Need some help fellas - was going to bottle but fermentation started again?????

[MikeyM]

Hi all,
Happy Thanksgiving. Need some help - sitting here getting ready to bottle but I ran into a possible issue. This is my 8th all grain batch and all had been well in the summer months but now... I'm not so sure. So After about 3 weeks of primary only, the bubbles in my airlock was at a rate of about 1 bubble every 2 mins; ambient temps have dropped with this time of year, from our normal mid 70s to low 80s daytime to about high 50s to low 60s. In the past this has been fine and in the end I got great beer.

Long story short, this morning I moved my carboys onto my bench as, normal, as easily as I could in preparation for bottling and now it seems the bubbling in the airlocks has increased to a bubble every 15-20 seconds. This has me worried. Is it just because I disturbed the brew a bit? Temps? Can I still bottle? If I do, should I use a bit less sugar to prime? I'm pretty sure fermentation is complete enough for bottling; I have kept the temps around 55-65 * for the past 3 weeks and the airlock bubbling has been pretty much dead for 3 days. Did I stir something up that will settle down fairly soon??

Any advice you all can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks alot,
Mikey

 

[Hammy71]

Bubbles don't mean sh$%. Do a hydrometer reading and see if it is done. But, lets be serious, after 3 weeks it is as done as it its gonna be.

 

[passedpawn]

It's done. Bottle. Agitation will make the CO2 come out of solution, and so will temp changes. I'd bet a bag of lizards that is all you're seeing.

 

[MikeyM]

hydro says 1.010, which is right where it should be but is the new bubbling in the airlock just because I moved it a few hours ago?

Thx.

 

[McLompoc]

It is do to the shifting. I suffered the same thing here on the Central Coast. I thought it was due to the temperature drop too but I bottled anyways. My IPA is one of the best yet!

No worries, bottle that goodness! And BTW, what type of beer is it?

 

[MikeyM]

Thanks man. Thought so but haven't run into this before. It's a pale I've been playing with for a while using the same base grain recepie but switching it up each time with different hops to see the difference. So far so good, the last 2 batches (10 gals) have turned out nice. This batch I used Pearle, Cascade, Hallertaur, and Saaz to finish. We'll see how it tastes in a couple weeks .

 

[Bizoune]

I think you screwed up big time. Send your carboy to Canada vis USPS and I'll take care of the rest.