Saison keeps bubbling

[sd_brewbie]

I brewed a saison the weekend before last and by this last weekend the air lock died down. Took a gravity sample yesterday and found it at 1.003, sample taste dry (very tasty)... Figured I would let it sit the rest of the week and keg this weekend. I put the air lock back on... And the thing starts bubbling and kept on bubbling til this morning. I am talking enough bubbles to foam the star san in the air lock....

Normal?

I am using wlp565, been fermenting without temp control, active fermentation was around 80 it is now sitting around 78.

I did add 18oz of honey to the fermenter before pitching (and shaking to aerate)...perhaps there are clumps of unfermented honey still in there?

Still planning to keg it this weekend.

 

[Hello]

Likely you're seeing a little off gas of CO2. At 1.003 I would say you're good.

 

[Skiffy]

Isn't wlp565 the one notorious for stalling and kicking back up weeks later? 1.003 sounds pretty low, but of course that depends on your recipe. Check the gravity before you keg if you are curious, wouldn't be surprised if it dropped a little more, but the airlock bubbling could be for other reasons too. I don't keg, but it's not like you have to worry about bottle bombs, don't see the harm in kegging early if you really need/want to. As long as it tastes how you want it.

 

[m00ps]

Its definitely done at 1.003 unless it seems infected for some reason. As Hello said, probably off-gasing. When in doubt ALWAYS trust your hydrometer, not your airlock

 

[Skiffy]

How can you say it's definitely done fermenting without knowing the recipe? If it's simple grain bill mashed really low with honey ...

 

[m00ps]

1.003 would be absurdly low, even for a saison, for any non wild beer to not be done fermenting (not conditioning) after more than 2 weeks. Plus hes kegging it so no worry of bottle bombs

 

[JosephN]

That sounds pretty typical to me. I've noticed that sometimes it seems that the yeast start feeding in the Trub causing bubbles. Just a thought. My saison finished at 1.000

 

[sd_brewbie]

Recipe is mostly pilsner, a little honey malt, and the honey I added. Mashed at 152.

 

[Skiffy]

I mostly agree with you m00ps, just don't want people, perhaps brewing their first saison, to read your comment and think their saison is done simply because they hit a benchmark. Especially with a yeast as fickle as this one. My saison with wlp565 I believe finished at 1.006, mashed around 150 and no simple sugars.