My Belgian Tripel is still bubbling after 2.5 weeks

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syd138

syd138

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I brewed this up on September 14th.

Its got an OG of about 1.082.. I used a starter for the 3787.

I still have the blow-off tube in and its bubbling every 8 seconds or so.

It was very furious for about a week and a half.

I've never seen this much activity. I've brewed up a dubbel, never a tripel.

Is this normal?
 
I brewed up a super high gravity Belgian once and it bubbled away forever like yours is doing. It is actually still aging, but the last bottle I snuck out tasted amazing.
 
Who cares about bubbling, it is the current gravity that will tell you if it is fermenting or not, or just off gassing excess co2 (which is what an airlock is for, NOT as a fermentation gauge.)

But a big beer will take time....It's going to chew a lot of sugar first (and make a lot of co2) but then it's going to slow down and they yeasts are still going to need time to eat.
 
Is the yeast still in suspension? I have found that with the belgian strains I often pitch more yeast than is typically reccomended and that has made my fermentations finish much quicker and my attenuation is much more consistent. With 1.082 belgian beer I would have used 1.5 gallons of starter.....that's a lot.
 
I don't really care that it is still bubbling.. I've just never seen anything go this long before.

I pitched it with a 16oz starter.. maybe I should have gone bigger.

But it is starting to clear a little bit now. It was pretty dark before which is weird because I just used straight clear table sugar, pilsner malt, and light DME.
 
Stepaway_copy.jpg
 
^^^ That's a fantastic image. Very apropos as well. I seem to say it every day anymore, but big beers take big time. There's just no way around it. Really, one needs the patience of a wine or meadmaker when brewing these big beers. They're not going to go from kettle to glass in a couple weeks, nor a couple months.
 
syd138 said:
I don't really care that it is still bubbling.. I've just never seen anything go this long before.

I pitched it with a 16oz starter.. maybe I should have gone bigger.

But it is starting to clear a little bit now. It was pretty dark before which is weird because I just used straight clear table sugar, pilsner malt, and light DME.
Click to expand...

You underpitched by a longshot. You needed a starter at least 4 times that size for optimum pitch rates. Just give the yeast time to finish and hopefully you get full attenuation. That would be my biggest concern.
 
syd138 said:
I don't really care that it is still bubbling.. I've just never seen anything go this long before.
Click to expand...
When I first read the title of the thread I said, "Yeeeaaaah, they'll do that."

I pitched it with a 16oz starter.. maybe I should have gone bigger.
Click to expand...
Yes, you probably should have. Mr Malty calculates the starter should have been 1.1 L with intermittent shaking, which is around the volume I would have used. However, underpitching isn't a horrible thing for a tripel. Many on here have personal experiences of underpitching creating more esters and phenols in the final product... this "flaw" can actually be a good thing for tripels as the yeast character is an important part of the tripel flavor.

But it is starting to clear a little bit now. It was pretty dark before which is weird because I just used straight clear table sugar, pilsner malt, and light DME.
Click to expand...
5 gallons of a light beer will look quite dark... the light just can't penetrate due to the large amount of stuff in suspension. You'll likely end up with a nice golden color.
 
permo said:
You underpitched by a longshot. You needed a starter at least 4 times that size for optimum pitch rates. Just give the yeast time to finish and hopefully you get full attenuation. That would be my biggest concern.
Click to expand...


So what happens if I don't get full attenuation?

Could I just rack it to the secondary and add a pack of Nottingham or something?
 
so its been over 3 weeks.

bubbling a little. Doesn't look like its clearing. Still kind of dark.

Should I try swirling the carboy to get the yeast going?

Is it ok to take a gravity reading?
 
At the risk of highjacking--but I don't think I am since I'm curious about how my yeasties are getting along with my first big beer :)--I want some reassurance I don't have a stuck fermentation:

I'm doing an imperial porter--5 gal batch--that had an OG of 1.082. I pitched ~1 cup of Cali Ale slurry which I believe should have been enough. I had a lot of activity quickly (within 8-10 hours), but the krausen in the carboy never got as high as I'd of expected--i.e., I didn't need a blow off tube--an airlock would have been fine. That surprised me/worried me.

