WLP029 - White Labs Kolsch

I brewed a batch of Kolsch three weeks ago tomorrow and the air lock is still "fairly" active (a burp every 7 seconds or so). Does Kolsch yeast tend to take longer to ferment out? Not that I'm concerned or anything, I'm in no hurry and am perfectly happy letting it do its thing. I haven't taken a gravity reading and probably won't (would rather let it just work away instead of taking the air lock off and on). I did notice with this yeast it did take a good 2 to 2 1/2 days to take off when I pitched it (I did not do a yeast starter). I've never fermented in my garage before, but have been able to hold a 58-60 degree temperature range pretty consistently throughout the entire 3 weeks.

I suppose as a general rule if there is still visible fermentation to let it keep going. However even after the visual stops the gravity may still be too high - the only way for sure to know where you are at is to take a gravity reading. If you are really set against taking the reading I would at least until the visual activity stops.

From looking at the White Labs website I did see someone say the ale yeast does ferment like a lager which means extended fermentation times.

Good luck

Kershner_Ale said:

I've never fermented in my garage before, but have been able to hold a 58-60 degree temperature range pretty consistently throughout the entire 3 weeks.

Click to expand...

Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-69°F
Does not ferment well less than 62°F, unless during active fermentation

Click to expand...

http://whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp029.html

I've been running that yest in the recommended 65 temp range and it's been a stable performer. Dropping down to 58-60 has likely slowed it down. I'd take a gravity reading and if you still have ground to cover, warm it up a tad.

It's always reached my final gravity in a week to 10 days.

What was your starting gravity?

You need to take a gravity reading. An airlock is no sign of fermentation. It could be just off-gassing. I've had beers in the secondary for months that will still 'burp' once a minute or so.....but they've reached they're FG and haven't move a bit in those months. It probably did slow down at that temp....but I doubt 3 weeks. It's probably done....check it!