Stellanor
Member
Been looking through the forum and can't find a sitch exactly like this one, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for some advice.
About a month ago, I decided to try making the White House Honey Ale (recipe here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe). Followed the recipe exactly, and OG was right in line with what others have gotten with 1.067. Pitched yeast and had what I thought was a standard primary fermentation. Got a huge, beautiful krausen right off the bat and after 7 days in the primary, activity had ceased and I racked into secondary. The gravity after the first 7 days was 1.020, and she spent two additional weeks in secondary (three weeks total).
On the 21st day, she looked exactly the way she did going in. No activity at all except for a little clarification and sediment formation. I took another gravity reading and it hadn't budged from 1.020. Since batches that contain extract can finish a little on the high side, I decided this was nothing out of the ordinary and to bottle the next day. Lo and behold, when I woke up I saw the airlock bubbling vigorously. Took a gravity reading that day, and it looked like it hadn't moved, but I decided to wait a bit. By the following day, another little baby layer (krausen and CO2) had formed (about 1/2" thick) and I've got what looks like streams of champagne bubbles coming up from the bottom of the secondary forming this 1/2" layer of bubbles on the surface of the liquid. Took another gravity reading on the 26th day, and I think my mind is starting to play tricks on me. It looks like the gravity is going down, but VERY slowly, but still very close to 1.020. I'd hate to bottle at this point because it's clearly got gas coming up enough to keep the airlock steadily bubbling. I don't think I have an infection, just a little layer of tiny CO2 bubbles that aren't ceasing to rise from the bottom (I read every post in the Post your Infection thread and this isn't anything like that). We're now almost four weeks from brew day. Has this happened to anyone else? How long did it take to peter out? Would it be helpful to swirl the fermentor to speed the process along to give it more contact?
About a month ago, I decided to try making the White House Honey Ale (recipe here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe). Followed the recipe exactly, and OG was right in line with what others have gotten with 1.067. Pitched yeast and had what I thought was a standard primary fermentation. Got a huge, beautiful krausen right off the bat and after 7 days in the primary, activity had ceased and I racked into secondary. The gravity after the first 7 days was 1.020, and she spent two additional weeks in secondary (three weeks total).
On the 21st day, she looked exactly the way she did going in. No activity at all except for a little clarification and sediment formation. I took another gravity reading and it hadn't budged from 1.020. Since batches that contain extract can finish a little on the high side, I decided this was nothing out of the ordinary and to bottle the next day. Lo and behold, when I woke up I saw the airlock bubbling vigorously. Took a gravity reading that day, and it looked like it hadn't moved, but I decided to wait a bit. By the following day, another little baby layer (krausen and CO2) had formed (about 1/2" thick) and I've got what looks like streams of champagne bubbles coming up from the bottom of the secondary forming this 1/2" layer of bubbles on the surface of the liquid. Took another gravity reading on the 26th day, and I think my mind is starting to play tricks on me. It looks like the gravity is going down, but VERY slowly, but still very close to 1.020. I'd hate to bottle at this point because it's clearly got gas coming up enough to keep the airlock steadily bubbling. I don't think I have an infection, just a little layer of tiny CO2 bubbles that aren't ceasing to rise from the bottom (I read every post in the Post your Infection thread and this isn't anything like that). We're now almost four weeks from brew day. Has this happened to anyone else? How long did it take to peter out? Would it be helpful to swirl the fermentor to speed the process along to give it more contact?