The Never Ending Fermentation?

I have a Belgian ale that I pitched on the 10th (18 days ago). After six days the fermentation was barely going, and I racked it. Then it picked up again, and its been going slow and steady ever since. It slowed down a bit more today, but not much.

I'm planning on racking it again when it finally finishes. Is this within the realm of normal? There isn't anything too weird in this brew that would cause this, that I know of.

Here's a quick list of ingredients:

1# wheat DME, domestic red 2L
5.9# wheat/barley malt extract
3.5oz Cascade & Kent Goldings hops at various stages
.25oz Coriander Seeds
1oz Bitter Orange Peal
Belgian Golden Ale Yeast

(I can get more descriptive with the recipe if anyone's interested, not trying to be secretive, just lazy)


Any ideas? My honey ale that's been fermenting a week is farther along than this Belgian, strange.

First problem I see: NO GRAVITY READING

what was the gravity when you racked to secondary? how do you know its "still going"??

cuz the airlock bubbles don't mean anything at all unless you can put them in the context of gravity readings and continual lowering of that gravity.

if you didn't take a reading before racking, I'd wager you racked early and stunted fermentation, so now its dragging ass. secondary is NOT for fermentation. its for clearing, so you do not rack until the beer's hit terminal gravity in primary.

Legitikick said:

After six days the fermentation was barely going, and I racked it. Then it picked up again, and its been going slow and steady ever since. It slowed down a bit more today, but not much.

Any ideas?

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It wasn't finished and you gimped it when you took it off the cake. One week is not enough time! I have a 10.5% dark belgian that I brewed on the 12th thats still bubbling once every 30 seconds. It's gonna sit there until 2/12, then its gonna sit in a secondary vessel until 3/12. Thats how its done.

Original gravity was 1037, I just tested it now at 1016. But I'm not sure just what FG I'm shooting for. So it can be bubbling and not fermenting? Should I wait a couple more days and then test again, and then re-rack if it hasn't gone down any farther?

Your FG will probably be between 1008 and 1010. Dang... 1.037 OG... you sure????? This is a tiny brew!

Yeah, I dunno why it didn't hit me earlier that something was wrong. Could this have been an incomplete boil? And because of that the sugars are breaking down much slower?

Also, now this is really strange. I just drank the sample, and damn it was good, but it was a little carbonated! No idea how this could happen. Well, one idea: I goofed and realized that I didn't have a spare bubbler to use after I was well into the brew session, so I made my own with a tube and ran it into a bottle of water. Then I figured why bother putting a real bubbler on there since this is working fine, no need to open it up and expose it. But maybe this gas release system needed a lot of pressure to let gas escape, so it kept some pressure in the carboy?

I must have messed up that OG reading . . . there's no way it could be that low.

But now I really sound like an idiot, not sure how I could goof that up.

With an extract, the sugars are already there. In fact, some people dispute the need to boil the extract itself for longer than 10 minutes or so(hops are another story).

How many pounds of extract did you use? I'm sure someone could guesstimate your actual SG with that based on a 5gal boil.

Legitikick said:

I must have messed up that OG reading . . . there's no way it could be that low.

But now I really sound like an idiot, not sure how I could goof that up.

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Relax....It happens...We've all screwed up something. Let this one play out, and chalk it up as experience. I'd just let it keep doing it's thing. I'll bet you'll have drinkable beer in the end.

Brew Runner said:

With an extract, the sugars are already there. In fact, some people dispute the need to boil the extract itself for longer than 10 minutes or so(hops are another story).

How many pounds of extract did you use? I'm sure someone could guesstimate your actual SG with that based on a 5gal boil.

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1# wheat DME, domestic red 2L
5.9# wheat/barley malt extract

No grains

the low grav is probably because when you topped off the wort in the fermenter to bring it up to 5 gals it didnt mix completely with the water. ive done this myself and have gotten low og readings

Legitikick said:

1# wheat DME, domestic red 2L
5.9# wheat/barley malt extract

No grains

Click to expand...

The 5.9# was liquid malt extract? LME? If so, your og was 1.051.

Belgian Golden Ale Yeast has an average of attenuation of 77.5%, which means you should expect a fg in the area of 1.010-1.012.

Beers sometimes will be seemingly slightly carbonated in the carboy- that's because they aren't fermenting enough at the end to push out the co2 through the airlock, so the co2 stays in solution. That's why sometimes we winemakers have to degas wine- because it's a little bubbly sometimes.

I have racked too early before. It takes forever to finish fermentation, but if you're patient the beer will turn out ok.

Awesome, you guys are a huge help! I think you're right, I didn't mix when I took that reading. So thanks a lot.

It's still going . . .