I thought I would be ready to bottle this weekend until...

I've had a brown ale fermenting for two weeks exactly. Yesterday I took a hydro sample and planned to do another tomorrow and bottle if the readings were the same. Before I took a sample my airlock was bubbling about once every 4 minutes. Now this morning it's bubbling once every 20 seconds. Not sure what's going on here. My OG was 1.036 and the reading yesterday was 1.022. Should I leave it in fermentation for another week to give it time to settle down again?

If you started at 1.036 and you are now only at 1.022, then no, you are not ready to bottle. That's only about 30% attenuation. What kind of yeast did you use? Liquid, dry? What strain of yeast? Did you follow a recipe that listed OG and FG?

I used a packet of dry Muntons yeast that came with the kit. The kit listed the OG at 1.046. I came up a little short with my OG reading and, based on feedback from other members, it was likely due to not stirring the wort well enough when I moved it to the fermenter. So, presumably my OG may have actually been on target. Hard to say, but it's hard to screw up an extract kit. There was no FG listed with the kit.

unionrdr said:

With a 1.046OG,you should expect an FG of 1.010-1.012.

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Could it also be possible he's hitting the extract "wall" at 1.020? It's hard to tell yet, but considering it's a kit, you never know.

ianskate said:

Could it also be possible he's hitting the extract "wall" at 1.020? It's hard to tell yet, but considering it's a kit, you never know.

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No extract walls like that here after 12 kits. One of them was slow like this. I'd let it go for another week and measure again.

This was an extract kit, no? You probably started closer to 1.046 than 1.030; extract batches are notoriously hard to take reliable SG readings from, but generally come out about as advertised, unless you use the wrong volume of water.

Still, if the airlock is still bubbling and you're at 1.020, you've probably got more fermenting to go.

How warm is the wort? If you're down in the low 60's or lower, you might bring it up 70°, 72°, and give it a good swirl to "kick-start" your fermentation.

bubbling at this point doesnt tell you if its still fermenting or not. If the hydro sample is the same over between 3 days then its usually done. Some extract kits do finish at 1.02

Increased bubbling might be from a temperature variation in the house, or maybe the atmospheric pressure dropped. As others have said, trust the hydrometer, not the airlock.

Thanks for all the input. As of this morning, the temp on the stick-on fermometer on the bucket reads 66/70. But the temp of the sample I took on Friday was 76.7 (taken with my digital thermometer). The airlock is still bubbling about once every ten seconds now.

Sounds like the general consensus is to stir the wort a little and then let it sit for another week?

I would wait I'm having similar things with my brew I'm gonna give it 1 more week.

Give it time. You can't rush perfection

mikerobrewer said:

Thanks for all the input. As of this morning, the temp on the stick-on fermometer on the bucket reads 66/70. But the temp of the sample I took on Friday was 76.7 (taken with my digital thermometer). The airlock is still bubbling about once every ten seconds now.

Sounds like the general consensus is to stir the wort a little and then let it sit for another week?

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No. Do NOT stir!!!!!

Walk away for a week or so, and then take an SG. But do NOT stir!

Yooper said:

No. Do NOT stir!!!!!

Walk away for a week or so, and then take an SG. But do NOT stir!

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Why not stir? His headspace is almost certainly free of O2 by this point if he took the sample through the airlock hole.

Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

I sometimes forget that not everybody has a freakishly long 18" pyrex dropper for their samples.

Stirring didn't seem like a good idea when I first heard it. I've heard arguments both ways, but decided against it mainly because I don't want to risk any contamination by removing the entire lid off the fermenter. I'm just going to leave it and take another measurement this coming Friday and then check again the following Sunday and make a bottling decision based on my measurements.

YAY!

Great answer!

Hydro, hydro, hydro readings are the "proper" way to ensure when fermentation is done.

They don't want you to stir because no matter how sanitary you are, you'll cause oxidation.

Update: gravity reading today was 1.012. That extra week seems to have done the trick. I'll be bottling this weekend.

mikerobrewer said:

Update: gravity reading today was 1.012. That extra week seems to have done the trick. I'll be bottling this weekend.

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Good to hear it. Hope it turns out tasty.