It won't stop

[Natethebrewer]

I have a cream ale in a carboy that won't stop fermenting!
it had gone from 1.049 to 1.011 in a week and a half. I transferred it glass. all was good, I went away for the weekend and came back to a layer of foam and bubbles in the airlock.
So I draw off a sample and check, tastes great and the gravity is now at 1.007-fine I can live with that.
But I check it this morning, and it's still going?! At this rate I'll have corn whiskey by July 4th.
When will it stop, and is there anything I can do to make it stop?

 

[XombieDeath]

You could bottle it, wait for the right carb level and then force it to stop fermenting by pastuerizing it in the bottle. here's a sticky from the cider forum on how to do stovetop pastuerization. I know its from the cider forum, but it will work exactly the same for beer. If you don't want to do it stovetop, you could do it in the oven as well. Put the bottles in the oven, slowly bring the temp up to 150, leave the bottles in at 150 for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the stove, open the door, let the bottles cool to room temp and VIOLA!! Pastuerized.

 

[Natethebrewer]

But if I bottle while it is still actively fermenting would I loose control over the carbonation level? it seems I'd be adding insult to injury by putting priming sugar in a beer that hasn't stopped

 

[XombieDeath]

No you wouldn't loose control. Just test a bottle after a couple days to see if it's at the right carbonation level. When its got the right amount of bubbly for you, pastuerize all the bottles. If you are at the desired Final Gravity and the ferment is still very active (more than a bubble every 45-60 seconds escaping the air lock), you could skip the priming sugar all together and let it prime itself on the residual wort sugars that haven't been consumed yet.