wort won't stop bubbling

So I whipped up a partial mash Russian imperial stout with an o.g. of 1.095. Of course i did a yeast starter (Belgium strong ale yeast) 2 days before and pitched the yeast at about 75 degrees. In about a day it was bubbling so much it damn near blew the airlock off, wort was bubbling out of the airlock, and the temp was reading 78 on fermenting bucket.

After about a week the temp settled to 70 and was still bubbling vigorously. Fast fwd 3 weeks and it Is still bubbling at about 2 blurbles a min. Did a gravity reading and it's at 1.050 and it really doesn't taste bad at all nor does it smell bad. I'm fact it smells pretty good.

Should I just let it keep fermenting? Shouldn't it be done by now?

kenstogie said:

So I whipped up a partial mash Russian imperial stout with an o.g. of 1.095 did a yeast starter (Belgium strong ale yeast) 2 days before and pitched the yeast at about 75 degrees. In about a day it was bubbling so much it damn near blew the airlock off, wort was bubbling out of the airlock, and the temp was reading 78 on fermenting bucket.

After about a week the temp settled to 70 and was still bubbling vigorously. Fast fwd 3 weeks and it Is still bubbling at about 2 blurbles a min. Did a gravity reading and it's at 1.050 and it really doesn't taste bad at all nor does it smell bad.

Should I just let it keep fermenting? Shouldn't it be done by now?

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Check again in a few days. If it's still the same. It's stuck/done. 50 is pretty high, even for a high gravity stout. Can you tell me more about the partial mash procedure and how that went?

I did the partial mash in the oven at 170 if I recall correctly for about an hour then sparged into my 6 gallon pot. Iadded my 9 lbs of dme and did the hour boil with various hops.

I will definitely check gravity in a few days.

I forgot to say this was my first partial mash.

kenstogie said:

I did the partial mash in the oven at 170 if I recall correctly for about an hour then sparged into my 6 gallon pot. Iadded my 9 lbs of dme and did the hour boil with various hops.

I will definitely check gravity in a few days.

I forgot to say this was my first partial mash.

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what grains and how much of them went into the PM? With that much DME I'd think it would come down just fine. Check in a few days, though. Also, try raising ambient temp where fermenter is by a few degrees and swirling it.

3lb Pale Malt (2 row) 1 lb Roasted Barley 1lb Black (Patent) Malt 1 lb Chocolate Malt 3/4 lb Wheat Malt. Wen I tasted it itches a very smoky, chocolatey taste. A touch to sweet but not bad really. I used a lot of hops.

kenstogie said:

3lb Pale Malt (2 row) 1 lb Roasted Barley 1lb Black (Patent) Malt 1 lb Chocolate Malt 3/4 lb Wheat Malt. Wen I tasted it itches a very smoky, chocolatey taste. A touch to sweet but not bad really. I used a lot of hops.

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WOW that's a lot of malty specialty grains! WOW! Still, I would expect the gravity to come down some. Ideally you'd want it in the 20's somewhere (1.020ish) for this beer.

Yup sure is, it was like $100 in ingredients!!

So I stirred up the wort a bit, and bumped the temp up 3 -4 degrees and here's what happened.....

-bubbling increased through the airlock to approximately 1 blurb per 5 -10 secs, sometimes more some times less
- took a gravity reading approximately 1.045 it's still fermenting.
-tasted a little and it's similar to Brooklyn black chocolate stout currently.

I didn't know beer would ferment this long and still going.

I have a DIPa that has been in fermenter will b 2 weeks on Sunday 1060 Og pretty standard and its still bubbling every 3 seconds

kenstogie said:

So I stirred up the wort a bit, and bumped the temp up 3 -4 degrees and here's what happened.....

-bubbling increased through the airlock to approximately 1 blurb per 5 -10 secs, sometimes more some times less
- took a gravity reading approximately 1.045 it's still fermenting.
-tasted a little and it's similar to Brooklyn black chocolate stout currently.

I didn't know beer would ferment this long and still going.

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Big beers take a long time.
Sounds like the yeast has given up though. Continue to rouse them by gently stirring and raising the temp. You really need to get it close to 1.020 to be drinkable. At last resort you may need to add more yeast or a wine yeast.

