Cuvee bottling

OK - here's a little admission, I eyeballed the Cuvee original gravity when I made it instead of actually measuring it. And I think I really started out at 1.050 and not 1.065. This is important because when I took the final gravity reading on the Cuvee today, it came out at a disappointing 1.020. This means in addition to starting with less sugar than I wanted, I ended with more than I wanted and the alcohol content is fairly low. Granted, there is a half pound of bottling sugar in there, so it may be a touch off, but probably not enough to affect the gravity tremendously.

So, I am looking at a beer of around 4 percent alcohol by volume instead of my intended 6 percent. The good news is, after keeping it in the secondary fermenter for a few weeks, it cleared out and has a really nice spicy taste and I think this will turn into one of my better creations. I drank a bit of it and even without carbonation, it's solid. It doesn't taste that close to the Cuvee I had in New York. Nevertheless, I intend to send a bottle to the brewer who gave me the tips on how to make it, along with my my grain bill.