Batch Update

I hadn't posted since 7/7, and I just posted about my batch from last night, but I've also done 2 more batches in the meantime:
1. English Bitter
2. 1 gallon of Mead

I racked both last night.

The mead had a slight rubbery smell (like the stopper I was using), but to my knowledge it had not had any contact with the stopper in any way. Hopefully that's just a raw characteristic that will age out of it. The small taste I took was good except for that flavor.

The English bitter was dark, much darker than I remembered, but it smelled good and was very, very clear during racking to secondary. Since I have 2 kegs full of beer right now, I'm planning to leave this beer in secondary until a keg comes empty and then use sugar to naturally carb the beer in the keg. Therefore, this beer will probably not be on tap until the end of August or the beginning of September. Maybe this time I'll get a draft beer that's not so crappy :). (My first two kegged batches were much lower quality than I've experienced in bottles. I think it has to do with fine-tuning my keg pressures and letting the beer age properly. Why force carb if you still have to let the beer sit?)

I have a kit for a simple American Cream Ale that I might do next, but I also tasted some of the Belgian Dubbel/Tripel/Wedding Ale I made at a bachelor party last weekend (the groom got an early taste!), and it was AWESOME!!!! I'm thinking about doing another batch of that and buying a new keg when it's ready in order to let it age for a long time. So, I'm not sure what's going to come next.