Most sodas are around 1.05; you don't want you beer to taste that sticky sweet do you?

The stirring and temp increase seemed to have livened them up but I will keep gently stirring and maybe bump the temp 1 or 2 more. It really doesn't taste bad now truth be told but would like as much as possible out 8f it. I surely don't want a soda beer yuck.


I also have to add that unfortunately this maybe the 3rd batch of less than stellar yeast from my nameless lhbs and though I do want to support them I won't at the cost of my beer.

I tend to brew high abv beer and found to be common, in fact the first time I had this issue with an Aventinus clone. The next day it had blown off the airlock. I had a geyser, my gf who was home and a non brewer had no idea what she should do. When i got home i created an extension from the airlock to a bucket with water with a tube so that the c02 has more length to escape. I don't recall what the technical term is called? But you can check it on utube.
Oh when I do something that will have high abv I tend to put the carboy on a cookie sheet so that if there is spillage it will be caught that way. Btw it's not done fermenting but the best way to know is to take a gravity reading between a couple days, if it doesn't move then its pretty done.
Good luck!

Be patient. Sounds like it's still chugging along. So long as you don't bump the temp much past say, 72ish, you'll be fine. Don't keep opening it though. At this point give it a week. You can swirl it without opening every so often if you want.

IF it fully stops at some point and is still above the 1.02X mark, you can get some beta amylase and add a teaspoon or less.

kenstogie said:

I also have to add that unfortunately this maybe the 3rd batch of less than stellar yeast from my nameless lhbs and though I do want to support them I won't at the cost of my beer.

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By the way, how much yeast did you pitch for this brew?

This beer really needed a 5 gallon starter; next time you decide to do a big brew (over 1.08 OG) you should use the yeast cake off of a previous lighter brew (1.04-1.06) to ensure you have enough yeast.
If you cannot do this, always consult Mr. Malty before doing a big beer:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

mredge73 said:

By the way, how much yeast did you pitch for this brew?

This beer really needed a 5 gallon starter; next time you decide to do a big brew (over 1.08 OG) you should use the yeast cake off of a previous lighter brew (1.04-1.06) to ensure you have enough yeast.
If you cannot do this, always consult Mr. Malty before doing a big beer:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

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What I did was a 2 day yeast starter. Forget how much dme but was according to tips from here..

1.050 is really high still... mashing at 170 is really high too, you may not have gotten much conversion out of it since the enzymes may have pooped out. Thus, there may be a lot of residual sugars floating around in there that won't ferment... You could try pitching another yeast in there (make a starter) to try to get it down farther.

Hopper5000 said:

1.050 is really high still... mashing at 170 is really high too, you may not have gotten much conversion out of it since the enzymes may have pooped out. Thus, there may be a lot of residual sugars floating around in there that won't ferment... You could try pitching another yeast in there (make a starter) to try to get it down farther.

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That's true, on the 170 thing. I just assumed he set his oven to 170 but actually mashed the grains lower and only used the oven to help maintain the temp. If the grain bed was actually 170 the whole time though, yes, it's probably a lot of unfermentables.

Amylase enzyme is the only thing that will bring that down.

kenstogie said:

So I whipped up a partial mash Russian imperial stout with an o.g. of 1.095. Of course i did a yeast starter (Belgium strong ale yeast) 2 days before and pitched the yeast at about 75 degrees. In about a day it was bubbling so much it damn near blew the airlock off, wort was bubbling out of the airlock, and the temp was reading 78 on fermenting bucket.

After about a week the temp settled to 70 and was still bubbling vigorously. Fast fwd 3 weeks and it Is still bubbling at about 2 blurbles a min. Did a gravity reading and it's at 1.050 and it really doesn't taste bad at all nor does it smell bad. I'm fact it smells pretty good.

Should I just let it keep fermenting? Shouldn't it be done by now?

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ERMAHGERRD!!! BLURBLES!!!

kenstogie said:

Yup sure is, it was like $100 in ingredients!!

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Why on Earth would that be $100 of ingredients?!?!?!

