Weird Fermentation

[gregphill23]

Pitched an ESB with an OG of 1.058...at 7 days bubbling almost stopped but kept going 1x/min or less, ended up moving the 10 gallons to 2 5 gallon corni kegs with a SG of 1.024. My question is should we now just let this one sit for a few weeks/months to finish up or is it done? Should we have left it on the cake to keep going?

This is twice out of the last 4 beers brewed that we have had a problem finishing the fermentation process and getting down to where we need to be, last time with a red rye ale that stopped at 1.030, repitched and got it down to 1.020 but we should have tried a different yeast strain from what i understand.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[itsme6582]

You just need to be more patient. Your yeast isn't done when you don't see bubbles. It's done when the gravity doesn't change over several days. I try to give my beer a good three weeks to ferment before I start worrying about whether it's done or not. It could be done and still bubble or it can still be working away without bubbling.

 

[Revvy]

Airlock bubbling means nothing. Like itsme said, leave your beer alone until the hydrometer shows the same reading twice over 3 days.

A beer may ferment perfectly fine without a single blip in the airlock. Or airlocks can start or stop or start and stop again, for a ton of other reasons, like temp changes, getting nudged by the cat or the vacuum cleaner, changes in barometric pressure, but your beer could still be fermenting fine.

Or the co2 is coming out the lid, or the grommet or the stopper. Nothing wrong with that, if co2 is getting out, nothing nasty is getting in.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks, or size of krausen, or a calendar, the horoscope or the phases of the moon (those things in my mind are equally accurate).

The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

 

[gregphill23]

Airlock bubbling means nothing. Like itsme said, leave your beer alone until the hydrometer shows the same reading twice over 3 days.

A beer may ferment perfectly fine without a single blip in the airlock. Or airlocks can start or stop or start and stop again, for a ton of other reasons, like temp changes, getting nudged by the cat or the vacuum cleaner, changes in barometric pressure, but your beer could still be fermenting fine.

Or the co2 is coming out the lid, or the grommet or the stopper. Nothing wrong with that, if co2 is getting out, nothing nasty is getting in.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks, or size of krausen, or a calendar, the horoscope or the phases of the moon (those things in my mind are equally accurate).

The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thanks guys, I have been trying to convince my brewmate that we need to be more patient to no avail......tasting great just not completely right in my mind, I mean, why use a certain kind of yeast if your not going to let it finish?