nick55555

Recipes 

Greetings,

I brewed up a Belgian Tripel extract kit about two weeks ago now and it is still bubbling away! Has anyone heard of this or experienced it? I haven't bothered checking the SG yet since it is still bubbling and has a nice head (karausen sp?), but I am going to start taking measurements tonight.

Don't have OG/FG on hand, but I did use a yeast starter/booster, and it is a High Gravity Ale (actually, I believe that the OG (?FG?) is estimated at 1.079). Is this a common thing, or is my beer just going to kick some major ass?

Also (on an unrelated note), I realize that this is quite the opposite of a "stuck" fermentation, but how does one identify a "stuck" fermentation? Do you guys keep some extra yeast [of the same strain] around just in case you need to "un-stick" a fermentation?

Cheers and beers,
-Nick

DeathBrewer

Recipes 

sounds perfectly normal to me. don't rack that sucker until you reach your target FG.

If you rack to early, you'll lose alot of the yeast and the rest won't be able to handle it and they'll go dormant. THAT is a stuck fermentation.

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david_42

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High gravity ales take longer for multiple reasons.

A stuck fermentation is one where the gravity stops changing way above the target final gravity. For example, a 1.040 OG should end up around 1.010. If it stays at 1.020 for 3-4 days, it is probably stuck. That's when you get out your packet of dried yeast and re-pitch.

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nick55555

Recipes 

Oh, I have no intentions of racking it... I wanna see how long it can go!!! The only reason I do want it to be done is because I crushed up some specialty grains at my HBS and it is nearing the one week mark (they recommend using it within a week after crushing).

Oh well, guess I just have to go out and get another primary fermenter... and I might as well get another secondary or two and another extract kit while I am at it!

EDIT: Oh yeah; how do you guys estimate the FG? The OG is the pre-pitch gravity (correct?), and that is also indicated on my kit... how do you estimate either of them without a kit for that matter? Is that when once uses one of those funky graphs?

sirsloop

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My 1.100 Pistoles is still bubbling once every 5 seconds after 10 days in primary...

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malkore

Recipes 

A few ways to determine FG.
I like to take OG, drop the 1.0 from the beginning. say its 1.040. so, 40.

take that times the apparent attenuation of your yeast...we'll say 75% for a nice even number. so 40 * 75% = 30. 30 is how many gravity points you should lose, so subtract that from OG: 40-30=10...1.010 is the estimated FG.

there are other methods but that's a good way to ballpark it. as long as you're close to that gravity for 3 days, the beer's "done"

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Malkore
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Joker

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Why take a hydrometer reading if it is still actively fermenting? Everytime you mess with it you risk invection.

shafferpilot

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yeah, leave it alone till the krausen drops

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Ridge Runner

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[QUOTE=malkore]A few ways to determine FG.
I like to take OG, drop the 1.0 from the beginning. say its 1.040. so, 40.

take that times the apparent attenuation of your yeast...we'll say 75% for a nice even number. so 40 * 75% = 30. 30 is how many gravity points you should lose, so subtract that from OG: 40-30=10...1.010 is the estimated FG.[QUOTE=malkore]

for a moment of clarity.

TheJadedDog

Recipes 

All my big beers take a while to ferment. Just give it time.

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