Recent content by BayAreaBrew

If you have no way of checking the gravity, then I would let it sit for another week just to be on the safe side. Airlock activity does not determine if fermentation is complete. Better to keep it in the primary an extra week, than to bottle it before fermatation is done.

Did you take a hydrometer reading first to make sure its done? I would double check the temperature range on the yeast too before letting sit out at a higher (non optimal) temperature.

I keep a filled up 5 gal Home Depot bucket with distilled water and my star san at all times. I've read that using distilled water (as long as the bucket stays covered) lasts indefinitely. I usually store my funnel, wine thief, and tubes in there, so I have them at my disposal. Haven't had any...

I usually bottle with a case of 12oz bottles and a case of 22oz. I typically use the 12oz'ers as the ones to give to people to try. The 22oz'ers I enjoy exclusively for myself since I mostly enjoy my beer in a pint glass, and want to be able to pour a proper pint. If you're bottling for the...

You should try steeping some honey malt if you want some honey flavor. Try steeping a pound of it if you want a strong hint of honey flavor.

+1 on the water bath. To keep my carboy at more a constant temp (65-68) I bought a big navy blue plastic tub with rope handles at Target for around $7 (I think its main intent is for storage of kids toys, and then bought an aquarium heater (strong enough for 5-10gallons) for around $20. Its...

Isn't the formula (OG-FG) * 131? Not 137? I'm a newbie so I just wanted to be sure I'm plugging in the right numbers.

Yup that should be good. It was my misunderstanding. I see alot of recipes that call for honey to be added during the boil leading to believe that it will yield the honey flavor. But if the strawberry flavor is to stand out then your're correct, don't use the honey malt.

If you wanted a honey taste to your brew, may I suggest steeping some honey malt. Simply adding the honey to the wort will only give it a drier finish, but will not give it a honey taste since the honey will be all fermented.

Thanks Duboman. The more reference material I have the better. Cheers! :mug:

I'm a noob so this may be a misinformed statement, but could it be from the fact that it was in the primary for 25 days? I was under the impression that lighter styles like a Hefe only need 2 weeks in a primary. My first batch I did was an American Hefe that was primaried for 2 weeks, and then...

Though there's always slight adjusts depending on the style of ale, it's usually an oz of corn sugar (or equivalent) per gallon of beer, correct?

Hmmm, that is strange. I was thinking that if you were poppin'em open after a week, that would've been the reason. But what you have described seems to have been okay. When I added the corn sugar solution I boiled it in water for 5min then let it cool. Added it my bottling bucket. I racked...

How long did you let it bottle condition for? And where did you keep them?