Belgian White.. Never Ending Fermentation!

[Cyrixxal]

I have a Belgian that I cooked up 2 weeks ago. Everything went well during the mashing except it did get stuck a few times. So when I went into the boil, it wasn't perfectly clear. My assumption was that if I needed to, I could just rack it to a secondary.

The first time I made this recipe, it covered my basement floor (and when the airlock clogged.. Ceiling) with yeast sludge. It was soo bad, I had nothing left. So this time, I but it into a 15 gallon Demi John. It used up 100% of the head space. After 1 week, I still had some visible fermentation action. The goo at the top mostly subsided. And I had about 4" of yeast cake. So I racked it and it started fermenting full speed again. It has gone a full week. I have 2 more inches of cake and foam on the top. I stole a sip to make sure it's ok.. And it tastes phenomenal.

Is that normal?

 

[ShaineT]

Its OK for your witbier to be cloudy so I never get as concerned with material going into the boil with this style. What was your OG and what temperatures are you fermenting at?

 

[Cyrixxal]

1.06 and change. ( that's what my notes stated... That far into a brew any my hand writing suffers a little)

 

[ShaineT]

1.06 and change. ( that's what my notes stated... That far into a brew any my hand writing suffers a little)

1.060 is pretty high for a witbier, if you've fermented down to around 1.016 or less then you might think about cold crashing it and calling it finished.

 

[Cyrixxal]

That's what my wife is telling me to do. Cold crash and keg...

I was hoping to bottle it. Do you think it is safe? I was just reading that some Belgians are bottled with champagne corks, heavy bottles and cages because of this.

 

[duboman]

What yeast?

Some strains take awhile to finish. My Saison with 3724 took 4 weeks to FG at 1.004 and I've got 3711 at 3 weeks now still going.

Be patient

 

[beergolf]

What yeast did you use? Was it WY3944?

Some Belgian yeasts can do some crazy stuff. I had one that looked like a lava lamp for a three full weeks. The times I used 3944 the krausen took forever to drop.

 

[ShaineT]

What yeast?

Some strains take awhile to finish. My Saison with 3724 took 4 weeks to FG at 1.004 and I've got 3711 at 3 weeks now still going.

Be patient

If you finish that 1.060 to 1.004 you'll have a 7.35%ABV witbier on your hands, better call it a weizenbock!