Long Fermentation?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

CABCDEFG

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2006
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
San Diego, CA
I am brewing a Belgian wit, using 5 pounds of wheat extract and 2.5 pounds of honey, which I added at the beginning of the boil. I used White Labs Belgian Wit yeast to ferment.

The beer has been actively fermenting (bubble through the airlock every 15 sec. or so) for over 10 days now. There is still about an inch of Krausen (sp?) on top. Should I have cause for concern?

Also, I assume I should wait until fermentation slows down to rack to secondary?

Thanks for any help.

Jeff
 
Couple 'a things come to mind.

Check your fermentation temperature. Colder temps will slow down the ferment significantly. It should be about 70-72 F.

Gently rock your fermenter back and forth to see if the krausen will break up and fall. It could just be a little stiff and hanging on the sides of the fermenter. Careful not to agitate the brew to much though.

Good Luck and don't worry to much. It'll be fine in the end.
 
Honey seems to slow things down and they're 40% of your fermentables. I've seen meads go a year before they were done. Wait until the fermentation is almost stopped before racking.
 
david_42 said:
Honey seems to slow things down

So true... espectially on road trips. Seems like you gotta stop ever bloody reststop and heven forbit you go 3 miles over the speed limit you know....
 
Michael_Schaap said:
So true... espectially on road trips. Seems like you gotta stop ever bloody reststop and heven forbit you go 3 miles over the speed limit you know....


LOL!!!!!!!!!!
 
You worry when there is no action and you have an inch of fuzz on top. What you describe sounds fine to me. That is a fair amount to ferment, especially as has been pointed out, you are using honey.

How long did it take to get rolling at the beginning?
 
It's been about 15 days now, and it has slowed down, but is still bubbling about every 20 - 25 seconds. There's still a layer of krausen on top, but it appears to be thinning out now.

I don't know exactly how long it took to get started, as I had left, but it was going within 6 hours I would say at the most.

Absent any advice to the contrary, I'll probably wait a couple more days then rack it to the secondary, and keep it there for about a week?
 
Well I don't know if the long fermentation was a sign, but I definitely screwed this batch up. Can't explain the aftertaste exactly, but it tastes pretty bad, and the initial taste isn't good either.

I think my problem might have been that I didn't use a yeast starter for the high gravity initially.

Oh well, 1/2 so far...
 
Back
Top