Fermentation Wont Stop after 51 Days

[Chinmay Nayak]

Hello Everyone,

First off I ve tried looking for similar threads but couldn't find anything as strange as this so thought of posting a new thread.
I started my batch on 2nd of January this year and it was supposed to be a high gravity beer/barley wine. Didn't follow any recipe as I like to experiment sometimes.

My recipe:

Batch size: 5.5 Gallon

9 lb DME
1 lb Crystal
5.5oz Chocolate
7 oz Cara Clair Malt
1 lb Cara Ruby Malt

1oz Fuggle
2.5oz Styrian Golding
Yeast: Lalvin EC-1118 (2 liter starter)

No special procedures: Mashed grains and added to boil with DME. Hops@60-15-5-0. Cooled - Added Yeasts - Put Airlock.
Initial gravity: 1.100(Which was weird since I was expecting no more than 1.085)

It started bubbling vigorously in less then 2hrs after I pitched the yeasts. So I gradually reduced the temperature from 73F to 66F. Vigorous bubbling stopped after 3 days. Then bubbles at every 40 seconds. After 15 days it still kept on bubbling so I checked the gravity. It was around 1.055. I thought this happened because of the high initial gravity, got panicked, raised temperature to 70F, and added 1 liter boiled and cooled water to make some space for further fermentation. The brew started bubbling heavily again and bubbled like that for another 10 days or so. I thought this would do it as it slowed down but it wont stop bubbling. Right now I'm seeing bubbles every 20 seconds 51 days on!!

My worries:
1. Could it be due to an acetobactor infection when I opened the carboy to add water?(I recently had a fruit fly infestation in the house, and there are a few dead flies in the bubbler). However Im not getting any vinegary aeromas out of the fermenter, and cant see any weird stuff on the top. Im also too scared to open it now partly due to the flies around and also to avoid introducing oxygen at this stage.

2. Am I going to get off flavors due to beer lying on top of a dead yeast cake for such a long time?

3. Is it normal even for high gravity beers to ferment this long?? Since the yeasts are EC 1118 known for its quick fermenting tendency and high alcohol tolerance.

4. The temperature is sitting at 74F now as I want it to finish quickly.. is it a mistake?

5. The usual dumb question..Am I going to poison/blind/kill myself if I drink this weird brew or am I going to get superpowers?

 

[JesseM]

Just... whoa! :O

I don't know what to say. I've never heard fermentation taking that long. I can understand 2-3 weeks, but...!
Sorry, I've no reply, just curious about this myself. Curious to hear what people think.

Good luck!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Interesting scenario.... Couple of questions:
1. How are you checking gravity - hydrometer or refractometer?
2. How did you aerate the beer before pitching the yeast?

I'm not familiar with Champagne yeasts and how it should behave as a primary fermentation in beer. You have it sitting at the very high end of fermentation temperature I noticed. Personally, I would have had it sitting closer to 64-65*F.

I do not know for sure, but here's my guess: With such a high gravity, even a 2 liter starter was too low of a cell count to pitch, maybe should have been closer to 3 or even 4 liter starter. You don't mention aeration so if you didn't aerate the wort, it's a low oxygen environment so they're just going slow. I have a 100% Brettanomyces fermentation going for about 6 weeks that is just NOW finishing. I did not aerate well so it was a very slow fermentation and the OG of that beer was only 1.065.

I am a bit confused on why you added 1L of boiled and cooled water. I've never heard of this being done to help a fermentation...? Hate to say it but I'm really not sure on what's going on. My above statement is just a guess. Hopefully someone else can provide more assistance. Good luck, curious to hear what others say.

 

[Renegade Brewer]

EC-1118 is a champagne yeast and is not designed by nature to eat the sugars created in beer wort. 1118 is what we recommend to customers who want to make a dry white wine or a dry mead because it will chew the very simple sugars of fruits and honey; it doesn’t really know what to do with maltos.

It’s a common myth I hear quite frequently that people think a champagne yeast will attenuate their beer better.

Next time try an actual beer yeast. Wlp099, Scottish Ale, or wlp090 would have done a much better job seeing as it’s actually designed to eat the sugars you’ve thrown at it...right tool for the job type situation.

I see this in my distillers who want to ferment fast and drop quickly. Unfortunately whiskey is also maltos created from malted barley, so to them I suggest the same yeasts or Red Star Daddy, liquor Quick, as a last resort Turbo Yeast.

 

[Chinmay Nayak]

Interesting scenario.... Couple of questions:
1. How are you checking gravity - hydrometer or refractometer?
2. How did you aerate the beer before pitching the yeast?

