Two weeks of activity

I brewed a maple wheat two Saturdays ago. (16 days ago) i still have airlock activity, about every minute or two. It had a starting og of 1.09. I'll check what it is when I get home from work.
I know you have to wait it out and let the yeast do its job. But, I have not ever had fermentation take this long. Any ideas?

1.090 is a large beer. If you didn't pitch enough yeast they could be struggling. How much and what type of yeast did you use?

Just one vial of the white labs. I don't remember the type. But it was pretty violent within 18 hours of fermenting.

Did you actually start at 1.090? Depending on the temp you ferment at it could be still fairly active. The only real way to tell anything is to get a grav reading and see if youre close to your projected FG. At that high of a starting grav I would expect it to bubble furiously for an extended period, followed by slow "house cleaning" bubbles for an extended time too. I would posit that three weeks minimum would be a good starting point before even considering opening the container and testing the grav. High Grav=Lots of sugars=long time fermenting=great beer.... Your talking nearly twice as much sugar as a regular batch so it is gonna take a while to yeastify all that sugar, but don't rush it or it might get an off flavor or develop a flavor that doesn't please your palate. Good luck, have fun, and be patient..

Wheelchair Bob

All of my big wheats take a long time to ferment, sometimes 3+ weeks. Especially if I use a Kolsch such as WLP029. You are doing fine.

After all activity has ceased and you have a stable FG, let it sit for at least another week, so that the yeast can clean up after themselves....so theoretically you could be 4+ weeks in the primary.

Just a suggestion....start a detailed log.....ingredients, times, temps and durations are very critical to your brew management process.

kevinlassen said:

Just one vial of the white labs. I don't remember the type. But it was pretty violent within 18 hours of fermenting.

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That's definitely under pitched. Per Jamil's yeast calculator, a 1.090 brew would need 3.3 vials for a proper pitch rate without a starter.

microbusbrewery said:

That's definitely under pitched. Per Jamil's yeast calculator, a 1.090 brew would need 3.3 vials for a proper pitch rate without a starter.

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Should I pitch more on Saturday? I can't get to the store before then? Or will it be ok

kevinlassen said:

Should I pitch more on Saturday? I can't get to the store before then? Or will it be ok

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I wouldn't at this point. If you'd just brewed and pitched yesterday, then I'd consider it, but since it's been a couple weeks I'd just let it ride.

And just to clarify, it doesn't necessarily mean your brew won't turn out well. You'll probably end up with more flavor and aroma contribution from your yeast compared to if you'd pitched at the proper level.

kevinlassen said:

Should I pitch more on Saturday? I can't get to the store before then? Or will it be ok

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You will most likely have some off flavors because you way under pitched. But let us know how it turns out in the end.

Just over three weeks and I still have activity about once of twice an hour. Let it keep sitting for another week?

kevinlassen said:

Just over three weeks and I still have activity about once of twice an hour. Let it keep sitting for another week?

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Is your gravity reading still dropping? If so, give it more time.

Og was 1090 final was 1021 about 9.1 abv tastes great (warm and un carbed) July 4th weekend will be celebrated with a good beer. Thanks guys for the tips and input.

kevinlassen said:

Og was 1090 final was 1021 about 9.1 abv tastes great (warm and un carbed) July 4th weekend will be celebrated with a good beer. Thanks guys for the tips and input.

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Good to hear it worked out