Hmm, I didn’t get updates posted quite as soon as I should have…

The Rack:
Over the first couple days of primary fermentation, I had a good bit of blow-through.  After almost 2 weeks (on March 23rd), the fermentation had slowed a bit, and there was a significant yeast sludge at the bottom of the fermenter.  I was going to be leaving town for a few days, so I racked to my 5-gal carboy for the secondary ferment.  As per the recipe, I added 1oz of additional Centennial pellet hops to the fermenter.  Here was a benefit to using a 6-gal carboy for the primary, I was able to get the siphon started and allow some leavings/sludge behind while still racking a full 5-gal.  I was careful not to aerate during the transfer and sealed with a S-bubble air lock (with vodka as bubbling medium).  The carboy was returned to the cool, dark spare bedroom and left to finish.

A couple notes:
1. I might try to pre-wet, or even boil additional hops for a minute or two next time.  The additional hops were very buoyant and because there was less headspace in the carboy, the hop-mud that developed caused a little bit of blow-through over the first couple hours in the secondary.

2. I pulled a wee taste during transfer.  It’s still quite sweet but seems smooth, and I didn’t notice any obvious off-flavors.  Hard to judge right now.

3. After a week in the secondary, the wort had cleared pretty nicely and was bubbling about 4 times per minute.  Looking good.