b*gger

The specific gravity had moved again tonight so the question was whether to bottle (now been 3 days) or let it go another day. I eventually decided to bottle on the basis that if it stopped and I had air getting in, it might spoil. I was heartened in a sort of way when it proved very frothy and thus hard to bottle. In fact I had to apply a little kanban to my process and let each bottle sit a bit in a two stage bottling process. Eventually got through it all, obviously this wrinkle added a little to the time it took. So imagine my dismay/despair/another more base emotion when I came to clean up and discovered no tell-tale ring of froth/scum around the lip inside. As has always been there before and as is supposed to be there. So now it's a two week wait to see whether the product is actually beer or not. Just bizarre.

And for added pressure, I have had very unsubtle threats from here and here:-) that there'd better be some drinkable brew in around April. Fortunately, I live within hurling distance of four bottle shops (which are never open when you want them). But that's not the point.

Meanwhile, what does this have in store for this oxygen thief?