Belgian Wheat Still Going... and going and going...

Hey all,

I did a Belgian Wheat partial mash from AHS a couple weeks ago. I had it in the primary for two weeks. Everything was good at the start - started fermenting and i saw the bubbles coming out of the airlock for a good week. Started to die down after the first week, but about every 5-10 seconds I would see another bubble. Usually, I would transfer to secondary after the first week, but I saw the bubbles and figured a couple more days would be good to mellow out the bubbles. I transferred the brew to secondary after two weeks and the gravity read about where it should (went from 1.060 to 1.016 - pretty close to the instructions). After a day, the airlock couldn't handle the furious bubbling and started to foam out a little bit. I switched it to a hose and a bucket of sanitized water after that. So now approaching 3 weeks (2 in primary, 1 in secondary) and it's STILL bubbling about every 5-10 seconds. Just a bubble, but it's still producing CO2.

So the question is, what's going on with it? I tasted it between primary and secondary and it tasted like beer.... nothing funky. Should I wait another week in the secondary before bottling? I'm using the White Labs Belgian Wit (WLP400) yeast. Any help would be great. Thanks.

that yeast can take a long time to ferment and the krausen drop. Just give it time, maybe take a hydrometer reading, but time will cure all.

By long time, how much time should I leave it in the secondary? another 2 weeks?

I'd say leave it until it's done. When the gravity remains the same for a number of days in row, you should be set. I have a steam beer that I'll (finally) be kegging this week. It was one week in the primary and three so far in the secondary. It took that long to get 3 consistent readings over the span of 6 days.

jokerdave said:

By long time, how much time should I leave it in the secondary? another 2 weeks?

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sure, whatever it takes for the krausen to drop and the gravity readings to become stable. remember this isn't an exact science. I have a beer that's been done for a week but it's still in the primary cause I'm too lazy to rack it

i made an all grain blue moon clone. I used the AHB recipe. It took a little longer to reach the final few points..but it got there... I kegged it last week....and I have to say its one of the best beers I have made so far...everybody seems to like it a lot. They all say it is smoother than Blue Moon. I have to make another batch this week because they almost tapped me out in one poker night!

I have a batch going that behaving a bit like yours. It's been over two weeks in the primary.... still bubbling.

Whatevar, I'll let it go as long as it needs. I'm patient.

I'd say to leave it sit for another week. Just close the closet door and forget about it if you can.

From my experience Belgian yeasts always take their time. I've had them take between 14-22 days to finish fermenting

I took a look at it today and it looks like it's finally stopped... about 30 days. I'll probably bottle today and hope for no exploding bottles. Thanks for all the help.

Have your hydrometer readings stabilized? That is the only way to really know for sure.