Adventures In Honey Beer Brewing
The American Honey Wheat Beer I wrote about last week is still in it's primary fermentation container. As of last night the beer was still releasing air bubbles about one every six seconds and the foam level on top was only slightly lower than what showed in the picture that I posted. This morning I peeked at the airlock and it was bubbling once every two seconds, but the foam was nearly gone. So I am thinking that the fermentation is about finished.
None of the beers I brewed have remained active for so long. I can only guess that it is the honey, or perhaps the wheat. Last night was exactly 7 days since I brewed and I had hoped I could rack the beer to secondary, but there was still too much activity. Perhaps now with the foam dissipating from the top the fermentation is about complete and the bubbling will subside. The sooner I get this beer in secondary, the sooner I can get it bottled. The whole reason I chose this recipe is because it had a relatively short ageing process. I generally like to give the beer three weeks in the bottle before trying it. You can usually taste it with carbonation by two weeks, maybe sooner, but I like to go with three weeks.
I do not think I mentioned that I keep the carboys covered with a cardboard box and the picture I took is with a flash. So it is much darker in that section of my basement. Since I mentioned about light being an enemy of beer I wanted you to know that I do indeed have the carboy protected from light.
None of the beers I brewed have remained active for so long. I can only guess that it is the honey, or perhaps the wheat. Last night was exactly 7 days since I brewed and I had hoped I could rack the beer to secondary, but there was still too much activity. Perhaps now with the foam dissipating from the top the fermentation is about complete and the bubbling will subside. The sooner I get this beer in secondary, the sooner I can get it bottled. The whole reason I chose this recipe is because it had a relatively short ageing process. I generally like to give the beer three weeks in the bottle before trying it. You can usually taste it with carbonation by two weeks, maybe sooner, but I like to go with three weeks.
I do not think I mentioned that I keep the carboys covered with a cardboard box and the picture I took is with a flash. So it is much darker in that section of my basement. Since I mentioned about light being an enemy of beer I wanted you to know that I do indeed have the carboy protected from light.
