2 all grain questions

[barside laundry]

6 days ago I made a Young's Special London Ale (as seen in BYO). I hit the OG of 1064 right on the head but the FG is supposed to be 1015 and mine is still 1023. It bubbles once every 30 seconds but tomorrow it will have been in the fermenter for 7 days. I have heard about off-flavors due to storing in the primary too long so that is my concern. I made a 1000ml starter, aerated the wort for 20 minutes (pump and stone) and it took off about 5 hours after I pitched. It fermented hard for 4 days (clogged the airlock and all!). Thoughts?

Question 2:
As I was aerating the wort the foam overflowed the carboy and it was a full time job trying to catch it in dish towels, what do you guys do about that (foam)?

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Walker]

6 days ago I made a Young's Special London Ale (as seen in BYO). I hit the OG of 1064 right on the head but the FG is supposed to be 1015 and mine is still 1023. It bubbles once every 30 seconds but tomorrow it will have been in the fermenter for 7 days. I have heard about off-flavors due to storing in the primary too long so that is my concern. I made a 1000ml starter, aerated the wort for 20 minutes (pump and stone) and it took off about 5 hours after I pitched. It fermented hard for 4 days (clogged the airlock and all!). Thoughts?

The off flavors won't happen until the yeast run out of sugar and start to eat each other. You should not have any problems with leaving the beer in the primary for 3 or 4 weeks.

ecit: One other comment. If you mashed at a higher temp, you will have created more non-fermentable sugars that you would have with a lower temp mash. If this happened, you will never get down to 1.015 and could stop short at 1.020 or something.

Question 2:
As I was aerating the wort the foam overflowed the carboy and it was a full time job trying to catch it in dish towels, what do you guys do about that (foam)?

I just shake my carboy to aerate and I give it a little rest so the foam can subside before I give it another round of shaking. I've never used a pump&stone, but maybe you have to give it a little break every once in a while to avoid the foam overflow.

-walker

 

[ajf]

The fact that it's still bubbling indicates that the fermentation is not yet complete. Your FG will still be dropping. It's rare for a homebrewer to complete the fermentation in 7 days. It usually takes me about 2 weeks in the summer, and up to 4 or 5 in the winter. Be patient, and you'll get there.

Regarding overflowing the carboy during aeration, I've never had a problem with a tad over 5g in a 6.5g carboy.

-a.

 

[Beer Snob]

How many gallons is your fermentor?

 

[budbo]

It's rare for a homebrewer to complete the fermentation in 7 days.

I must be special My New Castle finished in 3 days

 

[Beer Snob]

I must be special My New Castle finished in 3 days

Don't know... seems more rare for mine to take 7 days. Usually it's pretty quiet by then.

 

[Jaybird]

most all mine finnish within three to four days but its rare for mine to lag more that four hours.
JJ

 

[barside laundry]

6 gallon carboy, my shop was sold out of the 6.5.

 

[barside laundry]

Thanks a lot. I have not even thought about mash temp effecting gravity but it makes perfect sense. I mashed 153-155 for 60 minutes. I need to do a thermometer calibration, I checked my brew dial thermo against my pyrex digital cooking therm and found an 8 degree difference in the mash temp.

 

[Jaybird]

8 degrees is masive in brewing, as you know. I use those $15.00 digital thermometers from target I will take in a cold glass of water and a calibrated thermometer and test them befor I buy it. I have found some there are off up to 4 degrees.
JJ

 

[D*Bo]

Try putting a splitter in the line. crack the valve to let some of the air escape to limit the air going into the wort so it doesn't bubble so vigorisly.

Less air leads to smaller bubbles which will absorb better and will stay in contact with the wort longer (will not reacch the surface as quickly as the larger bubbles)

 

[mysterio]

As mentioned, your beer hasn't finished fermenting and you've nothing to worry about.

One thought though: what was your yeast? Some London strains are low-attenuating and may even need rousing. I know that one of the wyeast london strains needs rousing (i.e., stirring), anyway.