Fermentation fully complete after ~48 hrs?

[dwf137]

Bubbling was going very fast for about 48 hours, just about a bubble a second, for about 30 hours. It seemed to stop dramatically, in about 6 hours it went from 1/10seconds to nothing at all. The airlock has come to rest, indicating there is absolutely no pressure inside my fermenter.


My questions:
This is a Weizenbock, so should i just bottle now, instead of letting the yeast settle out? it's been about 24 hours since the fermentation came to a complete stop.

I'm worried about the ability to condition and carbonate. Will there still be enough active yeast?


I'm hoping I didn't do something wrong...

Oh,
actual OG 1.060 (recipe called for 1.064-1.068)
6.6 lbs wheat LME
1.5 lbs DME
1 lb crystal
.25 lb chocolate
.25 lb german caraffe
various hops.
Temps during fermentation varied from about 62 to 73. I pitched yeast at 73.

 

[cuinrearview]

So it's been in primary for five days? That's not long enough. Let it sit for another week minimum, and that's only if you're going to secondary. Better yet let it sit in primary for another 2 1/2 weeks or more and bottle from there. Watching the airlock is no way to tell if it's done fermenting, and even after active ferm. the yeast need time to "clean up" waste products and then settle out.

 

[VTBrewer]

wheats can go pretty quick. dry yeast?

 

[dwf137]

^no, i used a Wyeast 3068 activator pack i think it was.

No secondary carboy here, this is only my second brew.

I thought with a wheat beer I was expecting yeast in the bottle, meaning I wouldn't want to secondary, or leave in the primary for too long...

 

[VTBrewer]

3068 has very good attenuation. I don't secondary my wheats, I usually just wait until krausen falls, look at SG, and bottle somewhere around day 9 or 10. But, I'm usually just doing wheats to have homebrew on hand when both secondaries are lagering.

everyone has different theories though.....and letting the yeast clean up after itself certainly isn't going to hurt. I just happen to rush my wheats.

Bottom line is, if you like it, brew it again, if not...brew it differently.

welcome to the obsession.

 

[dwf137]

so the fact that there's no longer positive pressure isn't necessarily a bad thing, right?

my recipe calls to bottle when fermentation is complete... I guess I'll just monitor the gravity and bottle once it's stable.

 

[ifishsum]

my recipe calls to bottle when fermentation is complete... I guess I'll just monitor the gravity and bottle once it's stable.

Well, you CAN safely bottle as soon as fermentation in complete, but most of us prefer to leave the beer in the fermenter for at least a couple of weeks to age and mellow, because we've found that it makes for much better tasting beer.

 

[dwf137]

now i'm getting a slightly negative pressure on my airlock... not enough to suck the vodka back into the beer, but enough that the lock is showing negative pressure...

should I be worried?

sorry, this only my second beer..

 

[Panzermann]

What was the OG? And what is the reading now? Airlock activity means nothing, I would give it at least 7-10 days in Primary then rack to Seondary. If not using a secondary, leave it sit for another 2wks or so.

 

[dwf137]

OG: 1.060
Current Gravity: 1.021

recipe calls for OG 1.065 and FG of 1.016.
I was a little low on the OG, so i guess I've still got a bit of fermentation left to go.


I'll let it go to 10 days total in the primary, and then i'm going to bottle right away. I assume no secondary since this is a german...


edit: i gave it a taste, whooo this is gonna be good. still a little bitter, but that'll mellow out. the chocolate/caraffe malts definitely gave a nice finish.

and i got a little bit of settlement in my hydrometer container, so there's a lot of settling going on... definitely needs a few more days.

 

[ajf]

When the beer was fermenting vigorously, it was also generating heat. Now the vigorous fermentation is passed, the beer will cool down and shrink. That will explain the negative pressure in the airlock. It is nothing to worry about. If you leave it for another couple weeks, I bet your gravity will drop some more, and the beer will taste much better than if you bottle after 10 days in primary.

-a.

 

[dwf137]

^yea, that makes sense.


the beer is back to bubbling again, so it definitely must have just been due to the drop in internal temp. The temp has dropped about 7 degrees from the most intense fermentation.