Fermentation that goes on and on and on...and on

[SheBrew]

Hi there,

I began brewing my second batch (a belgian witbeer) after reasonably good success with my first almost two weeks ago. I had a bit of a blow-off problem almost 5 days into fermentation, and my air lock is still bubbling at about 15-20 second intervals.

I was supposed to move it over to my secondary after 7 days, but thought I should wait because of pretty active fermentation. How much longer should I wait? It has now been in the primary for 12 days!

Thanks

 

[SheBrew]

oh, forgot to mention, its also a higher gravity than I worked with last time. OG was 1.056

 

[ihearthops]

Wait for airlock activity to stop, take a gravity reading. Repeat the gravity reading 2-3 consecutive days to ensure you aren't decreasing, which should prove that fermentation is done. Assuming its complete, you should be safe to go ahead and move to secondary/bottle/keg.

There are lots of variables that could affect the total fermentation time and could result in a longer than normal fermenting process.

I hope that helps.

 

[ihearthops]

Also...

For a Wit, i'd probably advocate keeping it in the primary for 3-4 weeks and skipping the secondary altogether. At any rate, you're fine leaving it in the primary longer than the "estimated" primary fermentation time provided in the kit/recipe you're using.

 

[dcp27]

Also...

For a Wit, i'd probably advocate keeping it in the primary for 3-4 weeks and skipping the secondary altogether. At any rate, you're fine leaving it in the primary longer than the "estimated" primary fermentation time provided in the kit/recipe you're using.

+1, no need to secondary unless you're aging for long (months) time, especially with a wit which can be cloudy.

 

[wyzazz]

+2, another vote for no secondary. I leave all my beers in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then keg/bottle. I use my secondaries for Bulk Aging and Oaking.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I also agree there is no reason to secondary that beer.

Are you taking gravity readings to determine that fermentation is continuing, or just relying on the airlock? If you are relying on the airlock, keep in mind that the airlock is just a representation of excess gas being vented through an opening. So your beer could be done fermenting but dissolved CO2 in the beer is being released from the beer back into the air. This often happens as your beer warms up. So if you have allowed your beer to warm up to fully attenuate or just moved it into a warmer area, that would be an explanation. Also, if your beer is somewhere it is subjected to cool nights and warm days, the change in temperature from day to night could possibly also cause additional release of dissolved CO2 as the beer warms during the day.

Either way, if you just leave your beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks fermentation will have definitely ended before you bottle.

 

[SankePankey]

Also...

For a Wit, i'd probably advocate keeping it in the primary for 3-4 weeks and skipping the secondary altogether. At any rate, you're fine leaving it in the primary longer than the "estimated" primary fermentation time provided in the kit/recipe you're using.

Yes, this is what just happened to me on my first Wit. Still fermenting 3 weeks in. I was doing a pressurized ferment, so I don't know if that increases the duration, but I hadn't heard that.

Not only did I not rack it, but I didn't cold crash it either. Good haze to it. (And, I was shocked at how little yeast cake there was. It was almost all in liquid form.)