to time, and the one this kit is based off of is supposed to be one of the best.  It's also suppsoed to be very rare and hard to get ahold of.  The store page for this kit is: http://www.northernbrewer.com/northy-12-belgian-quad.  Since it was an extract kit, it was a pretty boring brewday; mix ingredients, boil with hops, cool, pitch.  I pitched a ton of slurry from the Northy Lite batch I made to get tear through this high gravity wort.  Confession...this blog is mostly homebrew...

1/23/2016: Brew day.  Did everything put the instructions.  Gravity was correct.  Aerated with the immersion blender. The foam added about a quart of volume to it until it fell back.  Used about a cup of yeast from the northy lite batch, added during blending.  Added 6 drops of fermcap in the hops of preventing blowouts...  Fermentation starting at 64F.

1/25/2016: blowout happened overnight.  Added more fermcap...might be working.

1/28/2016:  gravity is 1.044.  Added 1/2 tsp of fermax dissolved in water to give it a boost.

2/1/2016:  gravity is about 1.036.

2/5/2016: gravity is about 1.029

2/21/2016:  gravity is about 1.025.  Racked to another fermentor and added 1/2 TSP of yeast nutrient to hopefully attenuate the rest of the way.

3/18/2016:  gravity is 1.024...

3/27/2016:  added some sugar to it, about a tablespoon.  Warming it didn't wake up the yeast, hopes some sugar will wake it up and get the last few points.

4/2/2016:  gravity was about 1.022...kegged it.

6/23/2016:. Put on gas to force carb for 12 hours at 35psi.

6/27/2016:. Overcarbed.  Dark red and slightly hazy.  Persistent tan head.  Smells of prunes and slight alcohol.  Some alcohol in the taste, tingles on the way down.  A little sweet and heavy.  Some prune and burnt sugar flavor.  Not bad...good sipping beer.  Quite tasty after 6 months, but would have been nice if it attenuated a bit more.  Will be bottling a significant portion after the carbonation issue is resolved.

A little more attenuation would have been nice

7/13/2016:. Carbonation issues fixed for a while now.  Just burped the keg a bunch.  Hazy has mostly dropped out and its very clear.  Lovely shade of reddish brown now.  Tight tan head.  Clean alcohol smell with dark fruit.  Still quite sweet, but that's no going to change.  It seems like it's less aggressive now though.  The flavor of the Candi sugar us pretty apparent, a pleasant burnt sugar and prune flavor.  It's pretty heavy, but smooth and tasty.  Good for sipping.