My IPA wont stop

Okay, so I have an IPA that's been in the fermenter for 22 days now and is still slowly outgassing. It takes several minutes for the airlock to bubble but it still does. It smells/looks fine and cleared very well. I'm using wyeast's northwest ale (if that matters). got any thoughts? will this cause excessive carbonation if bottled now? Could it be infected even thought it seems like it is not?
school

Oh and i know everyone is going to say to take a hydro reading.. i havn't but the reading is not my question. why is it outgassing?

It smells/looks fine

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That's cause it is! What's the temperature like where your fermenter is? I brewed an IPA this summer and my basement was 61 degrees which was the lower end of the yeast's range. I got slow bubbling for a good 2 weeks then the last week it was SUPER slow but still apparent bubbling for another 2 weeks (1 ever 30-120 seconds). Finally I'd say after a good 4 weeks it stopped and I did my gravity reading. 1.071 down to 1.020. Not the best and could have gone a bit more but after several more weeks it stayed there and it was the best damn beer I've had! It literally vanished from my fridge once others had tried some.

A lot of people (myself included) prefer to the cooler, low/slow fermentation of ales. I for one wish I could but I don't live in that house with the basement 10 out of 12 months a year so I am limited to my apartment.

This will not affect carbonation since you do not have the beer sealed and the CO2 is just leaving the airlock.

Unless you see yickies growing on the top that is not yeast or anything, you are fine!

RDWHAHB!

CO2 exiting through your airlock is not an indicator that you have active fermentation. The CO2 created from your yeast can be a past event that was dissolved in solution that is now coming out.

It is probably just CO2 escaping from solution or even from the trub. I used a WLP005 on my current Holiday Ale. White Labs says its a bottom fermenting strain. If I sit and watch occaisionally see a large bubble (like marble sized) come up from the bottom. Its been in there 17 days now. This is most likely gas pockets that have built under the trub as the particulates settled in the final slower stages of fermentation (when the thing wasn't churning like a Hobart Mixer). Makes sense to me why I see that anyway..... Considering my last Hydro reading I doubt its still fermenting. Started at 1.066 and is sitting at 1.018 which is pretty much perfect attenuation for the strain..

I have a Flanders that's been in secondary for a year now and every once in a while when I'm downstairs the dang thing still bubbles the airlock. Why? just a buildup of gasses. The fact that activity continues does not mean that your beer is still fermenting.

Follow your own advice and take a reading, that will tell you for sure.

Most likely it's residual CO2 still coming out of solution. Temperature fluctuations can also cause the airlock to bubble. When your fermentation vessel warms up, the pressure increases. Likewise, rapid cooling can also cause airlock water to get sucked in if you use a 3-piece.

It's been in there 22 days and you haven't taken a gravity reading?

yeah i did about a week into it. it was still about 1.025

havn't got around to taking another one, a brew buddy and I are thinking we still might dry hop it. If hops direct would have shipped the goods when they said they would it would already be in there.