Has my beer stopped fermenting?

I'm doing a Belgian Tripel. I transferred it to the secondary after 4-5 days, which I think was a mistake. Anyway, it has been in the secondary for 2 weeks. The specific gravity is 1.020, which I think is too high (should be more like 1.017). And I get a bubble in the airlock every 5-6 minutes or so. It has bubbled at that rate since I put it in the secondary. What should I do? If I bottle it, will I create bottle bombs? (I was thinking of giving it another 4 days, and if the SG hasn't come down, bottling it. Is that bad?)

If the hydrometer reading doesn't change, you should be good to bottle. 1.020 does seem a little high. What was the OG?

The bubbling doesn't mean it is still fermenting. It just be releasing CO2.

Once the gravity has been steady for a few days you are fine, no worries about bottle bombs. Waiting 4 more days couldn't hurt - go for it.

when in doubt about fermentation fisished, leave it for 3-5 days and take another reading... ONLY use gravity readings to determine if fermentation is completed.

If concecutive readings seperated by at elast 48 hours are the same, it is done.

Thanks. I am new to this. . .I didn't take the OG (which was just a beginner's oversight). I didn't realize that CO2 continued to escape after fermentation. I did another beer before this one, and I pretty much had no bubbling at all after I put it in the secondary.

But I'll wait a few days, see if it still at 1.020, and if it is I'll bottle it.

I'm impressed you had the patience to sit and stare at your airlock for 5-6 minutes counting the bubbles....

DRoyLenz said:

I'm impressed you had the patience to sit and stare at your airlock for 5-6 minutes counting the bubbles....

Click to expand...

been there, done that.....

If you missed y our OG reading, you are mainly not going to know what your ABV is.

If you post your recipe someone can probably calculate what your OG should have been.

definitely should of left it on the yeast for the 2 weeks ... but without the OG we cant really say if its done or just stuck. the FG should be approximately 1/4 the OG or less. so unless your OG was somewhere around 1.080 or higher (which depending on the recipe is possible) i would say it is stuck.

The recipe had tons of liquid malt and sugar. The recipe is supposed to start between 1.082-1.096. Which I guess would suggest "not stuck"?

Could you post your recipe, or at least give us a URL?

I'd say it's not stuck if the OG was in the range it was supposed to be. Wait the four days you planned, take another reading, and if it's still the same, go ahead and bottle. In the future, if you have an OG that high, I'd recommend that you leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks before doing anything with it.