Well here we are friends, with our monks chugging happily along! Both Batch #1 and Batch #2 are still venting and burbling away. However, I have a warning for those less careful than I.
When preparing an invert sugar syrup, and after finishing the process, do NOT put in 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda all at once to bring the pH back up. You will caramelize your stovetop.. although I was fortunate enough only to lose about 50ml of syrup. :)
Rather, as I will venture to do in future, place the bicarbonate of soda into a minimal amount of water and drip or squirt it in, slowly, stirring all the while, and checking the pH every so often.
Now that that is out of the way, on to progress!
I added 1kg of inverted sugar + 1/2 tsp of yeast energizer (which I added to the syrup while still boiling.. slowly with stirring... and let it cool to 30C) to Batch #1. This brought the potential alcohol to 16%, so I am going to call it there and be happy with 16% or so on my first run, assuming it ferments out completely.
After addition, which took about 2 minutes with plenty of stirring, there was a 30 minute lag, and then gas started to be produced again. The oxygen that got in due to the stirring probably helped the yeast stabilize and grow a bit as well. It is now back to bubbling happily and I will let it go until it stops.
Batch #2 will get a 1.7kg invert addition just before bed tonite, and I will report on it in the morning.
Temps are good.. in the 25C range. So all is well in the monastery!
Pax Vobiscum
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