airlock bubbling, FG not falling

[Jota21]

I posted this in the 'extra hard lemonade' thread yesterday, but haven't had any feedback yet:

I made some hard lemonade on 4/30. My OG was 1.122. It was in the primary for 3 weeks, then I transferred it to a carboy. At that point, my FG was showing around 1.095. The bubbles had stopped, so I repitched with a dry pack of EC-118 (just sprinkled into the carboy and gave it a little stir - no starter). I checked on it an hour later and it was bubbling pretty rapidly, so i thought I had the problem solved.

It has slowed down, but has continued to bubble every 10-20 seconds since around May 21st, however, my FG is still 1.095 - the exact same.

I've calibrated my hydrometer, and it does read zero in tap water. How is it possible that all of those bubbles have been occuring, but the gravity not changing?I want this to be ready, delicious, and somewhere between 6-8% ABV for my family's vacation 1 month from today.

Any tips?

Thanks

 

[Saccharomyces]

Sounds like the pH is far too low for it to ferment. To pull a feat like hard lemonade off, you really need to start at a pH around 3.5, keep it above 3 until it's done fermenting and then add the rest of the lemon juice. It's also possible your juice has potassium sorbate in it -- if it does you need to dump it and try again with a juice without sorbate, or pitch it on a yeast cake "ala skeeter pee" where the inhibition of yeast growth is less of a problem.

 

[bottlebomber]

Im not sure why the gravity isn't coming down, but I do know that bubbling isn't a telltale sign on fermentation... I have an IPA that's on hops in the secondary right now and its been at 1.018 for three weeks and is still bubbling at least once a minute

 

[Jota21]

no potassium sorbate... i checked.

Thanks,
Any other thoughts?

 

[Southernmost11]

I would definitely check the ph. Also give a taste. If its good rack it off the leese and get ready to bottle.

 

[Jota21]

it tastes delicious (very very sweet)!! I just want a little more abv than 2-3%

 

[400d]

I had similar situation when ambient temperature was rising. Simply, the solution is letting the CO2 out at higher temperatures....

 

[Jota21]

so how can i drop the gravity?

 

[Jota21]

so can anyone answer how it is possible for the airlock to bubble, but the gravity not fall???

I just checked it again yesterday, and despite bubbling every 10-20 seconds for the past 2 months, the gravity is still around 1.092