Belgian blonde with WLP500 -- time to turn up the heat?

[Horseflesh]

I have a batch bubbling away but I am not sure what the best fermentation schedule is, and would appreciate any advice. OG was 1.064 and that included ~15% simple sugars.

Based on things I read here, I kept the chamber at 65F for 7 days. On days 8-12, I let it free rise 1 degree/day to 70F. The plan was then to let it sit at 70F until hit hit FG.

This is day 13, so it has been at 70F for a day already. There is still substantial blowoff tube airlock activity though, a fat bubble every 5-6 seconds. I have not taken a gravity reading, but the beer still tastes a little sweet. It tastes good, very promising, but it's clearly not done yet and the yeast are still busy.

At this point, what would you do to the temperature, if anything?

 

[GunBrew]

Howdy - I'm a few days late, so this may be unnecessary info. But just for kicks...

Short Answer: I'd keep the temp where it is as long as the yeast is still active (within reason - it shouldn't be much longer given that you're past 2 weeks in primary).

Long Answer: Yeast breaks down table sugar (sucrose) into simple sugars, which it then consumes before working its way up to complex sugars like maltose and maltotriose. So, the presence of additional sucrose could have prolonged fermentation a bit. Also, the cooler temperature for the first week may have lengthened the fermentation by decreasing yeast activity. Every yeast strain has its quirks and given that there are many variables that affect fermentation, it can be hard to nail down one specific reason for a longer fermentation. So long as the yeast is still happily working... Let it ride!

 

[Horseflesh]

Thanks. I'm letting it go and if gravity seem too high after another week has passed I'll turn it up to 72.

 

[jtp137]

As long as you pitched enough yeast It should ferment down just fine at 70 a lot of people like to keep that yeast from getting too hot because it throws off a lot of banana character.

 

[Horseflesh]

I made a starter that should have been big enough so I'll let it ride!