Howdy, all. I have an unusual situation and I could really use some advice.
I've got a carboy full of a clone of Sam Adams Cream Stout, brewed partly from grain and party with extract. It spend 7 days in the primary, and then went into the secondary. All was well. It sat quietly for about 2 weeks until my wife slid the box + carboy across the floor to vaccuum, at which point it started bubbling again. That was about December 15. Lots of little, tiny bubbles, smaller than beer bubbles, rising up the side of the carboy and forming a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. It didn't really form the large bubbles of a primary fermentation. The airlock bubbled every 5 minutes or so. About January 7 I checked the gravity -- just a little high -- and gave a taste -- tasted fine -- and left it alone.
Three weeks later, it's still bubbling and shows no signs of stopping. Still, lots of little tiny bubbles. I assume it's got some wild yeast in it, or something. It doesn't look bad at all. The airlock doesn't smell bad. It just won't stop fermenting.
It's time to pull the plug on this batch and either bottle it or toss it out, if it's gone bad. It's D-Day. I need the carboy back.
Here's what I was thinking of doing. Any advice would be much appreciated.
1) Put the carboy outside for a few hours to bring the temperature down and deactivate some of the yeast, so the beer can settle a bit.
2) Boil up my bottling malt extract + water and let it cool, per usual.
3) Rack the carboy out into my primary (it's the only thing large enough to hold the beer) and mix in the sugar water. I want to get the beer off its lees and there is some scum on the surface to avoid as well.
4) Add the bottling malt and bottle it, like any other batch of beer.
What I'm hoping is that the yeast that's still working in the carboy will make it into the bottles and carbonate the beer per the usual procedure. I figure, if it doesn't taste like ass already, then a little more action by this yeast, whatever it is, won't do much harm.
So, that's my story. Any advice? And, thanks.
I've got a carboy full of a clone of Sam Adams Cream Stout, brewed partly from grain and party with extract. It spend 7 days in the primary, and then went into the secondary. All was well. It sat quietly for about 2 weeks until my wife slid the box + carboy across the floor to vaccuum, at which point it started bubbling again. That was about December 15. Lots of little, tiny bubbles, smaller than beer bubbles, rising up the side of the carboy and forming a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. It didn't really form the large bubbles of a primary fermentation. The airlock bubbled every 5 minutes or so. About January 7 I checked the gravity -- just a little high -- and gave a taste -- tasted fine -- and left it alone.
Three weeks later, it's still bubbling and shows no signs of stopping. Still, lots of little tiny bubbles. I assume it's got some wild yeast in it, or something. It doesn't look bad at all. The airlock doesn't smell bad. It just won't stop fermenting.
It's time to pull the plug on this batch and either bottle it or toss it out, if it's gone bad. It's D-Day. I need the carboy back.
Here's what I was thinking of doing. Any advice would be much appreciated.
1) Put the carboy outside for a few hours to bring the temperature down and deactivate some of the yeast, so the beer can settle a bit.
2) Boil up my bottling malt extract + water and let it cool, per usual.
3) Rack the carboy out into my primary (it's the only thing large enough to hold the beer) and mix in the sugar water. I want to get the beer off its lees and there is some scum on the surface to avoid as well.
4) Add the bottling malt and bottle it, like any other batch of beer.
What I'm hoping is that the yeast that's still working in the carboy will make it into the bottles and carbonate the beer per the usual procedure. I figure, if it doesn't taste like ass already, then a little more action by this yeast, whatever it is, won't do much harm.
So, that's my story. Any advice? And, thanks.
