Wood beer cases: Another Production Update

As I set up the kitchen counter to begin the image transfers on to the Stonington Pale Ale wood beer cases, Esther cracked a 1 1/4 year old breakfast stout tonight. While I don't have the record of the recipe in my notes, I do remember this was one of my first partial mash batches, where I used 1lb of oatmeal, 3 or 4 lbs of 2 row, probably ~2lbs of various roasted specialty grain, 6lbs of dark LME (ducks for cover), and British ale yeast. Aged on ~6oz of cracked coffee beans in the secondary for 1 month. And sitting quietly, covertly, undisturbed underneath several cases of empty bottles. I mistook the bottom case to be also empty, having thought the last bottle breakfast stout was consumed over 6 months ago. What a happy find.

So, yes, Esther cracked that bottle tonight. Y'know...to help complete the quest for five cases worth of empty 12oz longneck brown beer bottles needed to bottle the pale ale this Friday. But, the stout is now in its prime, any harshness that was present in the earlier part of its life, is now completely mellowed out to satisfying and rich, but smooth roasted stout goodness. Beautiful cappucino colored head that falls to a small, but tight creamy cap. Beautiful stuff, even at the end of a hot August day.

Anyway, back to the reason I'm posting tonight...the image transfers. I didn't know how long the blender pen would last, but tonight, I found out...it lasted for what would be the equivalent of 4 cases, or 8 relatively large transfers. So, we'll have to go out and get more to finish the rest of the cases (9 more!? ...sheesh, who's idea was this anyway), but I hope you'll agree, the results are exactly what I was hoping for. Took me ~1.5 hours to do the cases tonight, but that included stopping for dinner, unpacking and repacking the cases w/ bottles, a moment or two for some admiration, and the vastly improved photo snapping (more on that later).