It's probably still fermenting. That's a big beer. I'd let it go.

If it's still bubbling, leave it alone. Everyone here likes to say not to use bubbles as an indicator, but if it's still bubbling and the temp isn't rising, there's activity.

Is there still krausen on top? I'd suggest leaving it alone until the bubbles stop, then check the gravity and go from there.

JordanThomas said:

ERMAHGERRD!!! BLURBLES!!!



Why on Earth would that be $100 of ingredients?!?!?!

It's probably still fermenting. That's a big beer. I'd let it go.

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That's what it cost at my lhbs. Looking at Austin hb a 1 lb bag of dme is about 4 bucks x 9 is 36 right there. Grains were another 20 atleast, hops probably 20, yeast pack, which I bought 2 bcuz the first one didn't take ( did the starter thing ) . Maybe 100 was hhigh but not really that high. Perhaps I bought some sanitizer or something too but really don't think so. And what does ERMAHGERRD mean any way?

170 is what the lhbs said I swear. I frankly am not as confident with there "guidance" as I could be at this point.

tre9er said:

That's true, on the 170 thing. I just assumed he set his oven to 170 but actually mashed the grains lower and only used the oven to help maintain the temp. If the grain bed was actually 170 the whole time though, yes, it's probably a lot of unfermentables.

Amylase enzyme is the only thing that will bring that down.

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Keep in mind that he did a partial mash, and most of the fermentables are coming from DME. While 170 is too high, that's most likely not the main culprit here.

Looking at mr.malty with a simple starter you would need a 4 liter starter for a OG of 1.080.

This bring to a question are all mash more inexpensive?

I can't believe DME is that expensive

tre9er said:

I can't believe DME is that expensive

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Why not? It's even more expensive at Midwest.

Keep in mind that DME has almost twice the sugar per pound as grain, not to mention that you automatically get 100% efficiency from it.

All grain is significantly cheaper. Especially if you have a bulk grain buy group in your area. Getting your grain in bulk for you can buy 2 Row for around 65 cents a pound with shipping.

danielbt said:

Why not? It's even more expensive at Midwest.

Keep in mind that DME has almost twice the sugar per pound as grain, not to mention that you automatically get 100% efficiency from it.

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I guess I just don't pay attention. I did exactly 1 extract kit, then a partial mash, then BIAB for 10 batches or so, and now electric kettles. Buying grain and hops in bulk I can brew 9G for under $20 if I have everything on hand.

170 is way too high, you will denature your enzymes and probably extract tannins out of the grains. You should pretty much always stay within the 148F to 156F range...

I like this mashing explanation althought you don't really need to recirculate as long as they say in here or sparge for as long as they say either...

http://morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/mmpdfs/mb/AllGrainBrewing.pdf

Here's some minimash instructions too:

http://morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/mmpdfs/mb/MiniMashBrewing.pdf

Thanks hopper, at the cost of all grain maybe I will Go that route. It's explained pretty well in that article.
Wort/beer is still bubbling, but follows this cycle...... swish around the wort bubbles consderably more for about 2 days do it again same result yet it will bubble for less time, though it will never stop completely. Still smells great. Although i am refraining, I am dying to open it up, take a gravity reading and sample 3 ozs or so.

Crazyirish, I never did really understand the calculators for how much yeast. I tried but it confused me. Guess I should do some studying.

Yeah I personally did a bit playing around with partial mashing and DME mixing but I do think it's the more expensive way to go in brewing when you miz the two. I never really understood why DME was so expensive myself (it's aroun $4 where I am from) vs LME which is 4 dollars. Granted DME takes up less volume but still. I think LME is about 36ppg and DME is about 45ppg so it's not even double the concentration, oh well...

As for the yeast calculator just take a look again, it's worth it to use and I think my brews have greatly improved using a starter, not to mention a huge reduction in lag time.

With Mr. Malty you just type in your batch size, OG and then it will tell you ho large of a starter you will need and how many vials/smack packs. I wouldn't worry about messing with growth factors and as for the aeration just use simple starter unless you have a sturr plate or something...

