Long Fermentation

[Coastie]

I have an IPA that's been in primary for a week now. I was supposed to rack to secondary last Thursday but the fermentation hasn't slowed down.

Here's the particulars;

• OG is 1.065
• Yeast is White Labs Californial Ale (WLP001)
• I used a 1.75L starter which had a krausen that was overflowing.
• I pitched the yeast at 62F
• It took a day for fermentation to take off.
• I've had to clean out the airlock twice
• As of today the gravity is 1.027 (10.5 brix by refractometer)

Here's what the fermenter looks like today;

So, do I need to wait until this falls before I rack? Is this normal for this yeast?

 

[frazier]

"Normal" is whatever the yeast decides. It clearly isn't done yet, you shouldn't think about racking until it is.

Looks great! Leave it be.

 

[Coastie]

Looks great! Leave it be.

It smells great too!

Cheers!

 

[two_one_seven]

Thats gonna be a killer......great looking fermentation. 001 is a nice neutral yeast so you should get nice hop character out of it.

 

[BigFloyd]

Why were you supposed to rack to secondary?

After just a week?

 

[ChefRex]

I have an IPA with 001 going for 2 weeks that looks the same, longest ferment to date but i'm not worried.

 

[Oceantendency]

I would've used blow off tubes and stop contaminating your beer like that byt taking that lid off.. just be patient and let the stuff do it's thing. Patience sucks but is a necessary evil when it comes to beer from what I've read and learned. Looks healthy to me, but guess you won't know til the final product. Good luck !

 

[kombat]

I agree with the others - leave it alone.

Also, note that refractometers require a correction factor after fermentation has started (as is the case here). They're inaccurate in the presence of alcohol. I prefer to just use a hydrometer for all gravity readings after yeast pitching.

 

[bethebrew]

I never do a secondary anymore other than if dry hopping, no need. Don't check starting gravities, or finish gravities. OK if a fruit beer I only add any fruit till after racking the primary over the fresh fruit.

The key is let the primary sit 2 weeks at least for a fast fermenter non-big beer, and 3-4 weeks minimum for the big beers. Only then even consider bottling, or going to a secondary.

I don't like opening up containers that are fermenting for any reason other than absolutely necessary. Contamination is a drag.

 

[Coastie]

I never do a secondary anymore other than if dry hopping, no need.

Yep, I'm dry hopping.

 

[Bamsdealer]

Looks good to me. I pitched a big starter of Cali Ale on my last big IPA and it took over two weeks. Usually that doesn't happen with Cali Ale, but it did on that one. Turned out great.

I'm fermenting a barleywine now and it's just shy of four weeks in primary with Denny's Favorite Yeast. Went from 1.100 to 1.030 in 8 days. Since then its dropped a couple points a week, now at 1.025. I'll let it go another week then rack to secondary regardless of where it's at. Don't want to leave it on a pile of trub and hops for much more than a month.