I brewed a porter nearly two months ago. After two weeks in "primary", I transferred the beer into secondary onto oak cubes which had been soaking in whiskey for three days. The cubes were purchased new and transferred directly from their plastic bag into the whiskey. Other than soaking them in whiskey, I made no attempt to sanitize or sterilize the cubes.
Once transferred, the (glass) carboy was quite full and the cubes were half-submerged half-floating in a thick mass near the top where they practically block the neck.
About a week later, I noticed that there were quite a few bubbles forming around the oak. Given that I had reached my expected FG, I chalked this up to the oak somehow stimulating release of CO2 which had been dissolved in the beer. But the volume of bubbles continued to increase, and even now, they're streaming up into a thick layer of foam in the neck of the carboy.
Roughly two weeks ago, I took a very small sample and tasted it. It was delicious and not at all sour. In fact, I might consider bottling it now if I weren't concerned about the continued bubbling...
What kinds of tests can I perform to figure out what's going on?
Am I right to assume that it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to package the result as long as there's such visible gas production?
Once transferred, the (glass) carboy was quite full and the cubes were half-submerged half-floating in a thick mass near the top where they practically block the neck.
About a week later, I noticed that there were quite a few bubbles forming around the oak. Given that I had reached my expected FG, I chalked this up to the oak somehow stimulating release of CO2 which had been dissolved in the beer. But the volume of bubbles continued to increase, and even now, they're streaming up into a thick layer of foam in the neck of the carboy.
Roughly two weeks ago, I took a very small sample and tasted it. It was delicious and not at all sour. In fact, I might consider bottling it now if I weren't concerned about the continued bubbling...
What kinds of tests can I perform to figure out what's going on?
Am I right to assume that it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to package the result as long as there's such visible gas production?