Still Bubbling 11 days into fermentation?

I did a high grav weizenbock last saturday (11 days ago) and there are still are a couple bubbles coming through the airlock (3-4 a minute?) I pitched 2 rehydrated packets of safbrew wb-06, and initial fermentation was crazy, huge krausen within 12 hours, full blowoff tube within 18.

So.. where the **** are these bubbles be coming from?

Have you taken any gravity readings to see where the beer is at as far as fermentation?

I did a simple merican red ale a few months back OG 1.048 and it farted thru the airlock for 13 days. I was like WTF, never once opened the lid until 3weeks later to the day. Turned out great and my wifes favorite beer to date.

I've never had any kinda beer do that..

I havent checked the gravity yet, I don't really like checking anytime before 2 weeks, so I kinda would almost rather wait it out until its done bubbling, then check, then keg it.. unless my worst fears become a reality.. and it actually is infected

High gravity means lots of work to do, and then the cleanup. Hydrometer readings?

I just did a cherry pale with US05 and it bubbled for two weeks, even after it blew the top off my bucket. I racked to secondary to get it off the fruit and it's still bubbling. This was with an OG of 1.062. I did an IIPA with an OG of 1.079 and US04 and it was done with visible activity after three days.

I rehydrated the US05 but not the 04, but I don't think that would have made such a huge difference.

And the cherry was definitely not infected. It just didn't want to stop. Little yeasties were having to much fun, who am I to complain?

Cathedral said:

I rehydrated the US05 but not the 04, but I don't think that would have made such a huge difference.

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Pretty good article about dry yeast, i suggest you read it

http://koehlerbeer.com/2008/06/07/rehydrating-dry-yeast-with-dr-clayton-cone/

I have an extract amber ale in the primary. OG was 1.040 and my final gravity seems to be hanging around 1.010 even though i still get a bubble about every 2 to 3 minutes.. Its been in the primary for 10 days. Im wondering if it is ok to go ahead and "Cold Crash". Im guessing this batch is going to be a little dryer than i originally wanted, but oh well...
I guess my question is, is it too soon to cold crash? Will this effect flavor at all, clarity, ect...I just dont want my FG to go any lower.
Please help this newby out!

dlcumpton said:

I have an extract amber ale in the primary. OG was 1.040 and my final gravity seems to be hanging around 1.010 even though i still get a bubble about every 2 to 3 minutes.. Its been in the primary for 10 days. Im wondering if it is ok to go ahead and "Cold Crash". Im guessing this batch is going to be a little dryer than i originally wanted, but oh well...
I guess my question is, is it too soon to cold crash? Will this effect flavor at all, clarity, ect...I just dont want my FG to go any lower.
Please help this newby out!

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Get your own damn thread rookie!!!!

Just kidding, I always wait full weeks for primary ferm, if not more, and then off to the bottle/keg/secondary. With most of my beers I do 2-3 weeks in primary, cold crash, then keg.

I'm assuming that you are still bottling, and cold crashing is rather unnecessary if thats the case, so my advice to you would be wait the two weeks, then bottle, then wait another painful two weeks..

dlcumpton said:

I have an extract amber ale in the primary. OG was 1.040 and my final gravity seems to be hanging around 1.010 even though i still get a bubble about every 2 to 3 minutes.. Its been in the primary for 10 days. Im wondering if it is ok to go ahead and "Cold Crash". Im guessing this batch is going to be a little dryer than i originally wanted, but oh well...
I guess my question is, is it too soon to cold crash? Will this effect flavor at all, clarity, ect...I just dont want my FG to go any lower.
Please help this newby out!

Click to expand...

Get your own damn thread rookie!!!!

Just kidding, I always wait full weeks for primary ferm, if not more, and then off to the bottle/keg/secondary. With most of my beers I do 2-3 weeks in primary, cold crash, then keg.

I'm assuming that you are still bottling, and cold crashing is rather unnecessary if thats the case, so my advice to you would be wait the two weeks, then bottle, then wait another painful two weeks..

simple-stupid said:

Get your own damn thread rookie!!!!

Just kidding, I always wait full weeks for primary ferm, if not more, and then off to the bottle/keg/secondary. With most of my beers I do 2-3 weeks in primary, cold crash, then keg.

I'm assuming that you are still bottling, and cold crashing is rather unnecessary if thats the case, so my advice to you would be wait the two weeks, then bottle, then wait another painful two weeks..

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Again, im concerned with my final gravity going any lower. I dont want the beer to be too dry. I was hoping for some sweetness. So cold crashing now at day 10 for 3-4 days i would assume would prevent further fermentation and help drop out some protiens and yeast. But... i dont want bottle bombs either.
-Dont want final gravity any lower than where its at.
-Want some sweetness left in beer profile.
-Want fairly clear beer.
I know, i know,... **** in one hand and eat in the other...

dlcumpton said:

Again, im concerned with my final gravity going any lower. I dont want the beer to be too dry. I was hoping for some sweetness. So cold crashing now at day 10 for 3-4 days i would assume would prevent further fermentation and help drop out some protiens and yeast. But... i dont want bottle bombs either.
-Dont want final gravity any lower than where its at.
-Want some sweetness left in beer profile.
-Want fairly clear beer.
I know, i know,... **** in one hand and eat in the other...

