11 days into fermentation, still fermenting?

[fowlintent]

I brewed an IPA 11 days ago, and it fermented like crazy for about 6 days. The recipe I am using called for dry hopping after 7 days. By the time I added the hops to the primary vessel on day 8, visible signs of fermentation had stopped. 3 days after adding the hops, the air lock is not bubbling, at least not while I watched it for several minutes, but I am seeing small bubbles rising to the top of the wort. I am supposed to bottle 5 days after adding the hops, which would be Saturday. Is this a natural occurrence, or should I be concerned. Are there any fermentables in the hops pellets that would explain the bubbles?

 

[dcp27]

hops create a lot of nucleation sites, its just CO2 being released. in the future, don't go by designated time lines, the beer/hydrometer will let you know when its time to move on. generally you should wait at least a few days after fermentation is complete to let more yeast settle before dry hopping as to retain as much aroma as possible

 

[CadillacAndy]

It's most likely just off gassing co2 but if you're at all worried that its not done fermenting, I'd always recommend checking the gravity with a hydrometer over the course of 3 days to make sure it's not changing.

 

[sweetcell]

The recipe I am using called for dry hopping after 7 days.

one thing that you'll learn here is that recipes should rarely be taken as written in stone. in this case "dry hop after 7 days" is a flawed instruction. 7 days fermentation + 5 days dry-hoping = bottling in 12 days... that's too short. sometimes a brewer can pull that off, but it's best to give the brew 3 weeks. so, without knowing your skillz, equipment, process, etc. i would have recommended dry-hopping on day 15.

getting to your questions: there are no fermentables in hops. what you are seeing is CO2 slowly escaping from the brew. a glass of beer goes flat pretty quickly, it takes a lot longer for 5+ gallons.

I would bottle on saturday or sunday (1 day won't change much for the dry-hopping), and next time plan to give your brew 3 weeks before bottling - and plan the dry-hop accordingly.

*edit: or, as other posters have recommended, use a hydrometer to determine when fermentation is done and then add a few days more to let some of the yeast settle.