Bubbling beer, same SG

[OhioGrown]

I brewed an AG rye IPA a little while ago. Everything went really smooth. I mashed at 154 for an hour, got 4.75 gal into the fermentor at 1.066. My yeast was a rehydrated packet of Safale-05. Things started normally and I got a decent krausen, but after about a week it seemed fementation had completely stopped. I checked the gravity at 1.026, hmm. I gave the carboy a swirl and things started to bubble mildly but regularly again. Thing is, its still bubbling at the same rate another week later, and I checked gravity today at 1.026! It hasnt changed at all. On the plus side, the sample tasted awesome, a tad sweet, but still good. So how can this be? Is there anything I can do to get the gravity down to a normal range?

 

[brewruff]

I would give it at least 3 weeks. 1.066 is a lot of work for one packet of US 05.

 

[OhioGrown]

Perhaps. I'm using the Bee Cave Rye IPA recipe from the recipe archive on this site, BTW. Just seems weird to me that the SG wouldnt budge at all after a week of steady bubbling.

 

[BierMuncher]

Just a detail but:

Make sure when you place your hydrometer in the flask you bounce it a couple times to knock the CO2 bubbles off. They will cause the gauge to float and give a false reading.

A 1.066 beer will need a good 3 weeks minimum in the primary. It'll move down.

 

[OhioGrown]

Yeah, I definitely tap the hell out of that thing before I read it. We'll see what happens I guess.

 

[malkore]

bubbling airlock doesn't necessarily mean its fermenting. Just means CO2 is being released from solution, thus we always rely on the hydrometer (like you did) to really know whats' up.

the airlock...it lies!

 

[OhioGrown]

Well I gave it some more time but its still going. this beer was brewed 3/17 and its still has plenty of activity. I dont mean its just the air lock thats still bubbling, I can see bubbles regularly rising from the beer. The gravity is going down a little, it's aroud 1.020 now, samples still taste good, I dont think its infected. Is there anything can do to speed this thing up? add yeast nutrient or oxygen or something. My concern is that when the initial fermentation stopped for whatever reason, it screwed things up for when it got restarted by shaking.

 

[BierMuncher]

We never established at what temp your beer is sitting.

 

[OhioGrown]

68 degrees F

 

[BierMuncher]

68 degrees F

Ramp it up to 70-71 and that should help.