A little advice please...

I am brewing an American lager (first brew).

It has been fermenting for 11 days. Seemed to ferment quickly with a lot of activity the first 3 days (68*-70*) then bubbling in air lock slowed down a lot since (58*-65*).

I thought my airlock activity had stopped when I went to take my first hydro reading today and then I saw it bubble. It turns out it is bubbling about once every 35-40 seconds. I took a reading anyway and it came out as 1.006 and the target is 1.008.

I planned on taking another reading tomorrow afternoon but if it is still bubbling slowly does that mean it needs to sit longer?

I know the hydro will tell me if it's done but I thought it would stop bubbling too.

It tasted Delicious by the way!

Bubbling can be caused by a lot of things, temperature or pressure change, or even just physical displacement. Stand by the hydrometer reading, and once its stable over a few days, then it's done.

When you mess with whatever you're fermenting it in, it will bubble again for a bit. You're FG is there, so you're ready to bottle. It will stop bubbling again tonight and then will start when you mess with it again tomorrow.

Bubbling (or not-bubbling) air locks are not a reliable indication of fermentation status.

The hydrometer is the best tool to determine if fermentation is complete.

Seven said:

Bubbling (or not-bubbling) air locks are not a reliable indication of fermentation status.

The hydrometer is the best tool to determine if fermentation is complete.

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I couldnt agree more! always trust your hydrometer, not your airlock.

And... leave it sit at least another week or two to improve before you secondary or bottle/keg.

B

let it sit. maybe check the temp.

I think the biggest misconception is people saying "its done" when the hydro says it is.If that were the case id probably be botteling all my batches before a week is up.Its mostly done with eating if at a finished gravity but just beginning conditioning and its faster to let it condition on the yeast cake than it would be too early in a bottle.Meaning keep it in even if your hydrometer/airlock or (the demon of impatience) is begging you to bottle it.

I think I will leave it for the recommended 14 days at least and coincide with the hydro readings. I appreciate the help.

Waiting sucks!

I didnt realize you said lager. Dont lagers take like 4-5 weeks min in primary? Not trying to be a d*%& but this has kind of been a reason i havent done a lager yet, or big alcohol beers, although ive been doing ipa's stouts porters but not high alcohol.
Brew some more. Start a pipeline. That will kill the waiting. It will turn out great the longer you wait.

the good old 1-2-3 rule. 1 week fermentation, 2 week condition, 3 weeks in bottle.

all brews are different but that's a pretty good place to start, if you can stand waiting, which if its your first brew you may not. otherwise, its good.

As for lagers, phew. I've got mine in primary for at least 2 to 3 weeks before lagering for a month or so, then bottle. but thats a different ballgame.

I just noticed the lager part myself, if it is a true lager it should be fermented quite a bit cooler than the temps you were at, (usually 45-55°) when fermentation is like 75% finished based on hydrometer readings you raise the temp by 10° for a few days to let the yeast clean up any diacetyl, then slowly drop the temp by 3° per day until you reach lagering temps of 33-35° and leave it for 1 week per 10 gravity points, so a 1.050 lager would go for 5 weeks at 33-35° after fermentation is completed.

I know what you mean about the "lager" thing. I am going by the directions in the kit and it stated 7-14 days in primary then bottle and condition for two weeks. It looks and tastes great with the target OG so I plan on waiting at least the full 14 days. Now that I have learned more about lagers, my next one will be done differently buti am still pretty optimistic anyway.

I'm actually more of an IPA guy, so lagers will most likely be rare in the future.

My thought is if your kit is an "American lager style" ale or a true lager, the yeasts are completely different and require different temp ranges, if it uses ale yeast you are in MUCH better shape.