I took a reading today (1st one), on Day 5, and it's at 1.025. That is giving me an attenuation of 71%--White Labs says the yeast should yield 73-80%. So I'm fairly close. But still thinking about that lack of 'afro-krausen.'

So, to sum up: after reading this thread, I THINK I'm convinced all I need is more time for all to be well. Anyone wanna back me up on this? Make me feel all tranquil so I can go back to being patient?
 
ChadLeBald said:
At the risk of highjacking--but I don't think I am since I'm curious about how my yeasties are getting along with my first big beer :)--I want some reassurance I don't have a stuck fermentation:

I'm doing an imperial porter--5 gal batch--that had an OG of 1.082. I pitched ~1 cup of Cali Ale slurry which I believe should have been enough. I had a lot of activity quickly (within 8-10 hours), but the krausen in the carboy never got as high as I'd of expected--i.e., I didn't need a blow off tube--an airlock would have been fine. That surprised me/worried me.

I took a reading today (1st one), on Day 5, and it's at 1.025. That is giving me an attenuation of 71%--White Labs says the yeast should yield 73-80%. So I'm fairly close. But still thinking about that lack of 'afro-krausen.'

So, to sum up: after reading this thread, I THINK I'm convinced all I need is more time for all to be well. Anyone wanna back me up on this? Make me feel all tranquil so I can go back to being patient?
Click to expand...

Should be fine. Regardless it needs to sit in primary for at least 9 more days minimum. At that time if the FG is still high you might consider racking to secondary - I've found that the transfer sometimes kicks the yeast back into action and actually yields a couple more points.

If it ends up finishing low enough in primary on it's own I wouldn't fool with the secondary.
 
Its close to a month.

Still bubbling every 20 seconds or so.

Still pretty cloudy.. lot of sediment.

Took a gravity reading of 1.020.. it supposedly is supposed to finish at around 1.017.

Tastes really nice.

Seeing as that it is still bubbling away, there is no problem with me keeping it in the primary for another week or so to clear it?

Should I go to the secondary soon.. or could I wait?
 
syd138 said:
Its close to a month.

Still bubbling every 20 seconds or so.

Still pretty cloudy.. lot of sediment.

Took a gravity reading of 1.020.. it supposedly is supposed to finish at around 1.017.

Tastes really nice.

Seeing as that it is still bubbling away, there is no problem with me keeping it in the primary for another week or so to clear it?

Should I go to the secondary soon.. or could I wait?
Click to expand...

Either way and I think you're fine. Personally, I'd leave it in primary another week or two and rack to secondary for 2-3 weeks. A lot of folks on here are anti-secondary and will probably tell you to leave it in primary for a few more weeks and then bottle. Either way you should be fine. If you keep it in primary it'll eventually finish--if you rack to secondary you'll rouse enough yeast to finish that way to. :mug:
 
I'm in the same boat currently - I just brewed a quad using 3787 about ten days ago, and mine is still bubbling pretty furiously - which really threw me, too. I'm used to a beer fermenting in like 4 days.

FWIW, my plan is to wait a few weeks regardless of when it finishes bubbling, then rack it over to a secondary.

I know I'm a newb, but every beer I've moved to a secondary and aged properly has turned out better than the ones I bottled or kegged directly from primary. Doesn't mean I follow my own advice, though :) Sometimes it's just too tasty to wait any longer...
 
I usually don't use a secondary.

In this case I think it was necessary.

Its been a little over a month and I racked it to the secondary last night.

Already there is a good inch of sediment on the bottom of the carboy.

Lot of junk in there that needs to get settled out.

I'll probably leave it for another 2-3 weeks before I bottle.

Im just hoping to have it ready to drink by Christmas
 
syd138 said:
I'll probably leave it for another 2-3 weeks before I bottle.
Click to expand...

Just take a gravity reading to see if the beer is done or not:
- 4 gravity points are about 1°Plato;
- 1°P are 10gr of unfermented sugar per 1kg of beer;
- 10gr of unfermented sugar per 1kg of beer is a priming of about 2,5 atm + the CO2 you have dissolved in your beer + the priming you normally make.

As you can see it's pretty easy to get a bottle with 4-5atm inside, which can turn out to explode and make explode all the similar bottles around it...

It's easy to underestimate the power of a bunch of gravity points, expecially if you start with a high OG...

Cheers!
Piteko
 

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