Hi, I've fermented a Wit in primary for a week (with excellent activity) and then transferred to secondary. It's been in secondary for 10 days now. I expected that all activity would have stopped by now but I'm seeing a small ring of extremely small bubbles at the top. A closer look reveals an almost constant flow of micro bubbles coming to the top. I'm wondering what this indicates as I've never seen this before after so long in secondary. How long should this last? Must I wait longer, meaning until absolutely no activity is evident? Is this indicating a problem?
Teenie bubbles in secondary
- Thread starter BobW44
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bullinachinashop
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What is your gravity? Has it been stable for 3 days? If so, go ahead and bottle. If not, check it again in a day or two to see if it is finished.
My guess is that it is finished and ready to bottle.
I typically have my wheat beers finished in 2 weeks. That being said, I also use a nice starter and controll my fermenting temps.
Good Luck,
Bull
My guess is that it is finished and ready to bottle.
I typically have my wheat beers finished in 2 weeks. That being said, I also use a nice starter and controll my fermenting temps.
Good Luck,
Bull
SG is 1.011. Temperatures during fermentation/secondary were very stable at 69-70°F. I would say it's been stable for 5 or 6 days with the exception that the teenie bubbles have been present for a week with no change in size or frequency. The airlock hasn't shown any bubbling unless it's very infrequent and I've missed the "bubble" event.
The tiny bubbles are just CO2 coming out of solution
Take grav readings over a few days to ensure it's done.. Don't trust the airlock nor visual appearances. As j1laskey mentioned, this is most likely just CO2 offgassing.
Yep, its just CO2 coming out of solution. A byproduct of fermentation is CO2, and your beer gets saturated (especially at 70 F) fairly quickly. That leaves no more "room" for the CO2 in your beer and it goes to create global warming, way to go man. 
What was your OG? 1.011 may be the terminal gravity, but I have had Wits go down to 1.008, but with an OG of ~1.045. If your OG is higher than that then 1.011 is probably fine.
Did you do all-grain? If so, what temp did you mash at. If you did extract it is even more likely that 1.011 is your true FG, b/c you can't control the fermentability of the wort.
What was your OG? 1.011 may be the terminal gravity, but I have had Wits go down to 1.008, but with an OG of ~1.045. If your OG is higher than that then 1.011 is probably fine.
Did you do all-grain? If so, what temp did you mash at. If you did extract it is even more likely that 1.011 is your true FG, b/c you can't control the fermentability of the wort.
Ok, well then 1.011 is a believable mash temp. When I got <1.010 I was mashing at 145 - 147 F.
I would go ahead and bottle it. You don't want all your yeast to fall out of suspension in your Witbier! Its supposed to be cloudy.
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