Summer Trappist, August 12 2009

I racked my previous Belgian ale to secondary (current gravity 1.010). This was a bit on the late side for me. I would have liked to rack this as soon as the krausen fell to ensure a healthy yeast bed. I wanted to brew last week and reuse the yeast bed but was delayed when I discovered that I was low on propane. Riding a motorcycle has its downside in this situation (Michelle uses our car to commute). Then came the bachelor party weekend and finally I was able to make a propane trip on Monday evening.
Home Depot Propane Story:
The Home Depot near our new house has this new system for buying and exchanging propane tanks. The idea for this system is that you simply go up to this ATM-like machine near the propane cages and slide in your credit card. It then opens a cage for you to put an empty propane container in (I suppose you could also hold up the flap inside the cage with a stick and it would think it received a propane tank). You close the door and it knows a tank is inside. Then, it opens a new cage with a full tank. Sounds easy enough and you don't have to wait for an employee to do the swap for you (I've waited too long, too many times for that). Potentially, you could do this at any time, even after regular business hours.
First time I did this (in the spring), the machine messed up the cage number and generated an error. I waited about 20 minutes for a Home Depot employee to help. They helped get the exchange I paid for and to make another exchange transaction for my second tank. This time, the transaction didn't go through but I ended up getting the exchange anyway (for free, very nice!).
On Monday, I went back to this machine after paying inside (didn't want to chance it). The machine read the barcode of my receipt and opened a cage to place my empty. Not only did it designate the wrong cage but an empty was already in there. I pulled it out and put it back in, ahem. It then gave me a full tank from another cage. The second tank exchange went just fine but I still had the extra empty tank.
I could have left the empty tank there or I could have waited an insane amount of time for an employee but I opted to just walk away with an extra tank. What's better than having two propane tanks!? Three propane tanks!
Found this on the interwebs and it shares my exact sentiment for the propane exchange machine:
Summer Trappist, Brewed August 8 2009
5 Gallons, Grain/Extract/Adjunct, Lazy Step Infusion, 90 Minute Boil

6lbs. Domestic 2-Row
1.25lbs. White Wheat
3lbs. Vienna
1lb. Munich
0.25lbs. Caramunich

Mash:
144°F for 40min.
152°F for 20min.
Raised to 165°F for Mashout

Added at boil:
1lb. DRE
1lb. Trader Joe's Organic Sugar (Evaporated Cane Juice)

1oz. Styrian Goldings 60min.
0.25oz. Santium 30min.
0.25oz. Spalt 20min.
0.25oz. Hallertauer 20min.
Whirlfloc tab 20min.

Racked on yeast bed of Trappist Monk Ale (White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast)

Will ferment warm (hence Summer Trappist) somewhere in the 70's. I will use a water bath for the first few days in an attempt to make the temperature consistent. It should be a bit cooler than the ambient air temp.

OG: 1.065 @ 72°F - Corrected 1.066
FG: 1.013 @ 38°F - Corrected 1.012
ABV: 7.09%

UPDATE 8/25: Racked to secondary though it was long overdue. Current gravity is 1.009 @ 78°F. This one will need a couple of months to age but has great flavor.

Kegged 9/27