Activity in secondary below FG...can I bottle?

[patd]

I was going to bottle my Pliny clone tonight after 7 days dry hopping, and I noticed activity inside of the carboy (bubbles coming up from the bottom, stirring up the hops, a little activity in the airlock). Is it ok to bottle, or should I let it keep going?

My FG target was 1.014. It was 1.012 when moving it to secondary, and I just took a reading and its at 1.01.

Any advice? I don't want it to sit on the hops too long, but I also don't want bottles exploding.

 

[TipsyDragon]

first never rack your beer anywhere till your SG stops falling. you racked to soon. wait till you get a stable SG reading for 3 days in a row. only then can you bottle. you can let the beer sit with the hops for 2 weeks with no problems.

 

[patd]

You are correct in guessing I only took one reading Since it was in primary 17 days and was below target FG, I thought I was ok...well, it will be interesting to see how low she goes. This is going to be a monster hoppy beer with more days on the 7 oz of dry hops in there! I tasted the hydro sample...ooh can't wait to get it bottled.

 

[TipsyDragon]

7 oz??? good lord.

 

[patd]

Ok it's at 1.008 and still going. At this point should I move it back to the primary to get it off of the hops? The flavor on Sunday was great, but it is starting to taste too bitter. I wish I understood why it's still fermenting...

 

[Synovia]

Your target FG is irrelevant.

 

[TipsyDragon]

Ok it's at 1.008 and still going. At this point should I move it back to the primary to get it off of the hops? The flavor on Sunday was great, but it is starting to taste too bitter. I wish I understood why it's still fermenting...

its still fermenting because you racked before the yeast ate all the fermentable sugars. leave it alone and let it do its thing. next time make sure you are actually done fermenting before you rack your beer anywhere.

 

[patd]

Will definitely check that next time, I hate that I'm overdoing the dryhop. I think I misunderstood the OG/FG numbers - my thought was that sometimes getting down to the recommended FG can be hard (stuck fermentation), but once you got there it was ready to go.

 

[TipsyDragon]

it can be hard to hit your projected numbers. which you apparently had no problem what so ever. but just because you hit a number doesn't mean its done. numbers are just an estimation. just out of curiosity, what was your recipe?

 

[patd]

It is the AHS mini-mash Pliney clone...I would assume it's bad form to post their recipes.

SG was supposed to be 1.074, my reading was 1.062 but I assume I didn't mix the top off water well enough (3 gallon boil).

Anyone have an opinion on getting this off the dry hops? I am better off just leaving it as is? Dry hop is listed as 5-7 days, I'm on day 10. Reading tonight was still 1.008 but I still see activity and the hops are all over the place instead of settled at the top and bottom.