Air lock, stuck fermentation....wth!

[Turfgrass]

Nine days ago I brewed an American IPA (us-05) and it seemed to have started off nicely. My pre ferment gravity was 1.043 and fermentation began about 12 hours later. A thermowell was used in a carboy and maintained at 66*F. By day 5 or 6 things seemed a little odd. Fermentation seemed to have finished and my airlock levels looked different. Thought I was getting suck back. Topping up the airlock chamber some to only have the same thing happen. It didn’t go comepletly dry, but it did draw the liquid level high up to the top of the tube. I would like to have left it alone for another week in primary, but I’m leaving town for a week and didn’t want anything to potentially spoil the beer. So, I pressure transferred into a keg for peace of mind and left 10psi in the keg. Also attached a spunding valve should fermentation not be complete while away. I didn’t realize that refractmentors don’t work in the presence of alcohol, so I never got the FG. The tiny sip I tried tasted good. What should I do or what would you have done?

 

[ESBrewer]

Sounds like a perfect fermentation process and timeline. Pressure may drop a little bit when the formation of co2 has ceased (pressure now has time to reach equilibrium and no more heat is being produced by fermentation). In general, people seem to be too concerned about their airlocks.

 

[mmb]

OMFG! IT"S RUINED!

No, not really. Fermentation makes heat, as the process slows, the heat diminishes and the pressure in the carboy changes. Those pressure changes will move the fluid in the airlock around. Changes in weather make changes in pressure and that can move the fluid in the airlock. RDWHAHB.

Refractometer readings can be adjusted based on the presence of alcohol.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

What would I have done? I would have left it alone for another two weeks. Three to four weeks in primary won't hurt the beer and introduces less chances of oxidation and infection due to not messing with it.

 

[Jwood]

Get an S shaped airlock, no suckback

 

[Turfgrass]

So, I ended up attaching a spunding valve the day before I left for vacation. I also added either 12 or 15 psi of co2 to the corny keg and it’s currently 12 psi. This batch of Brew will be 3 weeks old on Saturday. Should I crash and serve?

 

[BrewInspector]

Yes
All sounds good and likely been long enough. Expect some sediment in that first pour(s). It will clear.

 

[Turfgrass]

I have it stored in my 59* basement with the spunding valve still attached. For some reason, I wanted to test the valve and I let out a little pressure. The psi dropped to around 11.5 percent and over the past week it slowly rose to 12psi and today I checked it at 12.5psi. I thought I had it set for 12, but prob over adjusted the set point when last testing.

I started this beer on 3/24 and primary lasted about 6 days until the action stopped. From there I pressure transferred into a o2 free Corny and left about 12psi in the tank with a Spunding attached. I assume there is still some fermenting going on a month later? The spunding was initially set at 12 psi at 63 degrees for a week. Then down to 59 degrees for a week since return from vacation.


What’s going on. I’ll prob cold crash mid week and prob have my first pint on Saturday.