My blonde ale went in a week ago at 1.042 and is now at 1.016 for the 3rd day in a row. I did see a few bubbles on top of my airlock (full of star san so they stick around) when I went to take this morning's gravity reading....oddly enough the previous 2 times I took gravity readings, there weren't any bubbles on the airlock...maybe I roused some yeast or something bouncing the thief in my primary. the yeast I used was WLP029 and the recipe says FG should be 1.011, so I guess I am a bit high. It smells great and tastes a little watery, which I guess is the norm for a beer that hasn't conditioned yet. Is my beer done fermenting?
FG a little high
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Did you have any temp fluctuations? That can sometimes cause the ferment to stall. Try gently swirling the beer to stir up some yeast & give it another week. That may knock off a few more points. If you get a good,stable FG at that point,let it settle out clear or slightly misty before bottling. It cleans up by products of fermentation at this time too.
This is good advice. You could also try raising the temperature a few degrees (to, say, 70F).
TopherM
Well-Known Member
+1 to this!! Off flavors are really only a concern during the most active part of fermentation. Pull your primary out of the temperature control, give it a light swirl to suspend some yeast, and let it sit at room temp for 48 hours. That'll wax off the final few gravity points!!
jCOSbrew
Well-Known Member
The blonde ale is probably done fermenting but leave it in the fermentor for another week of conditioning. Partial boil extract batches in particular can finish a little higher due to carmelization during the boil. You can try to offset this with late extract additions, pitching proper quantity of yeast, and good oxygenation.
I wouldn't throw a party yet. Raising the temp is going to cause CO2 to come out of solution, which is why you never rely on an airlock to tell you if fermentation is happening. But by all means go brew another batch.
While it will off gas some dissolved co2,ime it also ferments down a couple morte points. If it's bubbling more than ocassionally from co2 build up in the head space,it's workin it's way down.
Disagree completely. You cannot tell anything from the air lock. This is an empty carboy bubbling "more than occasionally". Warming it up a few degrees might help it drop a few points, but that is not a given and the airlock doesn't tell you it is happening.
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I wouldn't throw a party yet. Raising the temp is going to cause CO2 to come out of solution, which is why you never rely on an airlock to tell you if fermentation is happening. But by all means go brew another batch.
For sure. Warming it will cause bubbling in and of itself, doesn't mean any fermentation is actually going on. Only way to know is to take another reading in a few days, though.
IMO, at 1.016, you're likely at FG, but it surely can't hurt to keep it a bit warm and see if you can knock off another point or two.
While I realize what my comment sounds like,there are some differences ime. When it's just off gassing,it can take between 1-2 minutes to gurgle once or twice. When I was trying to knock off a couple points on my Burton ale,it bubbled a couple times a minute. It took 2 days to plant the center piece of the airlock against the cap. Covered it with an old CPO to raise temp a little, a few days later down .002 to FG 1.018. ABV turned out to be 6.8%. It took atotal of some 6 days to knock off that .002.
Like Union said, it may actually come down a point or two, but there's no way of knowing just going by the airlock bubbles since the warming causes that too. Just let it ride at the warmer temps for a week, take a reading and see where you're at. 1.016 isn't a bad FG for a blonde.... ideally, you'd want it a tad lower, but we're talking a couple points, .016 is perfectly fine.
The faster than normal off gassing bubbling was my experience as well. But I'd count on an FG of 1.013-1.014 all said & done. Still pretty good in my book. Just a tad more flavor,maybe color...
I don't think there's a wrong answer here. I'd probably leave it at room temperature to save the electricity.
Raising the temp a little as well as swirling def helps. And since you're past initial fermentation,75 wouldn't be too bad. Just don't let it get too high.
Unless it's a high octane ale, 7-10 days in the primary & its ready for the secondary. You shouldn't leave the beer in the primary for more than 14 days though - I have, beer came out good, but best to rack an ale to a secondary before two weeks. If it's still going in the secondary, wait a few more weeks.
Good beer takes patience, and the best way to have patience is having a stock of beer to drink on hand.
Good beer takes patience, and the best way to have patience is having a stock of beer to drink on hand.
I don't agree with the last post- no reason to rack to a bright tank/clearing vessel to get the beer off of the yeast. In a temperature controlled environment, there would be no harm at all to leave the beer in the fermenter for 3 weeks or even more.
I'd probably still keep the temperature within the optimal fermentation temperatures suggested by the yeast manufacturer, and not allow it to get all the way up to 75 degrees but I'm probably overcautious about temperature control. Temperature fluctuations and high temperatures do impact the flavor and do contribute to a certain "yeasty" flavor that I don't like.
At 1.016 for three days, I'd call this beer finish. I would NOT stir/swirl it up but instead let it sit and clear. When fairly clear, I'd package it. I normally package ales at day 14-20.
I'd probably still keep the temperature within the optimal fermentation temperatures suggested by the yeast manufacturer, and not allow it to get all the way up to 75 degrees but I'm probably overcautious about temperature control. Temperature fluctuations and high temperatures do impact the flavor and do contribute to a certain "yeasty" flavor that I don't like.
At 1.016 for three days, I'd call this beer finish. I would NOT stir/swirl it up but instead let it sit and clear. When fairly clear, I'd package it. I normally package ales at day 14-20.
Why not? No harm at all in leaving a beer in primary for a month or more. And a beer should never be "still going" in secondary unless you've added fermentables to the secondary, primary fermentation should be complete in primary before moving a beer to a secondary vessel/bright tank.
Totally agree with this. There's never a reason to rush the beer off of the yeast cake, and it really does seem like this brew's finished. No harm in leaving it longer just to see, but don't swirl it or anything, just let it sit.
Bottling today, just took a sample from secondary while I wait for my bottles to cool down in the dishwasher and I was between 1.010 and 1.011, so I guess I hit FG. Tasted pretty good, a bit sharp, nothing like green apples, but maybe a slight astringent taste, almost like a lime....maybe that's the lemongrass though. Once the bottles are closed up, they'll go back into the closet for a month and then I can hand them out to some coworkers
