Recent content by CaliBrewnia

Stick on thermometer on my carboy is reading now at 72 and holding. I don't have a swamp cooler or small room I could really feasibly keep one in (jacked up utlility rates and I'm not sure anyone would appreciate an icebox bedroom. Outside it's 100 plus and go to a 68 degree room? Brrr.) My...

I'm in the middle of a heat wave. My fermentation has been steady at around 74 degrees in a closet. Day five and all bubbling has ceased in the airlock and the krausen fell from an inch thick cap to a quarter inch. My first batch was a hefe and I know they are more bubbly. Is this typical and...

Thanks for the correction of steeping/ specialty grains vs mashing. Still learning. I'll cover the carboy with a blanket for safety even if it's LEDs and CFLs. My last brew was pure extract. No grains. This was put together at the local homebrew shop. I told the guy, "Something in the vein...

Been a while but I was travelling to visit sick relatives and flying around the world to save money on LASIK so brewing went by the wayside. Firmly back in Cali and now back to being a brewmaster. First brew was... not a hefeweisen. It was supposed to be, but then just wasn't. It was good...

This is probably a stupid question but my 5gal brew bubbled up out of the airlock leaving a nice beer smell in my closet for me this morning. Nothing bad, I had the carboy on a cookie sheet. I cleaned it all up and resanitized my airlock and hooked up a blow off tube off the airlock into a clean...

Since I posted it has taken off and has a really thick foam, nearly up the neck of my 6 gallon carboy. It not bubbling in the carboy, just releasing co2 through the airlock now. Guess I'll let it sit for 2 weeks in my closet before bottling the see how it comes out, even if it's oddly dark hefe...

I'm brewing my first beer and panicking a little. The local shop I went to had Breiss hefe LME and I used two 3.3lb containers as I read that 1-1.5lbs of LME should be used for every gallon of water. I like a more flavorful beer so I erred on the heavy side and used all the syrup. However...