Still fermenting at 30 days?

I know.. air lock activity does not = fermentation.. change in air temp ect can cause expansion of the beer to cause a airlock bubble. Lack of airlock activity could be just a leaking bucket lid... ect.

BUT.. in my temp controlled fermentation chamber that holds to within 1 deg f I have two 5.25 gal batches of beer fermenting (well I would have thought done fermenting).
Blue Moon clone at day 31
OG 1.052
Todays gravity is 1.011 (temp corrected) with a recipe target of 1.012
and
JG American IPA at day 30
OG 1.055
Todays gravity is 1.025 (temp corrected) No recipe target FG as I made this one up with some help...

I suspect it is the JG American IPA at day 30 that is still working.. but not positive.

Both used blow off tubes in to a glass jar of starsan.. and one of them suckers is still fermenting and blowing bubbles every few hours.

Im popping lids today to get Hyd readings and install standard airlocks.
Though with releasing all trapped C02.... I don't expect air lock activity anytime soon.

I'll check gravity again on thursday and we will see what we see.

The question is.... in a temp controlled fermentation chamber (68deg f ) I can see the yeast doing clean up duty... but active fermentation producing enough co2 to bubble an air lock every few hours?

The beer is not the only variable with pressure change. Atmospheric pressure also matters. And just by opening the chamber door the pressure changes.

Trust your hydrometer, not bubbles. The only way it's not done at 30 days is if it's a) infected or b) a lager

Agreed, your hydrometer will tell you if it is ready.

TyTanium said:

The beer is not the only variable with pressure change. Atmospheric pressure also matters. And just by opening the chamber door the pressure changes.

Trust your hydrometer, not bubbles. The only way it's not done at 30 days is if it's a) infected or b) a lager

Click to expand...

And I would say that even a lager would be done in less than 30 days, unless it was grossly underpitched and held too cold.

When we get storms moving through, I have carboys of wine bulk aging (long finished) that will start to produce airlock bubbling. That's why I always leave an airlock on, even in a wine a year old, due to barometic pressure changes causing some off-gassing.

Thanks all, that's what I thought.. but wanted some hand hold ....LOL.

Im really wanting to bottle, so I can brew again... but will hold off a BIT longer to get another reading on Thur.

Perhaps I'll brew a recipe using a Belgian Saison yeast and let it ferment at room temp.....(chamber only holds two buckets)

Yooper said:

And I would say that even a lager would be done in less than 30 days, unless it was grossly underpitched and held too cold.

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The Blue Moon clone is a LBH recipe partial mash and I did not deviate from the recipe,.. so unless I harmed the dry yeast.. it should not have been under pitched

The JG American IPA is a recipe built by a friend around some hops my son sent me from Oregon.... It is nothing wild, and a standard (for me) 5 gal batch... pretty sure it to was pitched sufficiently.

Both have been temp controlled since day one and set at a comfy 70deg wort (now beer) temp

Both my buckets use a gycol filled test tube like deal that is inserted in the bucket lid, so that the temp probe in the glycol (which is 2in below wort surface level) is getting a true wort temp

TyTanium said:

The beer is not the only variable with pressure change. Atmospheric pressure also matters. And just by opening the chamber door the pressure changes.

Trust your hydrometer, not bubbles. The only way it's not done at 30 days is if it's a) infected or b) a lager

Click to expand...

Neither bucket shows signs of infection.

So in the end, your hydrometer will let you know what is going on. Blue moon certainly appears to be done, you could package that one Thursday to have space for your next brew (to be completed this weekend )

I would have thought the IPA would have 1) enjoyed a cooler ferment temp, and 2) should have long been finished if it was on the upper end of its range. So I do have a concern on that one. Certainly double check Thursday, and if no change, may be worth a try to gently rouse the yeast back into suspension.

twistr25 said:

So in the end, your hydrometer will let you know what is going on. Blue moon certainly appears to be done, you could package that one Thursday to have space for your next brew (to be completed this weekend )

I would have thought the IPA would have 1) enjoyed a cooler ferment temp, and 2) should have long been finished if it was on the upper end of its range. So I do have a concern on that one. Certainly double check Thursday, and if no change, may be worth a try to gently rouse the yeast back into suspension.

Click to expand...

I will take another reading in a bit in the IPA....

JG American IPA

2.5LB 2-ROW
1/2 LB Amber
1LB Crystal 60L
1/2 LB Munich
6LB Light DME
BRY-97 West Coast Ale

Mash Temp: 148º for 60 min

Sparge with 4qt 170 deg water

Start the boil: with 4 gal of steeping results and 6LB Light DME mixed in.
Then:
1 oz. Willamette (First Wort Hops)
0.5 oz. Cascade (60 min.)
0.5 oz. Cascade (30 min.)
1.0 oz. Cascade (5 min.)
1.0 oz. Cascade (Flameout)
1.0 oz. Willamette (7-day dry hop)

Boil time: 60 min.

Click to expand...

The beer thief I use is a pain with the hydrometer as it tends to stick to the sides of the thief unless you fill the thief to the top.. which it will not do with 5 gal in a 6.5 gal bucket (thief is too long)

As for the temp on the IPA... what can I say.. I can only control temps in the entire chamber... so I choose what was suggest would work for both.

Tasting from the beer thief, I do not seem to have any off flavors associated to to high a fermentation temp.. but time will tell.

Thanks

I wasn't implying you would get off flavors, just sometimes yeast can be finicky about what temp they prefer to be at for maximum production.

I'm not real in-tune with it yet, but your mash temp seems a bit off, I haven't done one below 152, could be the style differences, but it may be possible you didn't convert as much sugar as you thought, which may leave you a bit high.

Using your ingredients in Brewer's Friend, with 70% efficiency, I came up with an OG of 1.066. So if you were a full 10 points lower than that on your OG, maybe that has something to do with it. Unless I'm wrong.

I typically pull a sample with the thief and transfer it to the tube I store my hydrometer in. You have to balance it right, but it works pretty well.

twistr25 said:

I wasn't implying you would get off flavors, just sometimes yeast can be finicky about what temp they prefer to be at for maximum production.

I'm not real in-tune with it yet, but your mash temp seems a bit off, I haven't done one below 152, could be the style differences, but it may be possible you didn't convert as much sugar as you thought, which may leave you a bit high.

Using your ingredients in Brewer's Friend, with 70% efficiency, I came up with an OG of 1.066. So if you were a full 10 points lower than that on your OG, maybe that has something to do with it. Unless I'm wrong.

I typically pull a sample with the thief and transfer it to the tube I store my hydrometer in. You have to balance it right, but it works pretty well.

Click to expand...

Good eye.. two things....

That was the recipe,, not my notes from the brew day.(i keep unpublished blog formatted running notes for all my brews, start to drinking the last bottle)

I steeped at 152-155 for 60 minutes, because that is what I was taught and what has worked previously. This is the one deviation from the recipe created as an All grain by one long time brewer friend and then converted to partial mash by my LHBS

I do not trust my OG for this batch.... it was not till the following batch I realized the issue of a sticking hydrometer deal.