The never-ending fermentation...

[DVCNick]

This is a new one on me.

I have a batch of IPA brewed on 3/16.

Over two weeks later, it is still churning and bubbling regularly.
I've never had one take nearly this long to stop visible signs of active fermentation.
Any idea why this would be?

Temp has been between low to mid 60's the whole time. WLP001 liquid yeast.

 

[IslandLizard]

After 2 weeks slow and low she should be almost done. It's time to raise the temps somewhat to make sure she finishes out. If you don't use a temp controlled ferm chamber, move her to an area that stays warmer, and let her rise to 68-70F naturally. Dry hop 5-7 days before packaging.

Whatever you do, prevent exposure to air (oxygen), it will oxidize the beer which kills hop sensation.
Don't rack to secondary. Leave where it is, in primary.

What kind of fermenter are you using?

 

[DVCNick]

It is in a big mouth bubbler. My ambient temps in the house are still basically cool enough to where I can use a carboy heater to bring it up to exactly what I want. Today it was a bit warmer and is currently showing 68.

I can up it to 70 with the heater if needed.

I dry hopped already a couple days ago. I'm hoping to keg by Tuesday or so or I'll be getting into the zone of where I read it will be on the dry hops too long.

I figured it would be done by now.

 

[Jag75]

What's your reading on the hydrometer? Crazy over 2 weeks of airlock activity.

 

[DVCNick]

I normally wait till it looks like it's done, so I don't have one since the OG measurement.

 

[JimRausch]

OK, I'll be the one to say it---- Bubbles, while comforting, mean nothing. Especially after you added dry hops which provide nucleation sites to degas some of the CO2 in solution. Now, churning MAY mean she's still fermenting.......
But here it is. Repeat with me all you oldtimers: "The only for sure way to tell if your fermentation is done is to take and have a series of stable SGs".

 

[DVCNick]

I get that argument, and I'm still a relative newbie, but... I've seen degassing and I've seen active fermentation. I believe this is the latter. I haven't touched it since dropping in the dry hops, and getting a bubble every +/- 6 seconds. In addition to the slow but still unmistakable churning.

I've been wrong before though.

 

[Jag75]

I'm grabbing some popcorn .....waiting to see what the hydrometer reads lol

 

[IslandLizard]

After taking your sample for a gravity reading, flush the headspace with CO2. Through the airlock hole is easiest. You don't want to build pressure (boom!), just a gentle stream of CO2 in, which will mix with the gas mixture present, and escape along the sides of the lid (loosen up atad), or through the space between the airlock hole and your plastic tubing going inside.

For taking samples while disturbing the headspace minimally, put a skinny hose through the airlock hole into the beer, followed by a little suck to start the siphon into a cup. Pull the hose out swiftly, so no tainted beer flows back. Works like a charm.

 

[JimRausch]

For taking samples while disturbing the headspace minimally, put a skinny hose through the airlock hole into the beer, followed by a little suck to start the siphon into a

This is exactly how I do it, although I connect the tubing to a 35cc syringe.

 

[hottpeper13]

Google Hop Creep.

 

[DVCNick]

Guess I'm going to resurrect one of my own threads, but this one finished at 1.012 right where just about all my similar ~6% ales do.

Also have another one going now, 8 days later and the churning is still VERY noticeable and the krausen is still up. It is WLP001 again.

I know this is supposed to be the same as US-05, but, I've used both enough now to see a couple different patterns; 1) I seem to always get a blowoff with WLP001 and not US-05, and 2) WLP001 seems to take a lot longer to look "done". Typically my US-05 batches are pretty much settled out by now, but not with this WLP001.

This time, krausen was just BARELY starting to form in a thin layer about 8AM when I left for work, and by 6:00 when I got home the entire top was blown off the BMB. One day I'll learn my lesson I guess. First time I had the top come all the way out. I hope it isn't infected.

 

[DVCNick]

This one will be two full weeks tomorrow... still visibly churning, krausen still up.
It has been at 70.5 degrees for about the last week too (a little warmer than I normally try to keep them) and still slow.

I'm really starting to wonder.

 

[Dland]

Maybe another critter than just what you pitched in there. With luck it will make for an interesting beer, but could turn out a dumper.

Two bits of advice:

If it tastes strange at first, don't judge too quickly, it might age out OK or better, let it crash/settle & give it some time. Of course, it still could be a dumper.

Sanitize your rig very thoroughly before your next brew; valves, lines,, fermentor, all cold side, at least, plus any gear used in that beer.

 

[DVCNick]

Well it looked like it was finally starting to settle down today and 95% of the krausen is down. So figuring it will be done in another week I dry hopped.

No visual indications of an infection yet.

 

[Kenmoron]

Yeast health can be a big factor as well. Generally, really active yeast with lots of nutrients will make for quicker fermentations as opposed to dormant yeast with little nutrients. So pitching a starter into a wort with yeast nutrient vs pitching an old pack straight into a wort without much nutrient will yield very different time frames with all other factors being equal. Not saying this is your scenario. Just something else to think about.

 

[DVCNick]

Thanks, could definitely be a contributing factor. I suspect my oxygenation game leaves something to be desired.

Kegged it today, it was at about 1.011 and looked and tasted fine from what I can tell so hopefully it's alright. I think I'm going to grab fresh yeast for next time though, either a new pack or maybe build up from some Sierra Nevada pale ale.

 

[DVCNick]

Tapped this thing yesterday. It was supposed to be a Two Hearted clone.

Wow, this is delicious. I might be biased but I think this is my best beer so far. Somehow I suddenly can't find Two Hearted on the shelf for a direct comparison, but I've had it many times and to the best of my recollection this clone is bang on and looks and tastes like the best Two Hearted I've ever had (which was on tap in a bar... last six pack I bought off the shelf was not nearly this good). Really pleased.

Don't know why it fermented so slow, but it looks like that and the top blowing off caused no harm.

 

[snarf7]

I had a couple that seemed to stall out too, it's hard to be patient when you're used to everything wrapping up in 7-10 days and you're on day 21 and it's still going. I've only ever had one that just stopped prematurely though, must have been weak yeast, so I wound up pitching another package (different yeast strain too) that finished it up and it turned out just fine.

 

[histo320]

I had the same thing happen with my current brew. I used Wyeast 1332 and read here on HbT to ferment at low temps so I fermented at 62F and it went for 15 days.

Took gravity reading today and was at 1.012 and added my dry hops and it's still bubbling.

I've heard this is a pretty finnicky yeast and can take a while to ferment out. This is way different from the other yeasts I've used which are usually done in 7-10 days.

Will I use this yeast again? We will see how the final product ends up.