Wyeast 3068 ferment time

[speedster00]

I just pitched 3068 into a dunkelweissen I started on saturday. with in an hour I had krausen and airlock activity. This went on strong for about 48 hours and has completely stopped as of yesterday and looks like its clearing. Is this normal for this yeast? The past yeast Ive worked with I had airlock activity for about 5 days. Just wondering if such a short visible activity period is normal with 3068. I havent taken a gravity sample to know if activity has completely stopped.

 

[lumpher]

depends a lot on ferm temp, but yes, that's very normal for that yeast at a higher temp, say 70-73 degrees. i use mostly dry yeasts, but i love me some hefeweizens with 3068, and i expect 48-60 hours airlock activity. the faster the activity starts, the faster it usually finishes, also

 

[speedster00]

Thanks Lumpher. that means it could be ready to keg this weekend...bwahaha.

 

[lumpher]

no, don't keg too early. i'm a major fan of wheat beers, and i keg my hefeweizens after 11 days, and my dunkelweizens after 17 days. let them sit for that length of time, and you'll appreciate the beer much better. never assume the beer is "ready" just because it stopped bubbling. the only beers i let sit for less than 4-5 weeks are those. otherwise, i let them sit for at least a month, and then keg, unless they're racking onto fruit, like a blueberry brown ale or something like that. speaking of that, i have a hefeweizen i need to put on the blueberries tomorrow...

 

[speedster00]

Will do. I dont think I've ever had a fruit hefe. how is it?

 

[thegerm]

Just kegged a hefe using this strain the other day. I reached terminal gravity after about 6 days. Even then don't rush it. Even when terminal gravity has been reached, there's still all that acetaldehyde for the yeast to eat up. At least that was my experience a few weeks back when I rushed an ordinary bitter and Scottish 70 to keg and i wound up with a couple of green apple bombs.