Still Bubbles after 12 Days . How do I know when to rack?

Hey guys, I brewed an IPA over a week ago (1/4). It had an OG of 1.063. I used white labs yeast and made a starter. I aerated the wort by shaking. Same with the starter which I did 2 days prior and shook that periodically until I pitched. The fermentation took almost 24 hrs to start and it never got to be very vigorous. I have blow off tubes installed and the krausen hasnt even risen into them. As of right now there are still intermittent bubbles coming out of the blow off tube. My question is: Is it possible it is still fermenting in which case I should wait til there are no more bubbles before racking? Thanks

It wont hurt it to sit on the primary for a while. I usually go 3-4 weeks primary no secondary.
If you want to rack it you can.
If you want to know if its done or not take a hydrometer reading today and another in 2-3 days, if they are the same its done.

3 weeks in primary minimum. Its not ready.

Thanks, maybe i'll let it sit in primary for another week. I have to dry hop so i have no choice but to rack it to a secondary after that.

When in doubt, just wait.

You could also do hydrometer readings and if it's the same for 3 days steady you can rack

Most home brewers dry hop in the primary. A secondary is really unnecessary for an IPA.

Jayhem said:

3 weeks in primary minimum. Its not ready.

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++1
Slainte

Jayhem said:

Most home brewers dry hop in the primary. A secondary is really unnecessary for an IPA.

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I agree all my IPA's get dry hoped in primary. No secondary for them.

Jayhem said:

3 weeks in primary minimum. Its not ready.

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I disagree with the implication that there are some hard and fast rules for how long you need to leave the beer on the yeast.

Here's an idea...take a hydrometer reading. If it is steady for 3 days, the beer can be racked to a secondary vesel (unnecessary) or packaged. This assumes you had a healthy fermentation, with the proper pitch rate and O2 levels.

If you didn't ferment the beer correctly, leaving it on the yeast will aid somewhat in diminishing some off-flavors. But again, you're now trying to correct an avoidable problem on the back end.

The ever-popular "3-week primary!" that is so often parroted around here is an outgrowth of compensating for novice and/or poor fermentation practices. It is completely unnecessary for most average gravity beers, if care is taken at the start of the process.

Believe me, professional brewers don't leave their beer on the yeast for 3 weeks, and you shouldn't have to either. Why? Because they have impeccable fermentation practices. This is achievable at home.

g-star said:

Believe me, professional brewers don't leave their beer on the yeast for 3 weeks, and you shouldn't have to either. Why? Because they have impeccable fermentation practices. This is achievable at home.

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While I agree with this, the OP is a new brewer and cannot possibly have impeccable fermentation practices at this stage. Even a perfectly fermented beer will not be damaged by leaving in the primary a bit longer and there is always that chance that something went wrong in your impeccable process so most leave it in longer than necessary for safe guard.

Jayhem said:

While I agree with this, the OP is a new brewer and cannot possibly have impeccable fermentation practices at this stage. Even a perfectly fermented beer will not be damaged by leaving in the primary a bit longer and there is always that chance that something went wrong in your impeccable process so most leave it in longer than necessary for safe guard.

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I agree with this 100%. Even for experience brewers, if they bottle it's much safer to let the beer go for a long primary.

I rarely let mine go more than about 10 days, but then I keg. Kegging has some great advantages in this respect. I think many of the brewers here who support shorter fermentation time are keggers because it obviates much of the "bottle bomb"/"gusher", "cloudy beer", and other risks.

Wait. I usually also go three to four weeks there is no point in rushing you will end up with a better end product. I rarely ever secondary just cause it almost is unnecessary. I was in the early in my homebrew career but I have not noticed a difference really.

Thanks for the feedback guys. To help clear this up I will say that my fermentation practice on this batch was not impeccable. I'm pretty certain I did not provide proper oxygen levels for the starter as well as the wort. Nontheless the wort is fermenting, just not at an impeccable level from what I can tell. It is correct that I am trying to save the $70 investment after the fact as oposed to getting it right initially, but I guess you live and learn. This is my first higher gravity batch using liquid yeast. I have already ordered an oxygen stone for future batches.

As for the dry hopping, Mitch Steele, in his book "IPA", recommends dry hopping after yeast has been removed (or wort removed from yeast) for the purpose of "allowing hop flavors to be extracted without interference or absorption by the yeast". That is why I planned on racking to a secondary.

BigHead33 said:

As for the dry hopping, Mitch Steele, in his book "IPA", recommends dry hopping after yeast has been removed (or wort removed from yeast) for the purpose of "allowing hop flavors to be extracted without interference or absorption by the yeast". That is why I planned on racking to a secondary.

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I do agree with this for the most part, but if you let your beer clear in the primary for a couple weeks once fermentation is finished the yeast will mostly all be settled out in a layer at the bottom and the beer can absorb the dry hop aroma!

I can see there is already a defined yeast cake layer at the bottom, but I'm not sure that the beer has "cleared out" yet. Would you recommend me waiting another week then putting the dry hops in primary for a week after that?

If I can avoid racking to a secondary I would certainly like to do that being that it is a lot of work for 10 gals not to mention opens up the possibility for contamination.

I keg my beer. If I choose to not rack and have the beer in primary for 4 weeks, what is the minimum time you recommend I age/condition it in the keg and should this be done at the same temp I fermented at? Thanks