Just keep the water to DME ratio the same which is about 1/2 cup DME per 1 liter of water. The mak size it will tell you is about 3 liters per vial before it will have you use 2 vials/packs.

is this the calculator that you used? http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

If so pretty easy to use.

1) choose either Ale, Hybrid or Lager (hybrid is a cool fermented ale pretty much)
2) input in your OG
3) input your starting volume
4) read the production date off the vial or smack pack and input that number
5) select your type of starter
6) read the bottom #

ALE 1) choose either Ale etc (hybrid is a cool fermented ale pretty much)
1.095 2) input in your OG
5 gallons 3) input your starting volume
10/22/12 for simplicity 4) read the production date off the vial or smack pack and input that number
SIMPLE Also for simplicity 5) select your type of starter


6.85 liters?? 6) read the bottom

What does this number mean? 6 liters of a starter, how many packets of yeast would I use for this? How much dme? What if I was doing ag brewing?

kenstogie said:

ALE 1) choose either Ale etc (hybrid is a cool fermented ale pretty much)
1.095 2) input in your OG
5 gallons 3) input your starting volume
10/22/12 for simplicity 4) read the production date off the vial or smack pack and input that number
SIMPLE Also for simplicity 5) select your type of starter


6.85 liters?? 6) read the bottom

What does this number mean? 6 liters of a starter, how many packets of yeast would I use for this? How much dme? What if I was doing ag brewing?

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You can't just pick today's date for simplicity. You need the actual date of production. Also, don't use "SIMPLE" for simplicity, either. That will throw off the calculation bigtime as well. Do you have a stir plate? If not, you will need to make the starter on a day where you will be around A LOT, because you will want to shake it every 15 minutes or as much as humanly possible. If that's the case, choose "INTERMITTENT SHAKING."

No way 6.85L is actually what you need.

I input your numbers as you stated and got 2.34ltr simple starter. Not sure what happened but try reloading the app.

Jordan,

I just use simple starter because the intermitten shaking is based on you being able to shake it up every hour or two which I personally can not do.

Ken,

6 liters of starter sounds like a lot... something seems wrong with that. There's also http://yeastcalc.com/ which I find helpful if you are going to make a multiple step starter or just as an alternative to mr malty.

You should use the Ale setting instead of the Hybrid unless you are fermenting at a low temperature like for a california common or a kolsch.

mredge73 said:

By the way, how much yeast did you pitch for this brew?

This beer really needed a 5 gallon starter; next time you decide to do a big brew (over 1.08 OG) you should use the yeast cake off of a previous lighter brew (1.04-1.06) to ensure you have enough yeast.
If you cannot do this, always consult Mr. Malty before doing a big beer:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

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A 5 gallon yeast starter for a 5 gallon batch? Um yeah... Think about that for a minute please.

I actually would avoid using that calculator at all costs. Every comercial brewer I've ever talked to rolls their eyes a bit when someone mentions it.

Good solid aeration, some yeast nutrient in the boil, and 2x the normal 5g starter is all you need. And yes, it will keep on fermenting slowly f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Just keep checking it once a week or so.

luhrks said:

A 5 gallon yeast starter for a 5 gallon batch? Um yeah... Think about that for a minute please.

I actually would avoid using that calculator at all costs. Every comercial brewer I've ever talked to rolls their eyes a bit when someone mentions it.

Good solid aeration, some yeast nutrient in the boil, and 2x the normal 5g starter is all you need. And yes, it will keep on fermenting slowly f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Just keep checking it once a week or so.

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I think he meant a starter suitable for a 5g batch, not a 5g starter.

Sure, you can just pitch two packs for big beers, or 3-4 vials, but you can also make a starter and save money, or pitch slurry.

Do you think that Jamil is that far off? I am not defending his calculations. Honestly I don't follow his calculations 100% myself.

My god...it's a 5L starter...not a 5G starter. That's a reasonable size. You could probably get away with a 3-4L starter with no major off flavors. Or use 2 packs with a 1.5-2L starter. Or build a stir plate, etc. Mr malty calculator is a good reference for pitching rates. Pro brewers might scoff at it because it's so inaccurate when used for slurries. For starters from a smack pack or vial, it's an excellent tool.