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The body of your beer is set at the brew day, mainly through different mash temps, trying to stop fermentation short will only result in bottle bombs, someone please correct me if im wrong

simple-stupid said:

The body of your beer is set at the brew day, mainly through different mash temps, trying to stop fermentation short will only result in bottle bombs, someone please correct me if im wrong

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The extract kit came with 6 gram pack of Muntons but i used a 11 gram pack of Nottinham. Maybe i should have used about 8 grams of the Notty instead. lol
Well im gonna take my chances anyway with the cold crash. Like i said, im already at 1.010 and airlock activity every 2 to 3 minutes. Surely the worst that can happen is a little over carbinated... Only time will tell.
Thanks for your replys!

dlcumpton said:

The extract kit came with 6 gram pack of Muntons but i used a 11 gram pack of Nottinham. Maybe i should have used about 8 grams of the Notty instead. lol
Well im gonna take my chances anyway with the cold crash. Like i said, im already at 1.010 and airlock activity every 2 to 3 minutes. Surely the worst that can happen is a little over carbinated... Only time will tell.
Thanks for your replys!

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Just an honest opinion: you're way overthinking this. You need to.. you know.. like papazian said

simple-stupid said:

I'm assuming that you are still bottling, and cold crashing is rather unnecessary if thats the case, so my advice to you would be wait the two weeks, then bottle, then wait another painful two weeks..

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bottling does not negate the need for cold crashing, IMO. i want as little yeast as possible in my bottles. more yeast = more chance it'll be kicked up during the pour = unwanted yeast bite. aslo, more yeast = need to leave more beer at the bottom of the bottle. there is plenty of yeast in suspension, in the beer, to ensure carbonation. no matter what you do you'll always have a little sediment in a bottle-conditioned beer, but no need to make that sediment any thicker than we have to. i'd much rather have a light dusting than a quarter-inch layer.

dlcumpton said:

Again, im concerned with my final gravity going any lower. I dont want the beer to be too dry. I was hoping for some sweetness. So cold crashing now at day 10 for 3-4 days i would assume would prevent further fermentation and help drop out some protiens and yeast. But... i dont want bottle bombs either.

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do not cold crash in the hopes of stopping fermentation. the slow-down will be temporary. as soon as the bottle gets warm again, fermentation will re-start. it'll be slow because of the reduced yeast population but it will restart. if you force-carbonate and keep the beers cold all the time you can do this, but otherwise you're asking for bottle bombs.

if sweetness is required, look into using an unfermentable sugar like lactose, sweet'n'low, etc.

dlcumpton said:

Again, im concerned with my final gravity going any lower. I dont want the beer to be too dry. I was hoping for some sweetness. So cold crashing now at day 10 for 3-4 days i would assume would prevent further fermentation and help drop out some protiens and yeast. But... i dont want bottle bombs either.
-Dont want final gravity any lower than where its at.
-Want some sweetness left in beer profile.
-Want fairly clear beer.
I know, i know,... **** in one hand and eat in the other...

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You cannot stop fermentation. Cold crashing will stop it until you bottle, then it will start again and you WILL have bottle bombs. . DO NOT bottle until it is done. The yeast will finish when it finishes. You cannot controll it.

the final gravity will be what it is. The yeast determines that, not you.

Sweetness comes from the recipe.

A clear beer come wih time. Everything will drop out given enough time.


You cannot be a control freak with a natural thing like yeast and wort.

Everything has been covered as for as the cold crashing and then bottling. My two cents:
I do think it will have an appreciable effect on the clarity of the beer but your not gonna stop the fermentation unless you can keep it cold. About the only way to lock the FG in at this point and bottle with carbonation would be to do so off a keg and even then you need to store cold.

Now that that is out of the way. The greater issue at hand for both of you is just because the airlock is active doesn't mean fermentation is still occurring. Also, just because the airlock isn't active doesn't mean fermentation isn't occurring. I guess what I'm getting at is, airlock activity isn't a definitive way of judging fermentation activity. The current airlock activity that both of you are mentioning could be as simple as the escape of CO2 that was dissolved into solution during fermentation. In the case of big beers, I've had them go for up to 3 weeks after pitching an active culture that I got from a buddy at a local micro brewery. A lot of stuff plays into fermentation times. . . temp, pitching rate, how you pitched, what yeast you pitch, oxygenation, wort composition just to name a few that come off the top of my head. I guess that last bit goes for just about all beers.

Well I am gonna take another gravity reading today for peace of mind. If I'm still at 1.010 for day three then obviously its OK for me to cold crash right?

dlcumpton said:

Well I am gonna take another gravity reading today for peace of mind. If I'm still at 1.010 for day three then obviously its OK for me to cold crash right?

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Seriously, stop messing with your beer and RDWHAHB. Give it the time it needs then move forward, time will only help flavor anyways, no sense in rushing

dlcumpton said:

Well I am gonna take another gravity reading today for peace of mind. If I'm still at 1.010 for day three then obviously its OK for me to cold crash right?

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A lot of people on here will tell you to wait longer than you need to. It can be tricky to know when it's time though when your just starting out so it is good advice. RDWHAHB is all great and dandy, the trouble is, you don't learn anything. When I started out I was a subscriber to the 1-2-3 theory (That is 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in the bottle). I never used a secondary so I'd just go 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks in the bottle and then drink. As I began to learn what my beers where doing, and understanding the process better I began adjusting just about everything I did dealing with fermentation and started kegging. In your case, I would personally recommend waiting a few more days before you cold crash and bottle. This will give the yeast a little more time to clean up some potential off flavors from any stress during fermentation. Two week primary on a 1040 to 1010 beer should, in theory, be enough time, assuming everything went "normally." Also, it's not unusual to see a beer go 75% attenuation. When you start with a lower gravity like that, it is naturally going to finish lower too. I doubt you produced an overly dry beer