Nightshade Ale finally Bottled

So I finally got around to bottling my Nightshade Ale (a blackberry-blueberry wheat beer). Bottling is just as much of a pain as it always is, but I wanted to get my Starless Night Imperial Stout into secondary soon, so I finally got motivated to do it.

After I bottled, I siphoned what was left into a glass - and it looked awesome. It poured a surprisingly clear purplish-red, with only a little bit of haze. Much less haze than I expected, especially considering a) It's primarily wheat malt and b) the amount of fruit used. It didn't smell very beery at all - almost smelled more like blackberry or blueberry juice or soda. The fruit is the most evident in the taste, but there's just a hint of the wheat malt that comes through. I'm hoping once it's carbonated it'll taste more like beer, so we'll see. I couldn't get an accurate hydrometer reading, so I have absolutely no idea what the alcohol content is.

I'm probably going to rack the Starless Night to secondary tomorrow night - after spending two hours sanitizing and bottling, the last thing I wanted to do was clean and sanitize my carboy/siphon. Besides, I managed to get two vanilla beans today, so I figure I'll soak them in vodka overnight to sanitize them, and then rack the beer on top of them in the carboy. I'm excited about this, and I'm just disappointed that I'm going to have to wait a few months to try it.

It's going to depend on my financial situation, but I might try to brew a quick-turnaround IPA before I leave for the summer, and then have something else sit in secondary while I'm gone. I've been doing some research, and I think I've come up with the combination of hops I want to get that citrus/grapefruit flavor which I love in IPAs. If I decide to do it, I should be able to have it ready by early May, and I can bring the bottles home with me for the summer too.