Still glugging after 25 days...normal?

[spanosspanos]

Hey HBT!

Lookin for some advice.. I've got 6 gallons of a strong ale currently fermenting in a glass carboy, targeting about 8%. It's been in primary for 25 days, and while the activity has very much calmed down, it's still exhaling through a blow off tube at about 1 "glug" every 3 seconds or so... Does it seem normal that it's still relatively active after more than 3 weeks?
I pitched US-05... the temp for the first 2 weeks was between 70-74; currently at 68..
OG was 1.073...and I hesitate to take a sample, to avoid contamination...what ya'll think...should I pull a reading?

[emoji482]

 

[myndflyte]

Only way to truly tell if it's done is to take a gravity reading. Airlock activity doesn't always tell the truth of what's going on with fermentation. Just sanitize everything that will touch the beer and you'll be fine.

 

[thehaze]

A 1.073 beer should be done fermenting in 5-7 days. Any beer I brew between 1.055 and 1.070, is already done at day 5, with me bottling it at day 12-15. US-05 might be a slower fermenter than Nottingham, but not by much.

 

[spanosspanos]

Thanks for the replies and advice! I pulled a sample that same night but haven't had a chance to post an update till now. Took a taste and a reading...and the gravity is at 1.018, and the beer tastes clean. There's definitely a light carbonation, which I think indicates that there's still some fermentation happening. And, after pulling the sample, I replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock and it's been bubbling away... I see some slowdown today, but still see a glug every 30-60 seconds. I've turned the dial on the fridge/chamber down, thinking that maybe if I get the temp to go up a bit (it's still at about 68F) maybe that will help to close out the fermentation... What ya'll think? Good idea to increase the temperature? ...or am I risking off flavors at this point, so deep into what seems to have become a very long fermentation...?

 

[mongoose33]

For ales, I always bump the temp up at the end to encourage the yeast to finish and clean up after themselves. Qualifier: my ales are all fermented in the 64 to 67 range, I'll bump them up to 71 once the krausen has fallen.

With lagers there typically is a diacetyl rest which also is fairly warm, and is done for the same reason, i.e., let the yeast clean up.

I don't do farmhouse ales or saisons which generally are fermented warm, so I presume whatever "cleaning up" one might wish the yeast to do is done at those temps.

 

[spanosspanos]

For ales, I always bump the temp up at the end to encourage the yeast to finish and clean up after themselves. Qualifier: my ales are all fermented in the 64 to 67 range, I'll bump them up to 71 once the krausen has fallen.

With lagers there typically is a diacetyl rest which also is fairly warm, and is done for the same reason, i.e., let the yeast clean up.

I don't do farmhouse ales or saisons which generally are fermented warm, so I presume whatever "cleaning up" one might wish the yeast to do is done at those temps.

...71 being the top end of the temperature range for the yeast you'd be using? ...or do you push it a bit higher?

 

[mongoose33]

...71 being the top end of the temperature range for the yeast you'd be using? ...or do you push it a bit higher?

No, not necessarily the top end. When krausen falls you're probably 90 percent, maybe 95 percent of fermentation complete. At that point, the huge off-flavors that would attend fermenting too hot aren't going to be produced. Besides, I'm only bumping it up to a very mild temp anyway. It just lets the yeast be a little more active during their cleanup phase.

 

[mscroggi]

Hey HBT!

Lookin for some advice.. I've got 6 gallons of a strong ale currently fermenting in a glass carboy, targeting about 8%. It's been in primary for 25 days, and while the activity has very much calmed down, it's still exhaling through a blow off tube at about 1 "glug" every 3 seconds or so... Does it seem normal that it's still relatively active after more than 3 weeks?
I pitched US-05... the temp for the first 2 weeks was between 70-74; currently at 68..
OG was 1.073...and I hesitate to take a sample, to avoid contamination...what ya'll think...should I pull a reading?

[emoji482]

Could it be that you could have used more yeast initially? My local homebrew store recommends using two packs of US-05 for an OG in the 1.06+ range. It could explain why it is still going after 3 weeks.. I am not an expert.. but just wanted to offer the thought.

 

[Smellyglove]

Thanks for the replies and advice! I pulled a sample that same night but haven't had a chance to post an update till now. Took a taste and a reading...and the gravity is at 1.018, and the beer tastes clean. There's definitely a light carbonation, which I think indicates that there's still some fermentation happening. And, after pulling the sample, I replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock and it's been bubbling away... I see some slowdown today, but still see a glug every 30-60 seconds. I've turned the dial on the fridge/chamber down, thinking that maybe if I get the temp to go up a bit (it's still at about 68F) maybe that will help to close out the fermentation... What ya'll think? Good idea to increase the temperature? ...or am I risking off flavors at this point, so deep into what seems to have become a very long fermentation...?

The carbonation doesn't mean that it's still fermenting. You'll "always" have som carbonation in a beer after fermentation. The amount of carbonation in the beer equals the given amount of gases your liquid (beer) can hold at the temperature it is at, at 0 pressure. The difference between carbonation in a fermenting/fermented beer and a beer from a bottle is that in the bottle you trap the co2 inside.

 

[myndflyte]

Thanks for the replies and advice! I pulled a sample that same night but haven't had a chance to post an update till now. Took a taste and a reading...and the gravity is at 1.018, and the beer tastes clean. There's definitely a light carbonation, which I think indicates that there's still some fermentation happening. And, after pulling the sample, I replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock and it's been bubbling away... I see some slowdown today, but still see a glug every 30-60 seconds. I've turned the dial on the fridge/chamber down, thinking that maybe if I get the temp to go up a bit (it's still at about 68F) maybe that will help to close out the fermentation... What ya'll think? Good idea to increase the temperature? ...or am I risking off flavors at this point, so deep into what seems to have become a very long fermentation...?

My guess is that it's probably done. If you check in a couple days it'll probably be at least close to the same.

 

[spanosspanos]

Could it be that you could have used more yeast initially? My local homebrew store recommends using two packs of US-05 for an OG in the 1.06+ range. It could explain why it is still going after 3 weeks.. I am not an expert.. but just wanted to offer the thought.

I actually had made a starter with the US-05 I washed from a precious brew...which I kinda gambled on being at least 2 packets worth of dry yeast. I wondered at the time about the possibility of over pitching, but found very little about that as a topic, (and I didn't post any questions here on HBT, which always is a good idea ;-) Any thoughts or info on the effect of using too much yeast?

 

[azmark]

Over pitching at a homebrew level is almost never an issue.

 

[mscroggi]

Over pitching at a homebrew level is almost never an issue.

That is what I understand too.. As I understand it, even if the beer was over-pitched.. it won't ruin it, but it might introduce a slight flavor - evidently you can taste yeast. I doubt my lousy palette would notice anything.