Probably Paranoid

[nelven34]

Like the title suggests, I'm probably just over thinking it. But anyway. On March 15, I brewed a Wee Heavy(1.077 OG). For the first two weeks I was fermenting in the front coat closet, ambient temperature about 55°(wish I'd have thought of this earlier in the winter). Fermentation was going along just fine then slowed down like normal. On Friday I moved it to the hallway to bring it up and finish off any final bits of sugar. But it's still bubbling about once every minute or two now. I've never had bubbling this long, but haven't done anything this heavy before either. I have no reason to think anything is wrong with it other than it's still bubbling. Sanitation and cleanliness were correct.

And while I'm asking my "I'm almost worried but I don't think I have a reason to be but I'm gonna ask anyway" questions, is it normal for hop(looks like anyway) residue to sit on the surface of the beer well after main fermentation(this is for an English Bitter kit? I bought a 6.5 gallon carboy, so can now actually see what's going on whereas I first had a 5g one with blowoff tube where the krausen always ended up coating the top and I couldn't see anything.

 

[helibrewer]

First, That's a fairly big beer and it will take more time to ferment. Keep the temp at about 68F from this point forward, if you used English Ale yeast it will floc on you so keeping the temp up will help it finish...it's going to take time.

Second, It's perfectly normal to have "floaters" after the krausen falls. I give all my beers a few "spins" everyday (easy to do on carpeting), basically a gentle way to rouse yeast by just gently spinning the carboy in place on the carpet...no lifting or rocking.

Give it time, it may be mid-April before it's finished, you started it kind of cool (55F).

 

[RM-MN]

First, That's a fairly big beer and it will take more time to ferment. Keep the temp at about 68F from this point forward, if you used English Ale yeast it will floc on you so keeping the temp up will help it finish...it's going to take time.

Second, It's perfectly normal to have "floaters" after the krausen falls. I give all my beers a few "spins" everyday (easy to do on carpeting), basically a gentle way to rouse yeast by just gently spinning the carboy in place on the carpet...no lifting or rocking.

Give it time, it may be mid-April before it's finished, you started it kind of cool (55F).

Starting your beer cool will make the best beer but it ferments pretty slowly at that temp. Once the initial fast part of the ferment is over you are right to move it where it is warmer and 68 might even be a bit too cool depending on the yeast you used. Most of my beers start at 62 for about a week, then move to 72 for 2 or more weeks. I made a Belgian wit using Wyeast 3944 that kept bubbling the airlock until I finally read more about the yeast and discovered that it likes it even warmer to finish. I had it up to 83 for the last 5 days and it turned out nice.

 

[DrunkleJon]

First, remember that the bubbling is not necessarily a sign of fermentation. It could just be offgassing especially after being moved/disturbed. The only way to be pretty certain is to check for consistent gravity over a few days. Floaters happen. RDWHAHB.

 

[nelven34]

Cool. All kind of what I figured but thought I'd check. Thanks all.

 

[Clonefan94]

Starting your beer cool will make the best beer but it ferments pretty slowly at that temp. Once the initial fast part of the ferment is over you are right to move it where it is warmer and 68 might even be a bit too cool depending on the yeast you used. Most of my beers start at 62 for about a week, then move to 72 for 2 or more weeks. I made a Belgian wit using Wyeast 3944 that kept bubbling the airlock until I finally read more about the yeast and discovered that it likes it even warmer to finish. I had it up to 83 for the last 5 days and it turned out nice.

Probably a pretty good description of what's going on. Don't forget, at 55ish, the beer is going to dissolve more CO2, when you moved it, you disturbed it and raised the temp. This will definitely cause CO2 to come out of solution as well as just expand all the gasses that are in there, increasing the pressure in the fermenter, therefore, giving you bubbles in the airlock.

Sorry, I know I basically said what I quoted, but I just felt like typing I guess.