Should I be worried? Long ferment time

[Auswin]

Hey everyone. I'm brewing my first high-grav beer, and perhaps this is just a by-product of the style -- but I wanted to get some reassurance that something strange isn't happening.

Monday will mark three weeks of fermentation, and while visible signs have slowed -- it's definitely still going. Airlock is 'bubbling' roughly once every 30 seconds, and while the krausen dropped it's sill active.

Took a specific gravity reading this morning, and it game out at 13.72% ABV. I tasted a little of the solution, and it tastes good -- albeit a little boozy.

I took the opportunity to dry hop it while I was testing the gravity, but I'm wondering how much longer I'll need to wait until bottling. Should I test the gravity again in a week?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[duboman]

The bubbling at this late in the game is probably due to changes in pressure and temp and not fermentation.

What is the gravity at now and I don't mean the %alcohol reading but the actual gravity. What was the OG?

It's probably done so when you finish dry hopping, package it!

 

[Clonefan94]

Measure the FG again in two days, if it's the same, you are good to go. I agree with duboman though, this time of year there are a lot of atmospheric changes going on. The bubbling could be many things.

 

[unionrdr]

Big beers can take longer to ferment. I wouldn't have dry hopped till it was at a stable FG. And def use the gravity scale next tiem,not the ABV scale on the other side...

 

[Cyclman]

I did a huge Belgian, it took 4 weeks to ferment. It also tasted like crap until it was 3+ months old. Patience is very hard with big beers. One of the guys in my brew club won a Gold with a RIS, one of the better brews I've ever had. So it is worth it.

 

[Auswin]

Thanks for the input everyone. Here are the gravity readings, in case those help:

OG (wort at 72 degrees): 1.149
SG (solution at 65 degrees): 1.048