I'm not familiar with Champagne yeasts and how it should behave as a primary fermentation in beer. You have it sitting at the very high end of fermentation temperature I noticed. Personally, I would have had it sitting closer to 64-65*F.

I do not know for sure, but here's my guess: With such a high gravity, even a 2 liter starter was too low of a cell count to pitch, maybe should have been closer to 3 or even 4 liter starter. You don't mention aeration so if you didn't aerate the wort, it's a low oxygen environment so they're just going slow. I have a 100% Brettanomyces fermentation going for about 6 weeks that is just NOW finishing. I did not aerate well so it was a very slow fermentation and the OG of that beer was only 1.065.

I am a bit confused on why you added 1L of boiled and cooled water. I've never heard of this being done to help a fermentation...? Hate to say it but I'm really not sure on what's going on. My above statement is just a guess. Hopefully someone else can provide more assistance. Good luck, curious to hear what others say.

Thanks for your reply Rob.
1. Hydrometer
2. I aerated the wort with a sanitized foodgrade plastic stick for about 10 minutes before pitching yeasts. I also had a DIY wort oxygenator before but it broke a few months prior.

I've used these Champagne yeasts a few times before with pale ales with satisfactory results. Where I'm from, it's difficult to get a good brewing yeast supply and this is the only strain that's available on internet sometimes. Also my trusty US-05 yeasts washed from a previous batch had expired.

You are totally right, I ve never done this before either. But I thought it would be better to bring the gravity down a bit with 1 liter water to wake them lazy yeasties. They did wake up alright.. for what reason I am not sure.. But they don't seem to want to sleep again.

 

[smyrnaquince]

What is your current gravity?

 

[frankvw]

Hello Everyone,
Batch size: 5.5 Gallon
9 lb DME

There's DME and DME. Proper brewing grade DME is relatively low in complex sugars, food grade DME is high in complex sugars. The latter ferment slowly and can indeed take weeks to ferment out. If that's what you have, the flavor of your beer won't be awesome, but that has nothing to do with fermentation but with using the wrong DME.

As a rule of thumb, a high gravity beer often takes longer to ferment than a low gravity beer. The yeast has more sugar to deal with, and as the alcohol level rises the alcohol limit of the yeast may be approached (depending on yeast strain) and the fermentation slows down. Make sure you use a yeast with an alcohol tolerance several percent higher than what you're aiming for.

Acetobacter infections and the like will manifest themselves in the form of a bad (usually sour) smell. If you don't smell that, you're fine.

Lengthy fermentations benefit from transferring the beer into a secondary fermenter after three weeks at most, leaving the yeast cake behind in the primary. More than 3 weeks on the yeast cake may lead to autolysis flavors.

In closing, drinking whatever comes out of this won't make you blind. Your yeast is biologically incapable of producing more than minute levels of the toxic methanol to which you are referring. Nor will it give you superpowers, but depending on alcohol strength it may make you think you have them. On the upside, though, you may not remember what happens next the following morning...

 

[Chinmay Nayak]

EC-1118 is a champagne yeast and is not designed by nature to eat the sugars created in beer wort. 1118 is what we recommend to customers who want to make a dry white wine or a dry mead because it will chew the very simple sugars of fruits and honey; it doesn’t really know what to do with maltos.

It’s a common myth I hear quite frequently that people think a champagne yeast will attenuate their beer better.

Next time try an actual beer yeast. Wlp099, Scottish Ale, or wlp090 would have done a much better job seeing as it’s actually designed to eat the sugars you’ve thrown at it...right tool for the job type situation.

I see this in my distillers who want to ferment fast and drop quickly. Unfortunately whiskey is also maltos created from malted barley, so to them I suggest the same yeasts or Red Star Daddy, liquor Quick, as a last resort Turbo Yeast.

Thanks for your reply!

True! I totally agree with you. 1118 are also flat with no distinct character IMHO. But I have mentioned the reasons why I had to use these yeasts in my above reply to Rob. It's difficult to get beer specific yeasts in India. Homebrewing culture is almost non existent here. Getting liquid yeasts is a luxury we can only afford in dreams.

Anyway, enough sobbing on my part.. I have been brewing successfully for past 7 years and enjoying my beers almost every day. I get my beer yeasts from international sellers after spending a quarter of my fortune every time. Once I get yeasts, I make huge starters with stir plates, wash them and store them in fridge ready for brewing. However it becomes practically difficult maintaining them like that because some of my friends borrow yeasts from me and are too lazy to make starters or wash them afterwards. I can't stop brewing since I live in a dry state(alcohol prohibited state), so I have to do with what I have sometimes.