Fermentation Reactivation???

[broffi_1027]

I have a weird situation I've never encountered before. I was just checking on a carboy that I have a dunkelweizen fermenting in and sitting right next to it, in a plastic fermenting bucket is an Irish Red Ale I brewed up nearly 4 weeks ago.

I was planning on bottling it this coming Tuesday, September 3rd. It seems as if active fermentation has started up again and the airlock is bubbling again. It's not bubbling super fierce, but a moderate bubbling, about every 1 to 2 minutes it bubbles. There are no weird or off-odors being emitted from the airlock and I know I was on top of sanitizing. The ambient temperature where they are kept stays fairly constant between 69 and 71 degrees Farenheit.

Is there any reason why this would happen? I really hope an infection didn't occur and the overall temp. of my house is kept at 74*F. I live in Arizona so I keep my house pretty chill because the heat is a killer out here.

The yeast I used was Danstar Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast. I've used it many times before and this is the third time I've brewed this recipe. Everything seemed to turn out spot on on brewday. The OG read at 1.051 and I am expecting the FG to be around 1.013. Maybe I just got an overly ambitious batch of yeast? LOL

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[LovesIPA]

First, airlock activity is not always sign of fermentation. It could just be off-gassing dissolved CO2. You don't know what's going on without a hydrometer reading.

Second, if you're fermenting Nottingham at 70* ambient temperature, you're getting off-flavors. I would look into a swamp cooler (plastic bucket with frozen water bottles and a wet t-shirt (no contest though)) or a temp-controlled fermentation chamber like a craigslist chest freezer with a $20 temp controller.

I used the former for a long time and the latter is SO MUCH nicer.

 

[broffi_1027]

First, airlock activity is not always sign of fermentation. It could just be off-gassing dissolved CO2. You don't know what's going on without a hydrometer reading.

Second, if you're fermenting Nottingham at 70* ambient temperature, you're getting off-flavors. I would look into a swamp cooler (plastic bucket with frozen water bottles and a wet t-shirt (no contest though)) or a temp-controlled fermentation chamber like a craigslist chest freezer with a $20 temp controller.

I used the former for a long time and the latter is SO MUCH nicer.

Ok, thanks. I've brewed this twice before and it always comes out tasting fine with no off-flavors, but then again, maybe I am tasting off-flavors. HAHA! But I do plan on getting a chest freezer with temp. controller for a fermentation chamber soon.

Thanks for the input.