Never-ending fermentation. Hmm... need help.

I did my first AG brew about a month or so ago. I had previously done just extract kits, but decided to step it up. Did a double IPA with an OG of 1.083, and used WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast. It was was my first time using a liquid culture, and I did not use a starter because I didn't have one, I pitched it directly into the wort at about 73 degrees. Lag time was about 24 hours, and high krausen didnt start until about 3 days after pitching.

I'm not sure what happened here, but I brewed on Sept 12, it is now Oct 7 and it is still pushing out CO2. I racked it to secondary about 10 days after brewday, airlock was bubbling once every 25 seconds, and added 2 oz of pellets to dry hop. I took a throw-away reading and it was still at 1.023, which is very high from what I was told that the WLP090 would do. In the carboy, I could still see salt-grain-sized bubbles coming up along the inner walls of the glass, and just a week ago, the bubbling had slowed down to about 1 bubble every 4 minutes.

As of now, almost a month later, it is down to 1 bubble about every 8 minutes. I can still see the tiny bubbles coming up and breaking the hop layer apart from the surface of the beer. Oh man , I've never had anything like this happen before. I always sanitize meticulously, never compromising cleanliness. I used a sanitized wine theif and took a reading the other day, and it is STILL at 1.023, which is very strange. Figured it would be drying out with all this CO2 coming out.

What happened here? Wh the hell is it still bubbling? I included all the details with hopes that maybe someone can give me an idea of where things went wrong. Bad yeast? Did it have a mutant or wild cell that is eating the non-fermentable sugars? I'm kinda stumped....

You severely underpitched, then transferred off the yeast cake (most likely) before fermentation was complete, that's why the FG is so high. Airlock bubbling isn't an indication of fermentation happening or not, it could just be off gassing. If it's been at 1.023 for more than a few days, that's probably as far as it's going.

Next time you're using liquid yeast, make a starter I think you'll have better luck!

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Ok, makes sense, other than I would think that if I underpitched, the yeast would wear out very QUICKLY as opposed to going on forever. So when will it be safe to bottle? I'm tired of waiting

The way I'm reading your post, you took two gravity readings, over a week apart, and they were the same, correct? Bottle now! You're good to go

The FG could also be higher depending on the mash temp, what was the mash temp?

I'm in the EXACT same boat as the op...except I made a 2L starter. OG was 3 points higher. Took a reading today at 1.026 after two weeks in primary. So I put another vial of WLP090 into the primary. Hopefully that will kick it back into gear. Wonder if something is up with the strain....

Mashed 16 lbs @ 152 degrees for 75 minutes.

ChessRockwell said:

The way I'm reading your post, you took two gravity readings, over a week apart, and they were the same, correct? Bottle now! You're good to go

Click to expand...

Yes, they were exactly the same, both sampled at the same exact temperature. Odd, eh?

not odd. It just means that fermentation is done. It's time to bottle.

BitterBomz said:

Yes, they were exactly the same, both sampled at the same exact temperature. Odd, eh?

Click to expand...

Just means it's done! 1.023 is a little high-ish, but not really all that bad. Hopefully you hopped the hell out of it

Uziyahu said:

not odd. It just means that fermentation is done. It's time to bottle.

Click to expand...

This!! 1.023 is high, but far from undrinkable IMHO.

Uziyahu said:

not odd. It just means that fermentation is done. It's time to bottle.

Click to expand...

Ok, I'm going to do a tertiary only because I did a lot of dry hopping. 3 oz of pellets, total. Lots of trub on the bottom of the carboy. Plus, I'm a little worried about bottling just yet, considering that expanding gasses are still being produced. I wouldn't want any exploding bottles. Hopefully in a week from now, there will be NO MORE CO2! :cross: What a trippy brew experience! I just figured I bought a contaminated yeast. Thanks for all the help, guys.