14 days out and still airlock activity on an Abby Ale

[BillTheSlink]

I made the mistake when I pitched and for the first few days of activity of keeping the temperature too low for my yeast, White Labs 530. It should have been at 68 while I was at 59-60. I stopped adding ice to the swamp cooler around day three. What the temp has been at various times since then I can't reliably tell as the fermentometer has all digits lit. It is now 14 days out and I still have airlock activity. I rocked the carboy to see if I could stir up a little more vigorous activity, but that seems too have had the opposite affect. The temperature I have taken just now with my mercury thermometer is 69 and current gravity as far as I could reach with my thief is 1.014 . OG was 1.049 and should finish 1.013 according to Beersmith. I don't know why, but color is much lighter than predicted. What should I do now? There are no signs of any infection in the beer. It is the best smelling beer I've brewed so far. It smells very malty. The StarSan in the airlock, however, smelled of rotten eggs. I replaced it. There is no Krusen. At first when I had the temp too cold it was only about 1/8 inch thick, but exploded when the temperature rose. I am going to give this at least a three week secondary as there were many solids post boil in the beer and it is cloudy at this time.

 

[Runyanka]

The rotten egg smell in your airlock is the mix of CO2 and star-san. The bottle I use for my blow-off smells of rotten eggs while fermenting... rotten eggs/rhino farts, same difference right?

 

[shinerfanok]

I would ride it out a couple more days and take a couple more readings, then transfer to your secondary... Thats what I would do man...

 

[ACo]

interesting approach to keep WLP530 way low. ive heard of starting in mid 60's and bringing it into the 80's towards the end.

I would say that is why its taking so long....

Let it sit a few more days in the primary just to be safe, than rack to secondary. no harm.


Edit: i am about to make an IPA Trippel using wlp530...glad to hear you didn't get a stuck fermentation at least (which i have been told it is notorious for).

 

[BillTheSlink]

interesting approach to keep WLP530 way low. ive heard of starting in mid 60's and bringing it into the 80's towards the end.

I would say that is why its taking so long....

Let it sit a few more days in the primary just to be safe, than rack to secondary. no harm.


Edit: i am about to make an IPA Trippel using wlp530...glad to hear you didn't get a stuck fermentation at least (which i have been told it is notorious for).

Well, you have to remember the OG is low for 530, but you have to admit I abused it. Letting the temps rise, although it isn't on the WL site, is what the Monks do. I just read "Brew Like a Monk". I don't recommenced the book until your ready to design your own beer. It isn't a recipe book for clones, which was what I was hoping for.

 

[ACo]

Very true i think a normal OG would be around 1.080ish to 1.090.


I also recommend listening to "Basic Brewing Radio" podcast, they had the author of brew like a monk on. Well worth listening to and he has a lot to say about the style....almost made me not want to brew belgians (he made it sound scary a bit). He did mention that it was not a recipe book.